Broadway in South Africa

Jozi to Durbs to Kapstad

Though we are back in New York I wanted to take a moment and share the rest of Johannesburg and Durban on the blog, as the end of our time in Johannesburg and our stay in Durban was basically an opportunity for us to meet some of South Africa’s strongest and most empowered women.

First off please take a moment and visit the website for Keep A Child Alive at www.keepachildalive.org.  The last part of the project was spent at many of this organization’s worksites and seeing their projects first hand was truly awe inspiring.

In Johannesburg we spent part of our last day at Ikahane, a KCA site in Soweto, that focuses on families that have child head of households.  Many of these homes are headed by children who have lost their parents to HIV/AIDS (South Africa actually has a stastic in their yearly census specifically for this).  There are over 1500 children that are served at this site, and in addition KCA provides monthly meal parcels for upwards of 300 families.

In Durban we met some pretty extraordinary women.  Rhona Buckley, who served as our liason to the Keep A Child Alive sites we visited was such an inspiration to the group. 

The women at Operation Bobbi Bear are also incredibly special.  Jackie Branfied, Eureka, and Co. act as a crisis response team, assisting children who have been sexually abused.  Listening to their stories really showed the courage, passion, and selflessness that they put into their work and the enormous impact they are able to have, considering that they work out of a house that is so small they can’t keep the children they rescue.

The Agape Orphanage was an example of life’s simple joys.  These children, who are featured in the “We Are Together” Documentary (www.wearetogether.us), have been fortunate to have KCA and Paul Taylor (the film’s director) provide housing and schooling opportunities.  As a group, there is a spirit of cooperation, sharing, and love, that supercedes their current situation.  You can tell that they all take care of one another and as a result our experience at the orphanage was one of joy.  We got to see children who are getting to be just that…children.  Of course they have gone through numerous traumatic experiences, but the Agape feels like a true safe house.  

One of the best parts of our visit to Durban was being able to show these sites to our travel coordinator, Faye Freedman, who lives in Durban and had never been to the Agape Orphanage.  She was incredibly moved by the children there and will be coordinating her own individual efforts to help them.

It was truly inspiring to see the work of Keep A Child Alive first hand.  Thank you Leigh Blake, Alicia Keys,Elizabeth Santiso, Jennifer Singleton and all that work with Keep A Child Alive for your inspiring work.  And thank you Elizabeth and Jennifer for making sure Broadway in South Africa was able to visit your sites.

A quick post to catch up

Since our last post, we’ve had no internet service so we haven’t been able to write.  There is too much to say at once so here’s a quick rundown:

- We flew to Durban, which is absolutely beautiful.  

- Spent the day at Operation Bobbi Bear, a crisis center for children who have been raped.  By far the most moving day of our trip here.

- Visited and performed at The Agape Orphange, a home for 64 children who have lost their parents to AIDS. If you can get a hold of it, watch the HBO Documentary “We Are Together” which follows these kids singing as a choir.  

- Flew back to Cape Town and returned to the JL Zwane Center (where we held our first workshop) and had a follow up meeting with their staff to discuss what was successful about the workshop and how we can improve for next time.  

- Took a van to the five townships surrounding Cape Town where the students who participated in the workshops live.  We went to their homes, visited their families, and spent time in each community.  (By “homes,” picture a house made of corrugated tin sheets the size of a tiny Manhattan studio apartment.  Now picture 4-6 people living there.  But those people are also watching Oprah and talking on cell phones.  It’s a very odd combination of poverty and modern technology.)

- Last night we saw Tshepang, a play about the raping of a nine-month old baby by her father and the devastation it brings to their tiny community, by writer and director Lara Foot Newton who we met and talked with afterward.  She woud love to bring the show to New York and I hope she can. It’s a moving piece that everyone should see.  The lead actor is incredible.

- Tonight we are seeing the South Africa production of Beauty and the Beast, starring Talia Kodesh who performed in our Johannesburg concert with us, and a number of other cast members we met since we’ve been here. Our final night in South Africa!

Jen Bender, Artistic Director

My name is Babazile Mahlangu

Just when I think this trip can’t be any more incredible, along comes a day like today.  We left at 6am to go to the Theo Twala Primary School in Kwa-thema, outside of Johnannesburg, planning to spend from 7am-9am performing for the kids and visiting the classes. We stayed for four hours.

In October, I directed a benefit concert for BSA at Symphony Space in New York.  Theo Twala sent us some letters written in 2006 by their 6th grade class.  For the concert, I asked ten composers to use the letters as inspiration and create an original song written specifically for the event.  Some of the composers used the letters as a basis for an idea; others used the children’s words verbatim.  One of the songs was called, “Babazile Mahlangu,” in which Jeremy Schonfeld used that girl’s words almost exactly as she had written them on the page.  Another song, “Sibusiso,” was written by Michael John LaChiusa, who named his piece for the boy whose letter he had chosen to set to music.  On the ride to the school this morning, I announced to everyone that I was obsessed with finding Babazile and Sibusiso and couldn’t wait to meet them.

When we got there the headmaster led us into the outside courtyard to find more than 300 kids waiting for us. Even though Theo Twala is in an impoverished and desolate city, all of the students were in uniforms.  They sang six songs for us, we sang six songs for them, and we ended the assembly with a Q&A. (Some of the questions: “When did you start singing?  What grade were you in when you started singing? Where did you start singing?” Apparently they liked our singing.)  In the midst of all of this I asked a teacher if Babazile Mahlangu was there (I didn’t know Sibusiso’s last name) and she said she was now in the high school but it was so close that they would bring her to Theo Twala to meet us.

