Award puts spotlight on community theatre

Thabang Phakathi, the project co-ordinator at the theatre, explained that Nomzamo originated from a script submitted by one of the facilitators and was a tale focused on a young girl from a rural area who is sexually molested by a relative. He explained that the story was important and spoke about issues facing children everyday.

“We decided to develop it into a play because it spoke to some issues faced by children in the inner-city, one of them being of sexual abuse,” Phakathi explained.

He also mentioned that despite knowing that the play had a good script and was well directed, the theatre never expected as much recognition and an award for it.

The Hillbrow theatre is also involved in the Inner-City High School Drama Festival, which is the one of the biggest festivals hosted by this theatre.

The festival was formed in 2005 and it focuses on developing plays based on some of the scripts submitted by learners.

“What we normally do after developing a play is to then submit the work to as many festivals as we possibly can so as to give it more exposure,” Phakathi explained.

The theatre has a music centre where young people can learn various musical instruments and a computer centre.

Phakathi said that people wishing to get involved can visit their website www.outreachfoundation.co.za or visit the theatre and speak to him about platforms available to get involved.

“We also encourage people to come and watch our plays and also for children to speak out about issues facing them,” Phakathi said.

The Hillbrow Theatre, formerly the Andre Huguenot Theatre, is focused on providing arts programmes to children and young people living in Hillbrow or who attend schools in the area and the surroundings of Johannesburg.