The 14th innercity drama festival

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THE 14TH INNERCITY DRAMA FESTIVAL GIVES LEARNERS A SPOTLIGHT TO EXPRESS AFRICAN FUTURES



By Blessing Mhlanga

Somewhere in Hillbrow, in the heart of Johannesburg exists a theatre for an art-passionate youth, where an annual high school drama festival lands on its stage to offer itself as an artistic god, to inspire, challenge and entertain the audience through the power of dramatic plays. With a record breaking number of 42 schools taking part in this year’s festival at Hillbrow Theatre, under a provocative theme called ‘AFRICAN FUTURES’; this is a unique platform that engages the learners, facilitators and directors to produce effective stories that will positively transform the society.

Established in 2005 by a group of six facilitators with only six schools, the Innercity high school drama festival has seen remarkable growth both in number of schools and the quality of performances; however the journey thus far has not been a heaven of bliss. In the early 2000, the facilitators focused mainly on world tours of dramatic performances but when the overseas market was drying up, the struggle to keep the art alive emerged and they then had to do something to keep their artistic zeal and creativity alive here at home.

Programe coordinator Thabang Phakathi reveals that, “When the oversees tour market became slow, we said what can we do here at home? We wanted to do something that will last forever and that was the birth of the Innercity High Schools Drama Festival idea.”

Barnato Park High, Phoenix College, BASA Tutorial Institute, Izenzo Kungemazwi, ST Endas’s Secondary School and Jules High laid the foundation as the first schools to participate in this festival, in which St Endas Secondary School took home the Best Production award. The main challenge that has tormented this festival is funding, as Thabang Phakathi maintains that they had to fund their first festival from their own pockets which costed them at least R20 000. Although the festival has recently been receiving funding from sponsors such as Department of Arts and Culture, RMB Bank, City of Joburg, Phakathi still maintains that the funds are not enough to run the festival the way they want it to be run.

This year’s festival took place from 31 August - 8 September 2018, with Isizwe Sechaba Secondary School walking away with the golden crown beating the other 41 Schools.
Before the festival, the facilitators run a survey in which learners are required to choose a theme for festival’s performances; the survey is then analysed and the theme with the most majority is chosen. This is followed by assigning each participating School with a fully trained facilitator who will work with the learners from team building to creating a unique play that is relevant to the theme.

Among the renowned facilitators include; Linda Mkhwanazi, who is also one of the initiators of this festival as well as Gcebile Dlamini, Sibusiso Hadebe and Malvin Dube. The school which attains the best production tropy receives a R5 000 cash prize, the second best production takes home a R2 500 cash prize and the third best production gets a R1 500 cash prize. The best actor and actress in the receive R500 book voucher.

Mpho Molepo, director and theatre practioner who has been one of the adjudicators for the past 10 years of the festival, argues that from where they came from to this day the festival has grown in terms of style, level, standard of the performances - the standard has become high.

The festival does not directly train the participants to be professional actors or to pursue a career in drama, though it has worked for some learners who having won the best actor and best actress awards sailed to the professional industry and are now acting on popular Television programes; Phakathi says that even the learners who didn’t pursue a career in art, still return at Hillbrow theatre to offer their gratitude for how stage acting has played a role in building their confidence and self-esteem.

According to Kediboni Rasekuola, who was part of the St Endas’s Drama group in 2011, “I learnt a lot of things that I never knew existed. I learnt how important it is for me to keep informing myself about ordinary things.”

Ambassador of the Innercity High School Drama festival, who’s also a professional actor Dumisani Dlamini outlines the importance of theatre; “Theatre teaches you discipline, teaches you who you are. It’s a very spiritual thing that helps you become observant with your surrounding, enhances you with research skills while helping you to grow.”

Despite the financial challenges, Phakathi still holds an extraordinary vision for this festival, which includes expanding it to a Gauteng Drama festival next year and growing it again to a national festival later on but he also adds that, the fulfillment of this vision still “depends on funding.”
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