Witbank Group at 34th Annual Sancta One Act Play Festival
The 34th Annual Sancta One-Act Play Festival will take place in Secunda, Mpumalanga at the Johannes Stegmann Theatre from 2 – 7 March.
Virtually none of the previous winning groups received an entry so there are 12 almost totally unknown groups from the Govan Mbeki and Gert Sibande regions and one from Witbank.
They will be joined by two plays from other provinces – the winning play from the Sancta GP festival in December – Isaro – from The Hillbrow Theatre Group and a play from The Gay and Lesbian Association in Pietermaritzburg, who performed a couple of years ago.
Through 4 years of intensive courses throughout Mpumalanga – both general and specific, such as playwright courses and mentoring for plays participating in our festivals – The SA National Community Theatre Association (SANCTA) has nurtured the talents of so many new playwrights, directors and actors and has travelled about 6000 km’s and visited towns from Secunda, Kinross, to as far as Badplaas, Piet Retief, Volksrust and Standerton.
For this we must thank our patrons – Dorothy Ann Gould, Michael Maxwell and the many professional artists that they add to the mix, for giving up their time to read plays, do workshops and mentoring sessions on weekends. 43 plays were submitted for consideration for this festival and the top 12 were chosen from the scripts they felt had the ability to translate to the stage. This proves the growth on the regions, thanks to Sancta’s constant presence since 2004, they stated in a press release.
Tickets will cost R20 and will take the form of a Sancta Badge, which can be purchased from the groups, via the theatre or direct from Henning Botha of Gay Planet Pawn shop in Trichardt (tel 082 440 8120), who is a Sancta Representative.
These badges have multiple entry use – so you pay R20 to see all 15 plays. They can also be used for fundraising by schools, churches, charities, who can buy say 10 badges for R200 and sell them for higher prices and raise funds. The main aim is to get as much audience as possible to the theatre and encourage particularly youth studying drama at schools to attend.
The festival has three professional adjudicators – Hazel Bilsland-Brown, Tallowah Phindile Suntshwa and Karin van der Laag, who are well known in their professional fields and from previous Sancta Festivals.
They will give a verbal critique on the plays seen every night, so they can take any ideas away with them, in case they reach the top three. Written crits are provided after the festival.
On the Friday night the top three plays for the week are announced and these will re-perform on the Saturday night at a Gala Performance and Awards evening. There are many other awards up for grabs to be announced on final night and a VIP cocktail party will be held on the Saturday afternoon. The Final night is also videoed for record and historical purposes.
The groups also have the opportunity to do a Foyer Display which there is a trophy.
“None of this work and the Festival would be possible without the generous grant from the Mpumalanga Government, Dept of Culture, Sport and Recreation) and the great assistance given to us from Mrs Thobile Mogale of the Gert Sibande Arts and Culture Forum,” they stated.
Our high quality professional adjudicators have been kindly sponsored since 2000 by The Samro Foundation in Johannesburg. In addition, the previous year’s grant enabled the top Mpumalanga group to go to The National Arts Festival in Grahamstown in 2014 for 10 days to attend a Remix course and workshop and we hope the same will happen this year. So the groups have the opportunity to expand their wings at other national festivals and some have attended national schools festivals. Some Sancta groups over the years have even performed overseas.
The plays performed also have an opportunity to be entered into the prestigious professional Naledi Awards where there is a Community Theatre Award Category. The 2013 Festival winner – also from The Hillbrow Theatre Group – won the 2013 Naledi Award.
- Sancta is also a member of IATA – The International Amateur Theatre Association, Assitej SA , also an International body, and Pansa KZN.
The performance schedule is below, with performances starting at 18:00 nightly:
Monday 2 March
Border Jumpers by Theatre Icon – Morgenson;
Respect by Infinity Group – Wakkerstroom;
Story Tellers by Siphokuhle Theatre – Piet Retief
Tuesday 3 March
Mayibuye I Afrika – by Mjama Drama – Fernie;
Greedy Heart- written by Mandla Mnisi – Ermelo;
Unrevealed Secrets – written by Nonjabulo Mabaso – Ermelo
Wednesday 4 March
The Rise and Fall – Sisonke Art Productions – Witbank;
The Beautiful Garden – Mzinoni Vision for the Youth- Bethal;
If I knew – Imbizo Cultural Group – Embalenhle
Thursday 5 March
A curse from the Dog – written by Diphapang Mokhomarha – Balfour;
What you love – Fingers Print Theatre Productions – Grootvlei;
Amadlandlnane – A new combined group – The Outspoken Emba Collaberation – Emba
Friday 6 March
Operation Storm – Scapino Zerbino Group – written by Henning Botha- Trichardt;
Isaro by The Hillbrow Theatre Group, JHBG;
Seasons of Love – The Gay and Lesbian Outreach Organisation – Pietermaritzburg .
Saturday 7 March
Gala Performance and Award Evening – performance of the three best plays and award ceremony.
For more information contact 083 309 4315 or visit www.sancta.org.za