We went to the main building and met Mr. Redebe, who is named in the song:

I attend a school called Theo Twala

Mr. Redebe he’s so funny and so nice, we get along

He really cares about the children and the choices that they make

Adam plugged Sean’s iPhone into a set of speakers we brought and we played the song for him.  I cried as I watched Mr. Redebe listen to a song written in a country a million miles away by a man he has never met.  I asked if he knew Sibusiso but he said without knowing his surname it was difficult to know which Sibusiso it was (it’s a very common boy’s name). But once he heard Michael John’s song, he knew exactly who had written the words:

My name’s Sibusiso

I live on Khumalo Street

Call me tree, call me bird

Call me tears of grief and call me joy

Joy that’s cradled and caressed

Call me blessing

Call me blessed

Sibusiso had been slow in school and the kids made fun of him.  But he was incredibly artistic and could create incredible art with his hands.  He told Mr. Redebe, “This talent means that I am blessed.”  We asked if we could meet him, too.  There was a silence. Sibusiso was stabbed and killed in 2007.  He was 15.

The headmaster returned and the teachers walked us around the outer perimeter of the building and as we passed each classroom the children ran out and we were MOBBED.  I was hugged, kissed, high-five’d. And everyone wanted our autograph—first on their hands, then they asked me to sign their uniform shirts.  They treated us like rock stars.  Finally Mr. Redebe escorted us back to the main building…Babazile was here.

She listened to her song with tears in her eyes (the rest of us were already crying).  I can only imagine being told, “We need you to come to Theo Twala.  A man in New York wrote a song about your letter and now some people from America are here and want you to hear it.” Babazile’s mother walked to the school to hear the song, too.  The teachers told us that Babazile’s family is extremely poor and lives in a shack made of corrugated tin (we’ve seen far too many of those on this trip) but that she is a model student.  

Six months ago when I asked those New York composers to pick a letter and write a song for our concert, I didn’t know a thing about the authors of those letters, except that they were kids from a school in South Africa.  I never imagined that I would meet Babazile and her mother in person and be there to see them listen a song inspired by her but written on the other side of the world.  This is what Broadway in South Africa is all about: using art to connect people and cultures and making new music together.  Babazile’s final lyric says it best:

I come from a land so many miles away from you

But it’s not far

Jen Bender, Artistic Director

Concert press coverage

Since we’ve been in South Africa, we have done interviews for radio, newspapers, and websites.  In Johannesburg, a local new site covered the concert and posted photos of the performers, as well as some of the notable South African patrons in attendance:

http://www.myfourways.co.za/slideshow/broadway-south-africa

If You’re Out There

Early Sunday morning I went to Theatre on the Bay in beautiful Camps Bay, home to our first benefit concert.  I met the theatre staff and started the day teching lights and sound, then added the musicians—Brett, our music director, and a local guitarist, bassist, and drummer who met for the first time that day.  A few hours later the singers arrived for rehearsal and we continued to work through the show.  That afternoon we were joined by our host Mark Rayment, Shaun V, and the singing group Siyaya.  Siyaya is a local singing group comprised of fourteen performers between the ages of 18-25 who perform in townships surrounding Cape Town.  They perform in hospitals, community centers, and churches and call themselves “warriors” for HIV and AIDS education and prevention.  At 5:30pm, we did an invited dress rehearsal for members of the community, including many people who we met during our time in Gugulethu.  

The concert was a wonderful evening.  Mark is a droll, witty host and was a hit with the audience.  The show began with a medley from Jersey Boys and continued to feature a great lineup of Broadway shows.  Shaun V had a group of fans in the audience and sang a thrilling “One Song Glory” from Rent before being joined by Adam, Tracy, and Lisa to sing “What You Own” and “Take Me or Leave Me.”

Throughout the concert, the co-founders educated the audience about Broadway in South Africa.  Sean and Zach spoke about the organization: our history, our mission, our work in Gugulethu, and our upcoming projects in Johannesburg and Durban.  Rachel talked about Keep a Child Alive, our charity of choice.  While we’re in Durban, we’ll be working with children at a number of their sites, including the Agape Orphanage and Operation Bobbi Bear.  Siyaya gave the concert a nice infusion of local Africa song and dancing, including traditional African costumes.  The night ended with the entire company gathering on stage for “Seasons of Love.”   

Monday morning, we hopped on an 8am flight to Johannesburg and went directly to the Montecasino Theatre.  Same routine during the day, but in addition to Mark Rayment and Shaun V, we were also joined by South African performers Talia Kodesh, currently starring as Belle in Beauty and the Beast, and Samantha Peo, the star of We Will Rock You and Chicago.  Thanks to our marketing director, Lisa, there were press people from local newspapers and radio stations, and a number of cast members from the South African casts of Rent and Beauty and the Beast who came to support their former co-stars.  Many thanks to all of those at Theatre on the Bay and Montecasino Theatre who donated their time and talents to make these concerts a huge success.

We closed each concert with a song that has become our anthem:

If you hear this message, wherever you stand

I’m calling every woman, calling every man

We’re the generation, that can’t afford to wait

The future started yesterday, and we’re already late.

- “If You’re Out There,” music and lyrics by John Legend

Jen Bender, Artistic Director