Sandton theatre prepares for transformation

AUTO & General Theatre on the Square’s new official patron Carolyn Steyn is a theatrical gem, with a story as extravagant as the vision she has for Sandton’s much-loved theatre.

Steyn has an extraordinary talent and a love for acting – one of the prime reasons theatre owner Daphne Kuhn selected her for the position of theatre wonder worker.
This talent has taken her into the heart of the US, Los Angeles, where she trained alongside big names like Kate Hudson and Tony Danza (Who’s the Boss) at the Beverly Hills Playhouse for six years.

She speaks of Hudson as one would of an old friend, having trained alongside her as an actress, before Hudson ‘made it’, so to speak.
“I always knew that Kate Hudson would become a star,” she told the Chronicle, “We were in the same Saturday class together, a class by invitation only. Kate was always so relaxed and everyone liked her. I worked with her on a film project. We had several rehearsals but the project never got off the ground.”
Steyn has also had ‘small parts’ in the TV series Melrose Place and the Larry Sanders Show, and big screen hit, Babylon 5.

“I had never watched Melrose Place before even though it was one of the biggest series at the time. When I was on set I had absolutely no idea who I was working with, which was probably a good thing because I would have felt intimidated. I don’t remember everything, it was such a long time ago, but I do remember that the hairdresser burnt my forehead with her curling iron and they had to cover the burn with additional makeup!”
In Los Angeles, she also played Sybil in Private Lives at the La Mirada Playhouse, and starred in Shadowlands and Harold Pinter’s Betrayal.
“Training with so many professionals was definitely an eye opener,” said Steyn, “In South Africa, actors generally go to drama school and then pursue their career. I was surprised that so many working actors and stars in Los Angeles still go to acting class on an ongoing basis. There is a constant need to hone your skills and take advantage of the freedom that acting class offers. For example, Jeffrey Tambor would spend the week shooting on the Larry Sanders Show but would still make time to attend class every Saturday. Doris Roberts would shoot Everyone Loves Raymond and still attend class religiously.

Despite all her overseas work, she confided that one of the highlights of her career had been doing a year-long run of Poppie Nongena for the Performing Arts Council of Transvaal, starring Nomsa Nene as Poppie. “We opened the play in Soweto – at a time when, as a white performer, I had to obtain a ‘pass’ to enter Soweto!”
Steyn is also a judge for the annual Naledi Theatre Awards and helped Kuhn secure Auto & General Insurance as a new sponsor for the theatre.
As a new patron of the theatre, she has been asked to use her design finesse to transform the existing theatre premises into a ‘little jewellery box’ with picture plush velvet furnishings in an intimate environment of elegant glamour.
She will work alongside world-renowned interior designer, Stephen Falcke to complete this transformation.