Smal Ndaba
Smal Ndaba (194*-) is an actor, stage manager, playwright.
Contents
Biography
He matriculated in 1966 and attended Workshop '71 training run by Bess Finney and Rob McLaren.
Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance
He is a playwright, actor and director who has worked extensively to build a canon of South African theatre. With Phyllis Klotz, Smal was one of the founders of the Sibikwa Community Theatre Project in 1988, and was Managing Director for several years. Pioneered and facilitated a method for training young black actors.
As actor
He played the lead in African Odyssey in 1977.
Smal has toured the USA, Canada and Europe, appearing on three occasions at Edinburgh Festival as well as in Australia and Singapore.
As playwright
He has written and devised a number of plays. These include:
- So Where To? with (Phyllis Klotz) (1989)
- D.E.T. Boys High (1991)
- Ubuntu Bomhlaba – The Humaneness of the World (workshopped with Phyllis Klotz and the cast)(1993)
- Kwela Bafana (with Phyllis Klotz) (1994)
- Uhambo (with Phyllis Klotz) (1997)
Awards, etc
He is the recipient of several awards which acknowledge his contribution to the performing arts in South African.
He received the 1999 Greater Benoni Achievement Award for International Recognition in Performing Arts.
He won a Naledi Lifetime Achiever Award, February 2005.
Sources
The Star, 8 Oct 1991.
D.E.T. Boys High programme, 1991.
National Arts Festival programme, 1993. 41.
The Star, 15 February 2005.
Phyllis Klotz and Smal Ndaba (eds.) 2023. Strategies for Survival at SIBIKWA 1988 – 2021. Landmarks of South African Theatre History. Oxford and New York: Routledge.[1]
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