Youth Drama Festival offers ideas on 'Making our City Resilient'

Rehearsals for YES Environmental Drama Festival

To be resilient, a city needs to have certain strengths to ensure that it can deal
with natural and man-made disasters: to cope and bounce back.

The City of Cape Town’s Disaster Risk Management and Environmental Resource Management Departments and the Provincial Government of the Western Cape’s Disaster Management Centre, in association with the Artscape, will host the fifth Youth Environmental School (YES) Drama Festival from 27 to 28 July 2012 at the Artscape Theatre Complex.

The Drama Festival is one of the youth development initiatives of the City’s YES programme and the theme for 2012 is Making our City Resilient. To be resilient, a city needs to have certain strengths to ensure that it can deal with natural and man-made disasters: to cope and bounce back. There is strength in structures, but also in people who are prepared. The question the festival theme is posing is: how can we, the citizens of Cape Town, step up to the challenge? How do we take responsibility for being prepared?

“High schools in Cape Town have created environmental plays to be showcased at this two-day festival. The learners will communicate their understanding of resilience through three key disaster areas: sea level rise, fires and flooding. The festival is asking the youth to demonstrate active citizenship through their plays,” said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, Alderman J.P. Smith.

Environmental plays

Date: Friday 27 July

Time: 15:30 – 18:00

Venue: The Artscape Theatre, D. F. Malan Street, Foreshore, Cape Town

All media are welcome to attend.

The following high schools are participating in this year’s festival, namely: Zisukhanyo Secondary, Aloe High, The Settlers High, Islamia College, Queens Park, Rocklands High, Edgemead High, and the Chris Hani Arts and Culture School; along with Beautiful Gate SA (a community youth development initiative) and Storywood (a youth drama group).

In preparation for this festival, participating schools have attended a programme of six creative workshops on theatre-making, as well as understanding the environmental issues that drive the festival theme. Leading theatre practitioners have conducted these workshops: Liz Mills has led a team of voice trainers who have helped learners to understand the value of clear and confident communication on the stage and Karen Jeynes has facilitated the script-writing workshops, helping the learner’s express the messages contained in the theme through skilled script-writing.

Well-known performers and physical theatre experts Mdu Kwayema and Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi have guided the learners through the physical characterisation and the use of effective movement for the stage. The City’s Environmental Resource Management and Disaster Risk Management Departments have facilitated the environmental learning which has supported the script-writing process.

All participating schools will make use of a ‘one-set-for-all’ design. This is a very effective tool for encouraging learners to be highly creative in their approach to the stage space. Each participating school has also been asked to design and make a theatre object from recyclable materials to symbolise particular meaning in their play.

The ten environmental plays will take place on Friday 27 July before an adjudicating panel of six judges. This panel comprises Charlotte Powell from the City of Cape Town’s Disaster Risk Management Department; Ina Bruce, the Curriculum Advisor for the subject Dramatic Arts at the Western Cape Education Department; Sticks Mdidimba, the Indigenous Arts Manager at the Artscape; Pavs Pillay, a science communicator who specialises in marine issues and global climate change, based at the University of Cape Town’s Marine Research Institute; voice coach and actress, Lesoke Seabe; and Grace Stead from Steadfast Greening.

A showcase group performance for all participating learners – an orchestrated vocal soundscape directed and developed by Liz Mills – will be staged on Saturday 28 July; and there will also be a performance of a play from the Friday performances. Prizes will be awarded for the Best Performer and Best Supporting Performer, Best Production and Most Promising Production, the Best Script, and an overall Judge’s Award for a unique feature in a production which is worthy of special mention.

Prize-giving, showcase and group piece performance

Date: Saturday 28 July

Time: 10:30 – 12:30

Venue: The Artscape Theatre, D. F. Malan Street, Foreshore, Cape Town

All media are welcome to attend.

Members of the public are welcome to attend both festival days, i.e. Friday 27 July and Saturday 28 July. There is no entrance fee. For more information, please contact Fran Cox on 082 556 0275.