Date/Time
Date(s) - Thu - 17 Sep
12:00 pm - 1:30 pm
Categories
Dear friends of the Urban Futures Centre @ Durban University of Technology (UFC@DUT)
The UFC@DUT will be running its 24th seminar on Thursday, the 17 September 2015.
Topic : ULWEMBU: The role and responsibilities of collaborative theatre practise and research in the city of Durban
Presenter: Neil Coppen
Date: 17 September 2015
Time: 12:00 to 13:30
Venue: ESBE Boardroom, L3, S4, S Block, Steve Biko Campus- Entrance from
gate 2.
About the Presentation
ULWEMBU is a collaborative documentary-theatre project, that brings together theatre-makers, citizens and civil society to engage the interface between street-level drug-addiction, policing and mental health in the city of Durban, South Africa
The play’s intention is to make visible the invisible life worlds of vulnerable people in Durban, and its surrounds, as well as create new social learning opportunities for the Police, Department of Health, NGOs, families of users, and other groups.
The project is led by award-winning director, playwright and theatre-maker Neil Coppen who is working in conjunction with top KZN actress Mpume Mthombeni, educational sociologist and arts-based development practitioner Dr. Dylan McGarry. The BIG BROTHERHOOD (Vumani Khumalo, Phumlani Ngubane, Ngcebo Cele, Sandile Nxumalo and Zenzo Msomi) are an accomplished community-theatre group based in KwaMashu and operate as both theatre-makers and citizen ‘sociologists’ who have been collaborating with Coppen and his team to capture the stories and life worlds of various people caught in the complicated web that is street level drug addiction.
ULWEMBU has been created in association with the Urban Futures Centre, Twist Theatre Development Project (Twist Durban), Think Theatre and the generous support of the Denis Hurley Centre.
Writer/director Neil Coppen will be talking about the first phase of the UlWEMBU project and discussing the future function and responsibilities of collaborative theatre processes and practices in the city of Durban.
About the Presenter
Neil Coppen lives between the cities of Durban and Johannesburg where he works as a writer, director and designer. He has won several awards for his writing, acting, design and direction work. In 2011 he was named the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Drama, which was followed by the ISPA fellowship award to New York in 2012 and 2105. He is one of the six South African playwright’s to have been granted a staged reading of his new work at The Royal Court Theatre in London in 2015.
As a playwright and designer Neil’s works include Suicidal Pigeons (2005) Two …The Beginning of the End (co -written with Clare Mortimer) as well as the theatre classic Tin Bucket Drum (2005-2013) Tree Boy and Abnormal Loads. The play text for Abnormal Loads is currently included in schools and university syllabuses across South Africa and as far afield as America and Canada. Coppen annually collaborates with the Twist-theatre Development project as a writing/ director mentor to various community-theatre groups in and around KZN.
In 2010 and 2013 Neil teamed up with visual-artist Vaughn Sadie for the VANSA TWO THOUSAND AND TEN REASONS TO LIVE IN A SMALL TOWN (REIMAGINING SPACE-PLACE-PROCESS) residency where he spent three months in the historic KZN battle field town of Dundee working alongside a range of community-groups, film-makers, historians, tour-guides and performing artists.
Neil recently adapted, designed and directed a localized version of George Orwell’s Animal Farm which won two 2015 Naledi Awards has and has been seen by over 20 000 learners around the country.
Kindly RSVP to confirm your attendance to UFCadmin@dut.ac.za