Jon Keevy’s Get Kracken, Lindelwa Kisana’s Doll Boy, Beren Belknap’s Skeleton Boy and Francesco Nassimbeni’s The Day the Rain Fell were all developed through the Inspiring a Generation Programme run by ASSITEJ SA in partnership with Theatre Arts Admin Collective. The programme which serves to develop young writers in the field of writing for young audiences, also provides writers with an international exchange opportunity where they are able to experience theatre for young audiences in a global setting.

The 2012 Inspiring a Generation programme included an on-going partnership with Swedish writers and the opportunity to visit the premiere Swedish theatre festival for young audiences, Bibu se in May 2012. The international exchange was funded by SIDA.

At the end of 2012, with the kind sponsorship from Distell, Get Kracken and The Doll Boy were performed as staged readings at the Theatre Arts Admin Collective, and will have extracts performed in Göteborg/Gothenburg, Sweden as an extension of the international exchange which took place in March 2012.

Get Kracken will be developed further in the run up to the National Arts Festival where it will form part of the ASSITEJ Family Venue. The production stars the team of Jason Potgieter, Shaun Acker and DJ Mouton and Stefan Erasmus. The production is directed by Kim Kerfoot who is currently directing Master Harold and the Boys to premiere at the Fugard Theatre in March.

On his blog, Keevy says, Get Kraken is his new play, written as part of ASSITEJ’s Inspiring a Generation programme. "The goal of the programme was that each of the participants should write a play for young audiences somehow related to the theme of ‘poverty’. Taking poverty to be about resources, access and potential I decided to research issues around fishing. I got some amazing research from the University of Cape Town – facts, figures, and collected statements from fishermen from Hawston, Kalk Bay and Langebaan – and processed them. Then I let my imagination go, using the research as inspiration, not a collection of data points that I had to include. Our Swedish mentor, Lucia Cajchanova, really helped me to find the journey of Jay and his Oupa, two people caught up in a big world that often doesn’t care."

Beren Belknap’s production, Skeleton Boy, also developed through Inspiring a Generation, is set to premiere at Out The Box Festival, where Belknap has previously won the prestigious Handspring Puppetry Award in 2010.

The Inspiring a Generation Programme (IAG) is an annual project lead by two innovative arts organisations, ASSITEJ SA and Theatre Arts Admin Collective. The 2013 Inspiring a Generation programme will be part of the France-South Africa Season (a National Arts Council South Africa/Institut Francais funded exchange project), with four South African writers experiencing the French festival, Ere de Jeu, in Paris in November. The exchange will also include workshops and performances by Magnet Theatre of Every Year Every Day I Am Walking at the festival. Calls for participation in this year’s programme are now open.

For more information on the Inspiring a Generation Programme 2012/2013, please contact Themba Mzondi, ASSITEJ SA marketing and fundraising manager 021 822 0070/1/2 or email [email protected].