The Writers’ Lab (TWL), a Gauteng based NPO, is putting together a one-of-a-kind experience for early career theatre directors based in the province. The inaugural Hauntings Young Directors Project is undertaken in collaboration with the award-winning TX Theatre, with funding from the NAC Stimulus Package. The two organisations have previously partnered up on several projects, one of which was the publication of diartskonageng and TWL’s first anthology of plays with the same title: Hauntings; featuring four plays by playwrights Jade Beeby, Khutjo Green, Olivia Fischer and Dr Refiloe Lepere.
The Hauntings Directors Project has several aims, chief of which is to create a pathway to mainstream theatre stages for creatives who primarily produce work in the form of alternative/independent theatre, which is often termed community theatre. We are effectively bridging the gaps between community and mainstream theatre through capacitating talented directors to produce work at scale and with some financial support. Through a process starting with ten early career directors staging their own original works at the TX Theatre, we aim to select one director from the ten to direct one of the plays from the Hauntings anthology in one of the state-funded mainstream theatre spaces.
The ten productions will be staged at the TX Theatre from the 25 – 29 January 2023, followed by an adjudication process to select the director who will be mounting one of the works in Hauntings. The festival will be preceded by a series of Masterclasses from the 23 - 25 January 2023 hosted by industry professionals on subjects such as playwriting, producing theatre with limited resources, running independent/alternative theatre spaces, story circles and so much more. These will be open to the public, and will set the scene for the festival where the ten productions will be staged. Facilitators for these masterclasses, include renowned television and stage writer Eddie Thaba, whose experience spans multiple prime-time television productions; Dr Refiloe Lepere director, playwright and lecturer at the Tshwane University of Technology and Mxolisi Masilela, artistic director of the TX Theatre. These exciting sessions are aimed at upholding The Writers’ Lab’s long-standing mission to provide quality educational development initiatives for artists in development through exposure to industry best-practices and university level educational content.
