Aspiring singers and actors will be given a chance to showcase their talent at auditions for the musical production, The Story of the African Choir.
Auditions will take place on Tuesday at 10am at the Mdantsane Art centre and at the Gompo Art centre at the same time on Wednesday.
Mdantsane-based Team Community Development Centre (TCDC) will host the auditions. The centre was founded by Rhythm City actress Nomathamsanqa Ngoma, known for her role as Reverend Mamthobi on the SA soapie.
“TCDC was established in 2010 with the aim of developing our communities more by using the power of arts as a mechanism to deal with the fundamental challenges our communities face,” said Ngoma.
“We are calling on aspiring actors and actresses between the ages of 18 to 55 years to come and audition for The Story of the African Choir musical play.”
She said the original concept of the play dated back to between 1891 and 1893 when a black South African choir toured England and Scotland apparently on a fund-raising mission.
“The tour failed to make money and as a result they were forced to take radical measures to attract larger audiences. It all ended in a disaster with the choir abandoned by their managers and left penniless in a London hotel.
“The group were all committed Christians [and] had set out believing that England was a pinnacle of civilisation, but on the tour they were faced with the realities of late Victorian industrial society which challenged their notions of progress and made them question their own identity as the black educated elite.”
Ngoma said members of the choir were Josias Semouse, Eleanor Xiniwe, Paul Xiniwe, Sannie Kaufman, Katie Maanye and Charlotte Maanye Maxeke.
Ngoma said they would be doing an enactment of the play at the Guild Theatre in March.
“Those who audition do not need to prepare a monologue, they will be given a script to rehearse and act out.
“They should, however, prepare their own musical item,” said Ngoma.
Registration for the auditions is free...