Artscape Scoops Awards at 2013 National Arts Festival Nicola Hanekom’s Running on Empty and Mike van Graan’s Rainbow Scars have both won Standard Bank Ovation Awards at the 2013 National Arts Festival in Grahamstown. The Standard Bank Ovation Awards are presented for innovation and artistic excellence on the Fringe. At the end of the Festival, winners of the Silver or Gold Awards are announced. Rainbow Scars and Running on Empty both form part of Artscape’s season of six original South African plays currently being presented at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown till 7 July. This initiative builds on the success of Artscape’s multiple Standard Bank Ovation Award winning season of five contemporary South African plays presented at last year’s National Arts Festival. In 2012 Artscape’s Associate Playwright, Mike van Graan won the Standard Bank Standing Ovation Award, while director Greg Homann picked a Standard Bank Silver Ovation Award for his direction of van Graan’s Brothers in Blood, which also forms part of the 2013 season, and actress/author Nicola Hanekom was awarded the only Standard Bank Gold Ovation Award for her one-woman tour de force Hol, currently being presented in its new English translation as Running on Empty. Three of this year’s six plays are from the pen of Artscape’s Associate Playwright, Mike van Graan who is also the National Arts Festival’s 2013 Festival Playwright, while the other three plays are products of Artscape’s New Writing Programme, led by Professor Roy Sargeant . “Established in 2001, the programme has to date rendered 26 new South African plays, of which 11 have been invited to tour at national and international festivals,” says Sargeant. The three New Writing Programme plays are Champ by Louis Viljoen, winner of the 2013 Fleur du Cap Award for Best Script; Special Thanks to Guests from Afar by Nicholas Spagnoletti; and Running on Empty. The three plays by Artscape’s Associate Playwright, Mike van Graan are Brothers in Blood, Rainbow Scars and Panic. “As one of the most productive theatre centres in South Africa, Artscape is proud to lift its creative profile at this year’s National Arts Festival. All the plays are home grown and complement our initiatives to enhance social cohesion, develop local skills and contribute to the economy through job creation,” says Acting CEO, Pieter Lourens. All the Artscape productions are currently running in The Gymnasium at set times for the duration of the festival.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Jul 2013 12:12:07 +0000
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