Monday, October 05, 2009
They performed the play, held workshops and left behind tailored educational materials for the teachers to continue to explore in the classroom.
The play was extremely well received, and it was fascinating to see learners making connections
between this piece of theatre and their own experiences. There were two public performances of the production, at the Baxter theatre, Cape Town, and at the Joburg theatre, Johannesburg. After each of these public performances, a forum on theatre in education was held with participation from South African theatre practitioners, international guests, educational
officials, the TEAM company and audiences. Issues were raised around what makes theatre in schools effective and what processes for play development
are currently being explored in South Africa and the rest of the world.
Assitej South Africa hosted an ACYTA (African Children and Youth Theatre Arena) meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 17 -19 September 2009.
There were 15 delegates representing 10 countries, including Egypt, Nigeria, Cameroon, Zambia, Rwanda, Swaziland, Benin, Zimbabwe, Mali and South Africa. Niclas Malmcrona attended the meeting as a representative of the 2011 Assitej World Congress, and various guests, including Jennifer Kulik, (USA) and Khadija Lachguer El Bennaoui (Morocco) attended single sessions.
Meetings with the French Institute, the Goethe Institut and Art Moves Africa (a mobility fund for African artists) all proved excellent opportunities for networking and the exploration of possibilities. The ACYTA meeting was followed by the meeting of the Arterial Network (20-22 September) and the IFACAA World Congress on Arts and Culture (22-25 September). The presence of
the Assitej delegates in these other meetings, increased awareness of Assitej in Africa and were extremely beneficial to all.
In November, Assitej SA will be working on the Africa Summit on Arts Education in order to feed information and proposals through to the World Summit on Arts Education taking place in South Korea, in March 2010.
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