Duma ka Ndlovu
Duma ka Ndlovu (1954 - ). Filmmaker, poet, playwright, journalist, and TV producer.
Also billed variously as Duma Ndlovu and Duma Ka Ndlovu.
Contents
Biography
Born in Orlando West, Soweto.
Ndlovu worked with a number of black not-for-profit groups in Harlem, New York including the Black United Fund and Roger Furman's New Heritage Theatre. It was at the New Heritage Theatre that he produced the hit South African play, Woza Albert, in 1984.
In April 1986, he together with Voza Rivers, Roger Furman's Executive director, brought the much acclaimed play, Asinamali, to the U.S. and in September he put together the highly successful South African Theater Festival, "Woza Afrika", at the Lincoln Center. In April 1987, he assembled a group of producers and took Asinamali to Broadway.
He was professor of African history and African-American literature at New York's Stoneybrook University in the eighties and between 1996 and 2004 he was chairman of the SA Music Awards (SAMA).
He has also served on a number of boards of not-for-profit organisations including the Ukhahlamba Development Trust and the King Matiwane Trust. He also served on the board of the Playhouse Company between 2005-2008.
He is the founder & chairperson of the Woza Afrika Foundation in New York (1985), through which he funded a number of South African organizations and projects. Through the Woza Afrika Foundation he was instrumental in giving grants to numerous South African Township theater companies and individuals. One of the companies was Committed Artists, formed by Mbongeni Ngema, which went on to create the hit Broadway play Sarafina. He then worked with Lincoln Center Theater to bring Sarafina to the United States for what was intended to be a limited ten week run but became a highly acclaimed extended run on Broadway. Sarafina toured the United States and the world for six years.
He returned to his native South Africa in 1992 after the release from prison of Nelson Mandela and the un-banning of political organizations. In South Africa he has written and directed plays and produced for television.
He founded Rhythm World Productions, a company specialising in TV production, PR, communication, and events management.
A workshop project, Black Codes From the Underground, conceived and created by Ndlovu, co-written with Gregory Holtz and Laydin Kaliba, was produced as part of the Lincoln Center Festival, July 1999.
In 2015, he founded the Duma Ndlovu Actor’s Academy (DNA).
In October 2024, ka Ndlovu appeared in the Johannesburg specialised commercial crimes court on 18 charges of tax fraud relating to Ndlovu’s personal and company income tax valued at about R26m.
Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance
As casting director
He was the casting director for Disney Theatricals' The Lion King - a position he held for 20 years.
As writer
He wrote a play Sheila's Day, directed for the Crossroads Theatre Company in the USA by Mbongeni Ngema in 1990, in South Africa in 1993. Published in 1999.
In July 1996 a musical play, The Game was staged at Windybrow Arts Centre.
He also wrote Bergville Stories (1995).
He edited a collection of plays Woza Afrika: An Anthology of South African Plays.
He created the TV series Muvhango, and wrote several episodes of Imbewu - The Seed.
His other play, The Ritual, was commissioned by London's Million Freds Productions, was performed at London's Riverside Studios.
His musical, The Journey, travelled to Switzerland in January 2004, as part of 10th Anniversary Celebrations of South Africa's democracy.
As director
As TV director, he directed several episodes of Uzalo, Muvhango and Imbewu - The Seed.
As producer
He was producer/executive producer on the the TV series Uzalo, Muvhango, Umkhokha: The Curse and Imbewu - The Seed.
Awards, etc.
His play The Game was joint winner 'best script', Vita Awards (Gauteng region), Award Year: 1997 and 'best director' Vita Award (National), award year 1997.
Ndlovu was conferred with 2 honorary PhDs, one by the Venda University in May 2011 and the second by the University of Zululand in May 2022.
The 9th of May 2016 was declared Duma Ndlovu Day in Harlem, New York City by Congressman Charles Rangel in recognition of the work done by Ndlovu to introduce South African cultural expressions, and raise the bar for the arts in the neighbourhood.
Sources
Sowetan, 13 June 1997.
Mail and Guardian, 15-21 August 1997.
Duma Ndlovu. IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5262331/
Ernest Mabuza. 'Duma ka Ndlovu, two others in court on R26m tax fraud charges'. Times Live. 1 October 2024.
Rhythm World Productions website. https://rhythmworld.co.za/the-founder
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