Celebrations abound for theatre production team
JOHANNESBURG – It was a night of celebration for producer Bernard Jay as his theatre production with Joburg Theatre scooped seven awards.
On 20 May, the annual Naledi Theatre Awards took place at the esteemed Joburg Theatre and it was a great night for producer Bernard Jay and his team at The Color Purple walked away with seven awards.
The Naledi Theatre Awards have been in existence for 15 years and are recognised as the premier awards event on the Gauteng theatre calendar.
Jay has been a theatre maker in the UK, the USA, and South Africa for more than 50 years. In 2012, it became Jay’s dream to produce the glorious musical The Color Purple with an all-South African creative team and cast – a journey that has continued for more than six years.
In 2013, he left his position as a chief executive officer at Joburg Theatre and decided to venture out once again as an independent theatre producer. Since then he has produced the top-selling musicals Sister Act, Saturday Night Fever and The Color Purple.
In 2017, Joburg Theatre agreed to join Jay in a partnership to present the show and after intense planning, audiences and critics were astounded by the premier of The Color Purple in South Africa on the Nelson Mandela Theatre stage at Joburg Theatre in February last year.
Jay continues to serve as an executive producer of the Janice Honeyman written-and-directed pantomimes at Joburg Theatre, a staple annual tradition for generations of theatre supporters, including Snow White last year.
To top off the successes of both The Color Purple and Snow White, the theatre community, through its annual Naledi Awards, honoured these two productions with The Color Purple receiving 13 award nominations and Snow White receiving five nominations for the 2018 season. Joburg Theatre and Jay were thrilled by this news and greatly appreciated such a prestigious acknowledgment of their work together.
“Joburg Theatre and director Janice Honeyman have brought me both pride and joy in the past 20 years,” said Jay.
“We have created 23 major stage musical productions together in this period. I’m hugely grateful at this time for the continued support from the theatre’s CEO, Xoliswa Nduneni-Ngema, and its board of directors.”
Jay congratulated all those nominated and all the subsequent winners in the various categories at this year’s awards.
Details: Bernard Jay Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ProducerBernardJay/ or visit www.bernardjay.co.za
Joburg Theatre www.joburgtheatre.com 086 167 0670.
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