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Listen to the interview about SANCTA on BASA Today transmitted on 23 August 2009 (The Arts & Culture Programme) - Hosted by Brooks Spector
Sancta One-Act Festival plans for 2010 The South African National Theatre Association (Sancta) is producing its 2010 One-Act Festival under the theme “Bringing theatre to life that's been penned for 2010”. Thanks to a generous grant from the National Arts Council (NAC), which has certain conditions attached to it, the festival will take place from 14 June - 28 June 2010, with a possible extension of one week, at the Johannes Stegmann Theatre in Secunda, Mpumalanga. Entries are open to Mpumalanga, KwaZulu Natal - through our new Durban office - and Gauteng. We shall entertain entries from the rest of South Africa and Southern Africa. Part of the conditions are that besides the festival, the bulk of the money is to be used for education courses for anyone that wants to attend on condition they are Sancta members . Courses will be open to non-members at a small fee. The courses and mentoring will be under the tutelage of our Patroness, Dorothy Anne Gould, Michael Maxwell, together with a number of professional theatre practitioners, the names of which are at present being finalized. The courses will be held in Gauteng and Mpumalanga and hopefully Durban and will consist of Playwriting - script development, characterization, plot; Stagecraft - acting, directing, voice, movement, improvisation, physical theatre, theatre etiquette; Technical - lights, sound, stage management. They will run until end February. The applications are open and we await provisional scripts. Mentoring of the final plays chosen will be from April until mid May and the final play should be ready by end of May. A technical one-day course and theatre familiarisation will take place in Mpumalanga about the end of April 2010. ***** Transport to Mpumalanga from Gauteng /Possibly KZN- mainly for the technical rehearsal and performance will be provided. **** Conditions of entry: If you wish to enter the festival, an initial dossier and R200 entry fee must be entered by 15 December 2009.You may send a short script synopsis at the same time. See Website for Dossier Sancta membership fees of R200 for 2009/ 2010 can be submitted now. A script - if complete - or /workshopped script must reach us by 10 January 2010. If it is a workshopped script, at least 10 pages of dialogue together with a synopsis of the play and the characters must be submitted in typed format. The script must be in three copies please! If you are not a Sancta member, a membership fee of R200 for 2009/ 2010 must be included. For this initial fee, a panel of experts will read the entry, comment upon it and return it for further enhancements to be returned by 15 February 2010. The panel will again scrutinize it and 15 plays will be chosen on the “Merit of the Script and its ability to reach the stage”, going hand in hand with the education courses and mentoring which will start in Gauteng at The Westdene Recreation Hall provisionally on 13/14 January 2010 18.30 - 21.30. The Mpumalanga courses will probably be held in Kinross, on Saturday 16 January 2010. A final script must be submitted by 15 March 2010 from which 15 plays will be chosen from the three provinces depending on the “merits of the script”. In terms of the rules of the Sancta Festival/ Naledi Awards, a play must be between 30-45 minutes, with at least three speaking parts, and have a clear storyline running through it. Music and dance to compliment the story can only make up 20 percent of the time period. The final script must be accompanied by a reduced entry fee of R300. Sancta will also be running a Poster Competition (R30 fee) as well as their 8th Annual New SA One- Act Play writing Competition (R300 fee), both with a R1000 prize. Sancta membership, 2010 Festival Dossier entry, Poster Competition and new SA Playwriting Competition forms are on our website www. sanata.org.za. or can be obtained from Noel McDonald - GP - 083 309 4315;Wesley Hiepner - KZN - 072 413 6434; Henning Botha - MP- 082 440 8120. Sancta acknowledges with gratitude the sponsorship of the NAC; Dalro- Samro - The National Endowment for the Arts; The Arts and Culture Trust (ACT); Basa for their mentorship assistance and Artslink.co.za for their continued support. Sancta is a member of TMSA/ The Naledi Awards; The SA Chapter of Assitej International; and is the SA Representative of IATA - The International Amateur Theatre Association. The 29th Sancta Annual General Meeting will take place on Saturday 21 November at Jordao College, 16 Turfontein Street, Towerby, (near Rifle Range Road, Rosettenville) at 1.30 pm for 2pm. Further details to follow. For any information on Sancta and its 2010 festival see our website, join Facebook or contact any of the three persons mentioned above. Issued by Noel Mc Donald (National Chair) 05 11 09. Winning play off to