Greenside actors impress at festivals
GREENSIDE - All the world's a stage, and if it's players are the aspiring actors and actresses from Greenside High it should be a rather great play.
Greenside High School raked in an impressive clutch of awards at the three premier Johannesburg one-act play festivals held this year – Festival of Excellence in Dramatic Arts (FEDA), Edenvale Amateur Dramatic Society (EADS) Schools Festival and Save the Repertory Amateur Players Society (STRAPS).
The high school entered two plays for these festivals: Woza Albert! and The Most Massive Woman Wins. Both plays achieved notable results in all three festivals.
After her recent successes at the National Eisteddfod Young Performers Awards, aspiring actress Khanyisile Mkhezi featured as a repeat nominee and award winner in the best actress category. Kirsten Johnson’s achievements in receiving nominations for best actor were particularly noteworthy given that he is only a Grade 8 pupil.
In the EADS Schools Festival, Greenside High School took top honours in the following categories:
overall second runner-up for The Most Massive Woman Wins; best actress in a drama for The Most Massive Woman Wins went to Khanyisile Mkhize in her role as Rennie (Red); best ensemble cast for The Most Massive Woman Wins’ entire cast and the adjudicators special award The Most Massive Woman Wins director Jody Dwolatzky.
At the Festival of Excellence, Greenside High impressed with more awards.
Woza Albert! won certificates of excellence for acting for Kirsten Johnson, Suleiman Momoniat and the cast and also palmed in the physical theatre award for the cast poor theatre. Certificates of excellence were extended to Suleiman Momoniat for best actor and Melissa Kabongo for best director. The Most Massive Woman Wins won certificates of excellence for the superb acting of Abigail Christmas, Christina Magongwa, Khanyisile Mkhize, Kim Forbay and the cast’s choral work.
The awards didn’t end there. More certificates were awarded for the best ensemble, best set and best directing.
As if that weren’t enough, the school won awards in several categories at the STRAPS festival.
Woza Albert!’s Suleiman Momoniat and Kirsten Johnson’s acting, the technical expertise of Asher Pardy and Philip Ginster, the best ensemble cast and best director (for Melissa Kabongo) all gained merit awards and nominations. Most Massive Woman Wins was nominated for best director and best motivation, best ensemble cast, best hand-drawn poster and for several best actress certificates. They won in the best ensemble cast and best poster awards.
