MUSHO! FESTIVAL 2014

Three of the new Twist groups performed their new work at the Musho Festival in January:

A-Men to We-Men was created by Siyathuthuka Theatre Company, in collaboration with writer / mentor Zwai Mgijima. The production won the fringe audience favourite award, and has been invited to perform at the Drama Department at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, as well as the Hexagon Theatre Festival in Pietermaritzburg.
Brothers, created by Lashona Art and Theatre Creations in collaboration with writer / mentor Vice Motshabi Monageng received a special mention award for its strong performances
Battle of the Ages, created by Izwi Youth Movement in collaboration with writer / mentor Neil Coppen was another strong production, with a popular story-line.
The festival also hosted the beautifully staged production of A White Suit created by Intuba Arts Development in collaboration with writer Xolani Dlongolo, and mentor, Roel Twijnstra.
A new group was introduced to the programme over this period, and we are happy to welcome Sinethemba Arts Project from Ulundi under the Twist umbrella. The group is under the leadership of Zanele Mbatha, and we look forward to a great relationship with them.

VISITING DUTCH PERFORMERS AT MUSHO!
Funding from the Netherlands Embassy allowed us to bring two theatre productions from the Netherlands to the Musho! Festival. This included the amazing performance art piece “Freeze” by Nick Steur and Maite Geurin, and Dette Glashouwer’s interesting story-telling of “Money and Enough / Dette in Africa”. Both pieces were well received by the festival audiences.
Nick held two workshops for artists on developing their own craft with passion. These workshops were attended by 15 young artists, who commented that it was a very engaging process that caused the participants to think critically and evaluate their performance and theatre construction methods.
Dette facilitated a master-class for around 50 participants, on translating ideas into action and ways to gain autobiographical knowledge to create universal art. The workshop focused on how to gain awareness mentally and physically and to perform it right away. The Twist groups participated enthusiastically in this workshop.

GROUPS CREATE NEW WORK
The four Twist groups are currently in the process of creating new work which will be ready for performance in April 2014. Izwi Youth are working with writer/director Zwai Mgijima; Siyathuthuka will be working with Monageng Vice Motshabi; Lashona Arts with Ntshieng Mokgoro; and new group Sinethemba Arts will be working with Twist founder and mentor, Jerry Pooe.
This new work is sponsored by the KZN Department of Arts and Culture and by a new funding grant received from the KZN Performing Arts Trust.

TWIST TO TRAVEL TO ROTTERDAM
Based on an exchange project in Durban in 2013, previous Twist group members from Umsindo Projects, Siso and Goso Shabalala, have been invited by Stut Theatre Group to work with them on developing a new collaborative performance. Siso and Goso will work with Stut in Utrecht, and will perform the new work, Go-Hasigo, at the International Community Arts Festival in Rotterdam on 28 March. Emma Durden and Jerry Pooe will also travel to Rotterdam to be part of the festival and to talk about the work that Twist does. We look forward to building on our partnership with Netherlands-based community theatres, as well as with other organisations from around the globe.

TWIST THEATRE DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS IS SUPPORTED BY THE NATIONAL LOTTERY DISTRIBUTION TRUST FUND (NLDTF) AND THE KZN DEPARTMENT OF ARTS AND CULTURE
THE EMBASSY OF THE KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS
THE KZN PERFORMING ARTS TRUST