Four schools sweep drama festival awards
THE HIGH School Drama Festival concluded in spectacular fashion, with four schools from across the Western Cape bagging top prizes for their performances.
The 16 finalist schools, selected from over 50 entries, spent four action-packed days presenting their extraordinary drama projects to a panel of prominent adjudicators, including Sticks Mdidimba, Ilne Fourie, Riaan Visman and Lesley Manim, this month.
After a testing audition process, the 16 selected schools took part in workshops, honing their skills and experiencing what was for many the first taste of drama on a professional stage.
Eerste River High School, Table View High School, Worcester Secondary School and Bernadino Heights High School showcased particularly stand-out performances, claiming prizes in the nine categories.
Philasande Majikela from Eerste River and Sophie van der Put of Table View performed extremely well, claiming the best actor and actress awards respectively. The judges were also blown away by Bernadino Heights’ Winston, presenting them with the best production award.
Speaking about the event, the adviser to the chief executive of Transformational Projects, Thokozile Ntshinga, said: “I would like to thank all the judges, teachers and artists for what they have done and it is a great honour for us to open our doors to the groups. This competition is about instilling critical thinking in these young actors’ minds, making friends with other groups from other areas and cultures, so that they appreciate and respect each other and have dignity.”
After a 16-year relationship between Artscape and the High School Drama Festival, School Liaison Unit project manager at Artscape, Whelan Maarman, suggested the partnership would continue for many years.
“The kids grow when they get a chance to perform on a professional stage. It’s very important to continue providing these opportunities because we give children a chance many have never had before.”
Artscape are also hosting the gala of the Schools’ Arts Festival today – the grand finale of an event which has attracted over 3 000 learners from across the province.
About 18 of the finest groups will be performing immediately after a prize-giving ceremony at 6pm. Ticket information can be found at www.artscape.co.za