Issy Silbowitz

Issy Silbowitz (fl. 1980-2026) is an occasional theatre practitioner and performer, and an enthusiastic lifelong follower and supporter of theatre in the country.

Biography

He matriculated at Wynberg Boy's High School and went on to work as a Book Publisher's Marketing representative.

Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance

During the 1980s and 1990s, while working in Durban, he also moonlighted at The Playhouse theatre as an usher.

In Cape Town he became a long-standing member of the Cape Town Gilbert and Sullivan Society, for which he also participated in walk-on parts in numerous productions, as well working as prompt on occasion as well as contributing in other capacities, e.g. as the Production Secretary for Fiddler on the Roof (Feb 2011 - Aug 2011) and the Production and Rehearsal Secretary for Yeomen of the Guard (Feb 2012 - Jun 2012).

For a number of years he was also the Secretary of the Cape Town Theatre Club , during which time he co-ordinated guest visits/speakers, among which were theatre luminaries like Percy Tucker, Robyn Scott and Molly Seftel, amongst many others.

In 2026, while moving from Sea Point into smaller accommodation in a retirement home in Gardens, he donated his invaluable collection of programmes from local shows he has seen to the PARC research collection at the Africa Open Institute at Stellenbosch University. The collection includes drama, ballet, orchestral and musical theatre programmes from the 1980s to date.