UCT master’s candidate brings plays to life

University of Cape Town (UCT) master’s candidate and Masambe Theatre coordinator and curator Nwabisa Plaatjie brings to life two plays by American playwright Alice Childress, as part of the Baxter Theatre’s Women’s Month celebrations, in the Golden Arrow Studio from Wednesday, 28 August.

With four UCT graduates included in the cast – Indalo Benett, Sizwesandile Mnisi, Marty Kintu and Daneel van der Walt – Florence and Wine in the Wilderness make their South African premiere. The plays were carefully chosen to pay tribute to the evolving black woman who should not be defined by a single, limited image or narrative.

Childress was a novelist, playwright and actress, widely acknowledged as the only African American woman to have written, produced and published plays for four decades and the first to win an Obie Award. She was a beacon of hope, known for opening doors for many black playwrights, actors and producers.

In her short professional career to date, director Plaatjie has fast become recognised as a trailblazer in the arts. After graduating from UCT in 2016, she joined Magnet Theatre’s year-long Theatre-Making Internship Programme where she created Aha! and 23 Years, a Month and 7 Days, both of which have toured locally and internationally.

The double bill runs at the Baxter Golden Arrow Studio, from 28 August until 13 September at 19:30, with a R50 special for UCT staff and students for performances on 28, 29 and 31 August.