On Wednesday 1st October 2008, the internationally recognised and award winning South African playwright Nicholas Ellenbogen and his company, Theatre for Africa, will perform for the Marymount community.
Theatre for Africa came into being to exemplify the African arts with a great focus on conservation and the environment. The company has won awards throughout the world and the director Nicholas Ellenbogen’s work has been recognised with a Congressional Citation (USA) and with the World Wildlife Federation’s Presidential Award. A documentary was also made about his work called Africa Unbottled. The company has toured Asia, Africa, Europe and the USA and has performed for the British Royal Family at Balmoral Castle, The United Nations, the WWF, and the US State Department. Some of the plays, such as Horn of Sorrow and Guardians of Eden, have had a significant impact on the international regulation of the ivory trade. The company is on its way to the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Barcelona.
At Marymount, the company, along with a theatre troupe from Nepal, the EarthBeat Nepali Theatre, will perform The Silence of Bardiya, a play centering on the survival of the rhinos and their relationship with farming communities in the twenty first Century.
The Grade 9 students will then take part in a workshop on the process of playmaking, and focus on the practical process for theatre production in Africa where resources are often very limited.
Marymount students will have a first-hand opportunity to learn how Ellenbogen and his team have responded to the UN Millennium Development Goal “To ensure environmental sustainability" by working directly with target communities, listening to their problems and answers for dealing with their environmental issues to achieve sustainable long-term solutions.
