15/11/2025
Thubelihle Youth Club's Ayakhane Arts Programme hosted a three-week theatre acting skills exchange with a guest theatre practitioner, Herbert Mokoena, at Thubelihle Art Centre. The initiative sought to promote budding artists' development, cultural discussion and community empowerment through collaborative learning.๐ญ๐ญ
The objective of the theatre acting skills exchange was: To share various performing techniques, traditions and storytelling ways.
Encourage peer-to-peer mentoring and collaborative creation.
Create new hybrid styles through creative fusion (township realism meets physical theater).
Use theatre as a forum for investigating and addressing social issues.
Improve practical abilities including voice, movement, improvisation, character development and ensemble dynamics.
Create pathway for future collaborations, festivals and touring opportunities.
Bring theatre to community spaces and centers.
The skill exchange initiative included the following components:
1. Voice and speech: breath work, projection, articulation, and resonance.
2. Movement and physical theatre: body awareness, posture, and dance-theatre fusion.
3. Improvisation and devising- creating situations based on life experiences.
4. Character development: establishing backstory, motive, emotional honesty, and psychological depth.
The theatre acting skills exchange resulted in a fantastic evening of showcase performances that enthralled and delighted the local community. The initiative's developing artists produced a play named ABSENT FATHER at the Thubelihle Art Center. Thubelihle Youth Club also provided a platform for Original Krafters to present their new play, WHEN THEY CLASH. Thubelihle Youth Club delivered a stunning Setswana dance performance to cap off the showcase night.
The exchange's principal beneficiaries are emerging and youth performers, who acquired exposure to various techniques and traditions while also developing confidence, originality and stage presence. The guest facilitator to improve facilitation and leadership abilities while also developing collaborative projects based on local culture. Marginalised and indigenous communities revitalise and preserve traditional performance traditions, hence enhancing cultural narrative and lived experience. Local audiences and communities attended the performances and engaged in a debate and reflection through theatre.
ASSITEJ South Africa