UJ Arts & Culture invites aspirant and established playwrights to apply for participation in the second round of its online playwriting laboratory.
A division of the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture (FADA) at the University of Johannesburg, UJ Arts & Culture is passionate about the development of new work. In addition to supporting the development of seven new works that playwrights worked on as part of the 2020 UJ Playwriting Lab, it also facilitated the development of Hlakanyana, based on an isiZulu folk tale, in partnership with Madevu Entertainment and Janice Honeyman and co-produced a new youth-drama, Mother’s Grimm, in partnership with Jade Bowers Design and Management. This follows several new works developed by, in collaboration or in residence at UJ Arts & Culture over the past few years.
‘Our country is rich in stories and us at UJ Arts & Culture believe that, now more than ever, it is important to develop and archive content that resonate with or that is important to our community, that stimulate discourse and that make the world a more beautiful or interesting place – in an African way,’ says Head of UJ Arts & Culture, Pieter Jacobs.
The aim of this playwriting programme is for participants to complete the script for a 60-90 minute one-act play by the end of 2021. The first cohort of playwrights included Francesco Nassimbeni, Tamarisk-Ray Glogauer, Francesca Matthys, Khwezi Becker, Jarred Thompson, Gabriella Pinto and Lalu Mokuku. Between three and five of the plays completed will be selected for a play reading series in 2021.
Applications for this year’s playwriting laboratory is now open and new, emerging and established South African writers are invited to apply. The programme will be presented in English but applicants may also indicate if they are interested in writing a play in another official language.
Applicants are required to submit one monologue (no more than 400 words) and a dialogue (no more than 600 words). The following online form should be completed and submitted by no later than 26 February 2021:
To ensure that participants gain meaningful value from the process and that scripts developed are as close to ready for production as possible, a limited number of participants will be selected.
About UJ Arts and Culture
UJ Arts & Culture, a division of the Faculty of Art, Design & Architecture (FADA), produces and presents world-class student and professional arts programmes aligned to the UJ vision of an international university of choice, anchored in Africa, dynamically shaping the future. A robust range of arts platforms are offered on all four UJ campuses for students, staff, alumni and the general public to experience and engage with emerging and established Pan-African and international artists drawn from the full spectrum of the arts.
In addition to UJ Arts & Culture, FADA (www.uj.ac.za/fada) offers programmes in eight creative disciplines, in Art, Design and Architecture, as well as playing home to the NRF SARChI Chair in South African Art & Visual Culture, and the Visual Identities in Art & Design Research Centre. The Faculty has a strong focus on sustainability and relevance, and engages actively with the dynamism, creativity and diversity of Johannesburg in imagining new approaches to art and design education.