Funding needed for aspiring performers

The culturally diverse cast was chosen from learners from five Johannesburg high schools (aged between 14 and 19) at open auditions held earlier this year.

April 18, 2019

Zaid Khumalo 2 minutes read

A collective of young, aspiring performers from The Green Room Collaboration is planning on staging a suspense-filled act at the Grahamstown National Arts Festival at the end of June.

There is one big stumbling block though, the group has to raise R12 000 to get there. The fee to the rights to perform the play, payable to the Dramatic, Artistic and Literary Rights Organisation (Dalro), is R6 000. Other expenses include costs to advertise and promote their play and enhancing the set and costumes.

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Directors Devon Welmers and Bianca Schulte-Brader have already begun rehearsals for Peter Gordon’s Murdered to Death.

Bianca said: “We urgently need to raise the funds so we can bring to fruition our goal – to ensure our diverse group of creative, talented young student actors get a chance to perform alongside professionals at the arts festival.”

Bianca and Devon opted to crowdfund via BackaBuddy to raise the desperately needed cash.

“We hope the performers’ families and friends, as well as members of the profession and lovers of the dramatic arts, will volunteer to contribute,” said Devon.

“The vision of The Green Room Collaboration is to create a hub for creative individuals, allowing true expression and exploration in a safe and open space.

“We are doing important work – fostering the future generation of performers in South Africa, ” said Bianca, who added it was the reason the troupe was so grateful to have been accepted to perform three shows at the Grahamstown National Arts Festival.

“This will give our students a once in a lifetime opportunity to make their debut within the professional industry,” Bianca said.

The directors call British playwright Gordon’s Murdered to Death a feverishly funny farce, jam-packed with all the suspense and allure of murder, interlaced with some beautifully witty humour.

The play resembles a high-stakes Cluedo game, which showcases 10 characters who are in the mid of a thrilling murder investigation.

There is a classic cast of characters: Bunting the bumbling butler, a stiff-upper-lipped English colonel, a shady art dealer, two local inspectors, and a well-meaning local sleuth who seems to attract murder.

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Bianca said they chose this production because they wanted a fun, fast-paced piece with extravagant characters that the cast can really sink their teeth into.

“The play is laced with wonderful wit and humour and just the right touch of suspense, so it’s also a really enjoyable production for all audiences.”

Bianca said they finished casting in February and the budding actors have been in rehearsals since.

“It’s hugely important for these young actors at the start of their careers to gain exposure at the country’s premier arts festival, performing beside professional actors,” Devon said.