UPDATE: ASSITEJ Responds to BWW SA Article On the Recognition of Theatre for Young Audiences at SA Awards

By: May. 02, 2016
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On 19 April, I published an article on BroadwayWorld South Africa titled, "On the Meaningful Recognition of Theatre for Young Audiences at South African Theatre Awards Ceremonies". This was a response to an article I had written about the 51st Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards, questioning the role of that awards ceremony played in recognising theatre for young audiences. In the second article, I was able to mention the multiple nominations that productions of theatre for young audiences had earned at the Naledi Theatre Awards, thanks to several categories designated specifically to such productions. The Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards, which have no similar categories, on the other had have given, at most, three nominations to productions created for young audiences over the last five years.

The director of ASSITEJ South Africa, Yvette Hardie, responded to the second article via my Facebook wall. ASSITEJ SA is a networking platform for people working with or interested in theatre for children and young people and aims to promote and foster high-quality theatre for children and young people. Hardie's response, which deals with some of the specifics regarding ASSITEJ SA's partnership with the Naledi Awards, follows:

ASSITEJ SA believes that theatre for young audiences crucially needs to be recognised by awards systems, and since it often operates in a different paradigm from theatre for other audiences, we looked for ways to overcome the barriers. Often theatre for young audiences performs MORE often than theatre for adults, as it tends in many cases to travel to its audience, rather than playing only in mainstream venues. One of the reasons that ASSITEJ South Africa partnered with the Naledi Awards was to deal with these technical reasons for non-inclusion of the many deserving theatre pieces for children and young people.

Our involvement means that a special panel of ASSITEJ SA appointed judges sees work wherever it is presented - in schools, creches, community halls, at short festivals etc - and then submits a shortlist of this work to be viewed by the Naledi panel of judges (along with our team) at a special Showcase held at a theatre venue, such as the Soweto theatre, where we can make it easier for the judges to see the work that would otherwise be invisible, or at any rate, inconsistently available to them.This has allowed work for two hitherto neglected areas of theatre for young audiences to be given consideration for the Naledi award: namely, theatre for very young children (under 4) and theatre for teens (13+), while theatre for children aged between 4 and 13, which is generally in better supply in the formal theatres, is still, of course, considered.

Hardie goes on to states that all productions that are considered must meet certain criteria. The productions must be professional, include a professional creative team as well as a significant proportion of professional performers. The productions must have been performed at least ten times in the year question in festivals, theatres, theatres or non-theatre spaces. Only productions made especially for a South African audience are considered, and these must include significant South African involvement. This does not mean that the content of the productions has to be South African; rather, this criterion distinguishes work made by South Africans from the work that tours South Africa by international companies, often under the ASSITEJ banner. However, co-productions between South African artists and international artists would be considered. Finally, productions should specifically target children or young people (aged 0-19) as an audience, and should be excellent theatre productions of the highest artistic quality. Hardie continues:

As a result of this strategy, we have so far enjoyed a very successful engagement with the Naledi Awards, with this year seeing an increase in the number of awards recognising work for this important audience in order to honour the increasing amount of work for young audiences, and its great diversity.

The final winner of the best work for young audiences in 2014 was ANIMAL FARM, a play created for teenagers, based on a school setwork, but of such high quality that it was nominated in four categories of the Naledis, winning three. It should be noted that this production went on to play in mainstream theatres for general audiences, as a result of the exposure it received through the Naledi Awards, and has been critically acclaimed since. A triumph for all involved!

We look forward to engaging with other award systems in South Africa to find ways to acknowledge the excellent work which is being created for these audiences, and to ensure that the theatre-makers concerned are acknowledged and celebrated. We join the theatre community in congratulating the 2015 winners, People's Theatre with SHREK, THE MUSICAL JR, Jenine Collocott Warren and Nick Warren for MAKING MANDELA, and Gamelihle Bovana, James and The Giant Peach. We also congratulate all the nominees whose work was considered, and of course, our ASSITEJ SA Ambassador, the extraordinary Thembi Mtshali-Jones, whose body of work was recognised with the Executive Director's Award last night.

Hardie concluded her statement by extending congratulations, on behalf of ASSITEJ SA, to the winners in categories for theatre for young audiences at the Naledi Theatre Awards: SHREK, THE MUSICAL JR (Best Production for Children (0-12), People's Theatre), MAKING MANDELA (Best Production for Young Audiences (13-17) , KBT Productions and Hello Elephant in association with the SA State Theatre and Daphne Kuhn for the A&G Theatre on the Square), and Gamelihle Bovana (Best Performance in a Children's Theatre Production, in JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH, The National Children's Theatre. Hardie also congratulated all the nominees whose work was considered as well as ASSITEJ SA Ambassador Thembi Mtshali-Jones, whose body of work was recognised with the Executive Director's Award at the awards ceremony.

For further information about ASSITEJ South Africa, visit the organisation's website or Facebook page. Read Yvette Hardie's complete response here.



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