City drama doyen awarded doctorate

KIMBERLEY resident Marlene Zwiegers, of Gruispad Theatre, has been awarded a Doctorate in Philosophy with Specialisation in Psychology of Education.

Zwiegers holds a BA Communication from the University of the Free State (1983), and a Masters in Drama from Stellenbosch University (2011).

She received the Carnegie Prize for Puppet Theatre (a reading project for the Northern Cape Library) in 2000 and was commissioned by Arts and Culture in Kimberley and the Premier’s Committee for Crime Prevention to train artists to perform social plays about various relevant issues, later specifically focussing on alcohol abuse.

Zwiegers is also the recipient of an ATKV Afrikoon award for playwriting.

A former teacher at Kimberley Girls’ High School, she currently teaches drama at her Gruispad Theatre (Kimberley), practising Theatre4Life, which combines art, performance and drama interventions as creative developmental support for students and pupils.

In her doctorate dissertation, “A narrative journey with children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: The effect of structure drama intervention on functionality in education”, she explores autism, drama techniques and disability, drawing on prior international research.

The application of drama as an intervention to enhance functionality in education was considered in an empirical study, in which 11 children on the autism spectrum were assessed and observed, prior to, during and after drama intervention classes.