Emma Durden, the programme manager of Twist Theatre Development Projects, has been honoured with an award for Leadership in Community Based Theatre and Civic Engagement by the International Association of Theatre in Higher Education. She will travel to Chicago in August to receive the award. This is great recognition for her work done with community theatre in KwaZulu-Natal and further afield.

Ismail Mahomed, Artistic Director of the National Arts Festival, commented on Facebook: “I am delighted for this theatre & education warrior. Emma Durden was the first person to approach me in 2008 for a partnership handshake. Since then, together with Roel Twijnstra, Emma has led the Novel-Script Project at the Festival. She has been a significant partner with the Remix Laboratory programme. And she has been an active partner on several production collaborations.”

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Twist will be involved in two projects at the upcoming National Arts Festival in Grahamstown. The Novel-Script Project is the annual writer’s residency, and this year features writers from Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, thanks to the support of an Ant Funding Grant from Pro Helvetia, financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). The week-long workshop is based on the award-winning novel We Need New Names by Noviolet Bulawayo, and will culminate in an open performance on July 4 at 11h00 at the Eden Grove Seminar Room 1.

The Twist theatre groups will also be participating, for the first time, in a production appearing on the Main programme of the National Arts Festival. Sleepwalkingland is based on the novel by Mia Couto and is produced by Thambo Theatre Producers and directed by Roel Twijnstra. This night-time site-specific work runs from July 6 to 9.

Twist will be launching the new book written by Roel Twijnstra and Emma Durden in Grahamstown on July 4. Theatre Production in South Africa: Skills and Inspirations is the second book in a series that focuses on South African theatre personalities and the lessons they have learnt as they make their way in the industry. The book includes a range of interviews as well as a section on skills for young producers.

• First published on Artsmart.co.za. Republished here with kind permission

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