Social Justice Theatre
The most powerful art can do more than entertain us: it can also inform, engage, and challenge our points of view.
Social Justice theatre is an interactive, physical and playful tool used to examine situations in which people are denied basic rights, personally and collectively. Community actors, directors, playwrights, designers and producers create original, interactive plays inspired by real-life struggles for human rights, that highlight issues of social justice. This type of performance involves the audience playing the role of “spect-actors,” answering questions posed by the cast, and engaging in large-scale brainstorming and finding answers through the arts.
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We hope to use the medium of theatre, connecting to audiences on an emotional as well as an intellectual level, to invite peers and strangers to intervene in the action. We want audiences to feel in their gut the ways these problems relate to them personally, and to feel that they can be part of the solution.
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Through this show (and hopefully, more like it in the future), we hope to bring ‘popular theatre’ to a new level of inspiration and influenc that drives people to action.
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Hold For release
Show Synopsis
Hold For Release is a social justice play about fashion, fake news and real stories. It follows the lives of Zeah, Lerato and Abi, three #Young& Ambitious women poised to set the world alight in their respective fields – fashion, media and humanitarianism. Despite the best of intentions, wise mentors and the shiniest of morals, their stories become intermingled with the story of our time – contemporary
human trafficking. Sexy, fun and frivolous at first – the story takes its characters into the dark underbelly of success and asks – Is the price really worth it? Is ignorance an excuse – or a crime?
Show Info
Hold for Release will debut in East London at The Arts Theatre on Thursday, 17 May 2018, running until Sunday 20th of May. (Address: 51 Paterson St, Arcadia, East London, 5201). Starting times will be 18:30 for 19:00. The show is approximately 75 minutes long and will be followed by a post-play discussion of 30 minutes each night, where audience members, cast and Human Trafficking experts can engage with in a Q and A session.
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The play is written and directed by Jennifer Bryson Moorcroft, produced by Kandas Ackhurst of Cornerstone NPC, with set design by Audette Jooste.
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The cast and crew consist of local actors and volunteers, showing a high level of professionalism, who are passionate about the issues of human trafficking and modern-day slavery. After covering costs, (such as hiring of venue, costumes and marketing), all profits will go to Cornerstone NPC to fight modern-day slavery.