Monaco The play “Some Father's Sons”, which won last year's Sancta One-Act Play Festival, is off to Monaco next month to participate in the Festival du Mondial. The festival, held every four years, has 23 other countries participating. “Some Father's Sons” was written by Craig Van Zyl of Benoni, produced by Roy Wilkinson for Rebel Productions and garnered 11 nominations and four awards at last year's festival. It is a moving story of a family in crisis. The death of a mother brings together the disparate members of the family as the packing up of her possessions unearths memories and latent tensions. The arrival of a previously absent father results in an unusual triangle of revenge, hate, justification and intolerance. To fundraise for their trip, the cast - consisting of Roy Wilkinson, Craig van Zyl and Alex Radnitz - are holding a murder mystery dinner at The Quarterdeck Pub and Restaurant, Elston Street, Benoni on 31 July at 19:30. Tickets are available from Craig 082 500 2419 or Roy 072 601 9074. On 7 August at The Old Post Office Theatre, Boksburg at 19:30 they will again perform the play together with "One Fine Sunday Morning", performed by students of St Francis College and "Apartheid" - a solo play by Craig, who wrote all three. A donation for this evening will be appreciated. To book, contact Craig or Roy. This is the 3rd time this millennium that Sancta, who is the SA National Representative of IATA (The International Amateur Theatre Association) is to perform in Monaco, so "Some Father' s Sons" is representing Sancta and South Africa internationally. We wish them bon voyage and "break a leg" and do South Africa proud. Sancta holds successful play festival The SA National Community Theatre Association (Sancta) has just concluded a successful one-act play festival in Secunda on behalf of Sasol Secunda. Nineteen plays were submitted by various community groups from the Gert Sibanda municipality which were read and commented on by Sancta judges, who chose nine plays to go through to the finals on June 12 and 13 June at The Basement Theatre, Lake Umazi in Secunda. A couple of weeks ago, Sancta took six experienced members to Secunda - Hazil Bilsland- Brown, Ori van der Walt, Barry Neuwerth, Alice Davies, Roy Wilkinson and Deny Dube - to run educational courses for over 100 people involved in the original 19 plays in playwriting, script, character and plot development, directing, voice and movement. Those involved in the nine plays chosen were given time with their mentors to discuss their plays and get feedback. During this week, Barry Neuwerth and Gordon Reid went every day to Secunda to do technical rehearsals and on the weekend, Noel McDonald and three adjudicators - Hazel Bilsland-Brown, Andy Bowman and Marvellous Malinga - went to judge the nine plays over two days, choose the best three for the finals on Saturday night, and nominate winners for the awards. The ultimate winners were: 1. A Merit Award for 4th place to "My Dream Is" by The Lenient Movement, written and directed by Thando Khanye, for "exceptional acting, but the script needs development and is worthy of an award to develop it". 2. 2nd Runner-up to Best Production: "Catch a Lift 68" written and directed by Howard Dlada (a former Sancta Naledi Community Theatre Naledi Award Winner) for Laduma Laugh Factory Players. 3. Runner-Up to Best Production: "Lost Child", written and directed by Joseph Moloko, performed by Y- People in Theatre Project . 4. Best Production: "My Destiny", written and directed by Mandla Sibiya, performed by Siyanqoba Performing Art. Prizes totalling R40 000 were given to these winners by Sasol Secunda and the three top plays were given automatic entry in the 29th Annual Sancta One-Act Festival to be held at Wits Downstairs Theatre from 22-25 July. All the other winners received a certificate. INDIVIDUAL WINNERS: Best Actor in a leading role • Mandla Sibiya (My Destiny), character - Zenzo Runner up to Best Actor in a leading role • Sinenhlanhla Mngeyi (Catch a Lift 68), character - elevator worker • Absalom Nkabinde (Catch a Lift 68), character - elevator worker Best Supporting Actor • Sunday Mathibela (My Destiny), character - Father Sibiya Best Actress in a leading role • Portia Radebe (Lost Child), character - Mapule Runner up to Best Actress in a leading role • Alta Wentzel (Snort), character - Eva101 • Sinawo Satshongwe ( Baby girl), character - Chelsea Best Supporting Actress • Thando Khanye (My Dream Is), character - Mpho • Eunice Skosana (Silver Cup Is Broken), character - Winnie Best Cameo performance • Kobus van Staden (Snort), character - Cornerlius Thembinkosi Mdluli (My Dream Is), character - Filmmaker Best director • Mandla Sibiya for (My Destiny) Best Ensemble • The entire cast from Catch a Lift 68 Best choreography • The entire cast from Catch a Lift 68 For information on the Sancta One-Act Festival to be held at Wits Downstairs Theatre 18-25 July contact Noel McDonald 083 309 4315. |
