Siphiwe Khumalo
Siphiwe Khumalo (1953-2005). Actor, producer and director. He was an experienced actor, lighting and sound technician, director, coach to drama students in stage management, and venue manager.
Contents
Biography
Born in Alexandra and grew up in Soweto. He was married to the music diva Sibongile Khumalo. He died in December 2005 in his Yeoville, Johannesburg, home of a heart attack at the age of 52. (According to one source he was 50 at the time of his death).
Training
Studied at the School of Dramatic Art, University of the Witwatersrand.
Career
At the time of his death he was production director at the Windybrow Theatre in HilIbrow. Khumalo will also be remembered for his years as a stage manager at the Wits Theatre.
Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance
His introduction to the performing arts was in a church, where in 1970 he was called upon to direct a youth presentation of the stage play The Prodigal Son.
He cut his semi-professional teeth in the Theatre Workshop '71 production of UNosilimela, written by Credo Mutwa and directed by Robert McLaren.
As a member of the Junction Avenue Theatre Company, Khumalo was a contributor in the creation of the productions Randlords and Rotgut, Marabi and Sophiatown, all of which were performed in the 1980s. His interest in music and musicals saw him direct a number of musicals
Directed Toro: The African Dream (1987), Echoes of the Night (1992), Love Child (which premiered in Japan, 1998), Zakes Mda’s The Dying Screams of the Moon for the North-West Arts Council in 1995, a musical Tribute to Gibson Kente featuring mezzo-soprano Sibongile Khumalo (NAF 1997), Woza! A Celebration of South African Music (1998).
He was responsible for the restaging of Survival as part of the Arts Alive Festival in Alexandra and at the Civic Theatre, Johannesburg in 1999. He was the stage manager for its original production in 1976.
Awards, etc
Sources
Tribute written by Gugu Sibiya, published in Sowetan, 20 December 2005.
Tribute published in Star, 20 December 2005.
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