Mbongeni Ngema was a South African playwright, lyricist, composer, director, choreographer, and theatre producer, best known for co-writing the 1981 play Woza Albert! and co-writing the 1988 musical Sarafina!. He was known for plays that reflected the spirit of black South Africans under apartheid, and won much praise for his work, but was also the subject of several controversies. He died in a car accident on 27 December 2023.
Anton Robert Krueger is a South African playwright, poet and academic. His plays have been staged in South Africa, as well as in England, Wales, Australia, the USA, Monaco, Venezuela, Argentina and Chile. He has published under the pseudonyms of Martin de Porres, Robert Krueger, A.R. Krueger, Perd Booysen and Sybrand Baard.
The National Arts Festival (NAF) is an annual festival of performing arts in Makhanda, South Africa. It is the largest arts festival on the African continent and one of the largest performing arts festivals in the world by visitor numbers.
Rehane Abrahams is a performance artist from Cape Town, South Africa. She has performed several works, from Shakespeare to contemporary productions in South Africa and in America. She was a recipient of the FNB Vita Award for Best Actress in 2001. She is a co-founder of The Mothertongue Project, a collective of women artists. She has written and performed a number of plays that have appeared in South Africa, San Francisco and London. She has also appeared in numerous television shows, including SOS on e.tv and as Zelda in Hotnotsgode'.
James 'Yoink' Bartlett was a British-born South African actor best known for his role as the wicked puppet master, David Genaro, in Rhythm City and his theatre work.
Natalia Da Rocha is a South African actress, director, youth activist and businesswoman. She can be remembered as being one of the few persons of colour to appear in entertainment media during the Apartheid-era. In 1981 she was the first Coloured to graduate with a Drama degree from the Afrikaans dominant Stellenbosch University. Beginning 1987 she was the first woman of colour along with Sam Marais to star in a Sun City Extravaganza. In 1992, she became the first South African star to perform publicly in Madagascar. She is well remembered for her roles in musicals such as Ain't Misbehavin'; Midnight Blues; Godspell and Vere . Natalia was one of 40 inducted into the S.A. Legends Museum on 26 January 2020 in Johannesburg.
Sean Gerard Mathias is a Welsh actor, director, and writer. He is known for directing the film Bent and for directing highly acclaimed theatre productions in London, New York City, Cape Town, Los Angeles and Sydney.
Paul Slabolepszy, or Paul "Slab", is a South African actor and playwright.
Nadia Davids is a South African playwright, novelist, and author of short stories and screenplays. Her work has been published, produced, and performed in Southern Africa, Europe, and the United States. She was a Philip Leverhulme Prize winner in 2013. Her play What Remains won five Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards.
Charles J. Fourie is a South African writer and director working in television, film and theatre. Fourie staged his first play as a drama student at the Windybrow Theatre in 1985. In 2021/22, he received a writing and research fellowship from the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study (JIAS) to develop a new theatre format involving artificial intelligence. His latest radio-drama series Alleenmandaat is currently broadcasting on SABC. As of April 2022, he will engage a residency fellowship with the Posthuman Art Network and Foreign Objekt to further develop his latest creative project - AI Performance Narratives. Fourie's play The Parrot Woman was staged in September 2022 at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg.
Ashraf Johaardien is a multi-award-winning playwright, actor, and producer. He was the recipient of the inaugural PANSA Jury Award (2002), was listed as one of Mail & Guardian's 'Top 200 Young South Africans' (2008) and he received a Legends Award (2012) for his achievements in arts and culture.
Amanda Strydom is a South African singer and songwriter. Although she is known best for her singing, Strydom has also been active as a playwright and actress, most notably in the fields of cabaret and also in television.
Brett Bailey is a playwright, artist, designer, play director, festival curator and the artistic director of the group Third World Bun Fight. He was the curator of South Africa's only public arts festival, Infecting the City, in Cape Town, South Africa, from 2008 until 2011. His works have played across Europe, Australia and Africa, and have won several awards, including a gold medal for design at the Prague Quadrennial (2007).
Reza de Wet was a South African playwright known for her significant contributions to South African theatre.
Julia Anastasopoulos is a South African artist, illustrator, designer and actress. Anastasopoulos became a local internet phenomenon in May 2014, with her do-it-yourself web series known as SuzelleDIY. Before she became a YouTube personality, Anastasopoulos created hand-drawn illustrations on the walls and windows of a few MyCiTi bus stations.
Deborah Bell is a South African painter and sculptor whose works are known internationally.
Craig Higginson is a novelist, playwright and theatre director based in Johannesburg, South Africa. He has written and published several international plays and novels and won and been nominated for numerous awards in South Africa and Britain.
Andrew Frederick Buckland is a South African award-winning playwright, performer, film director, mime, and academic.
Judith Angela Broderick, popularly known as Judy Ditchfield, is a South African actress and singer. Judy Ditchfield is probably best known for her role as Stella Fouche in the South African award-winning daily soap Isidingo, and Mrs Rabinowitz in Ses Top’la but her career began more than 40 years before that, as a founder member of the Loft Theatre Company in Durban. After moving to Johannesburg, Judy worked in predominantly theatre, film, and television.
Mncedisi Baldwin Shabangu was a South African actor, playwright, and theatre director best known for his role as Khulekani Ngobese in a South African TV musical drama series Rhythm City. He was the winner of several awards including the 2004 Standard Bank Young Artist Award.
