Lights, camera, action… for SCrIBE finalists
THE three finalists of the 2017 SCrIBE Scriptwriting Competition have been announced.
Professional staged readings of their plays will take place nightly from September 18 to 20, at 7pm on Monday and Wednesday and at 8.30pm on Tuesday at the Theatre Arts Admin Collective, Methodist Church Hall, corner of Milton Road and Wesley Street, Observatory. Entrance is free.
The winners will be announced on September 21.
Produced by the Imbewu Trust and now celebrating its sixth year, SCrIBE is a national competition which provides the opportunity for playwrights to develop their work.
Prizes include having a script produced for a professional run, mentorship programmes and all finalists engage in feedback sessions with audience members at staged readings of their scripts.
The 2017 finalists are Darrel Bristow-Bovey for his script Priest With Balloons; Two Lovers by Ter Hollmann; and Gardening and Other Distractions by Juliette RoseInnes.
On Monday, Richard WrightFirth directs the reading of Gardening and Other Distractions.
The play explores, among other things, youth culture and apathy that could take place across the world and how things can crumble in the most mundane of ways.
Then on Tuesday, Two Lovers will be presented. A two-hander love story, it looks at the arc of a romance from beginning to end and is directed by Kimberley Buckle.
Priest with Balloons on Wednesday, directed by Terence Makapan, portrays how a small, impoverished fishing village on the West Coast is in the grip of a drought, causing the fabric of the community to unravel.
The reverend of the local church hatches an unusual plan to unite and inspire his congregation.
However, he is locked in conflict with his brother, a television actor visiting from Johannesburg, and with Xolisa, the politically conscientised daughter of his domestic worker, and finally with himself, and his own faith, and his belief in his own place in the New South Africa.
The staged readings will be followed each night by a discussion with the audience members.
Criteria for selection included that scripts must not have been produced previously or have existing future runs or plans of being produced.
Other criteria are that the scripts should be in English, no longer than 40 pages or 80 minutes long and with a maximum of five cast members.
Entrants must also be over 18 years old.
The Imbewu Trust and judges were again looking for original content of outstanding quality that explores the diverse range of South African stories.
The panel of SCrIBE judges comprises a group of seasoned theatre practitioners.
“Finalists have often found the staged readings one of the most beneficial aspects of the competition,” says Samantha de Romijn, co-founder of the Imbewu Trust.
“The standard of entries was again high this year and we look forward to the discussions around the staged readings of our top three finalists.”
One of the 2016 winners, Nokuzola Bikwana, had her play No Christmas For Us staged at this year’s Zabalaza Festival at the Baxter Theatre Centre, directed by Thami Mbongo.
The Imbewu Trust also provided support for the run of the other 2016 winner, Milton Schorr’s The Heroin Diaries, at the Alexander Bar, directed by Fred Abrahamse.
“Imbewu has really opened the doors of positive writing for me,” says Bikwana, one of the 2016 winners.
“I had been a writer of only stories and poems and never had any confidence of writing plays, but having won the competition it has instilled a confidence in me and helped me define myself as a writer,” says Bikwana.
The Imbewu Trust is an NGO which was established by Paul Griffiths and De Romijn to promote the development of contemporary South African theatre and arts and to help showcase it on an international stage.
The trust seeks to create an accessible community of varied voices that can flourish through collaboration, resourcefulness and innovation.