Mpumelelo Paul Grootboom

GROOTBOOM, Mpumelelo Paul "Cosmo" (1975-), writer and director for stage and television.

Biography

Born in 1975 in Meadowlands, Soweto.

Training

After school studied medicine and the arts at University of Witwatersrand. Did not graduate. While at university met Percy Langa, playwright and television director and producer, who taught him to write film scripts. While under Langa’s wing, he was introduced to John Rogers, who trained him to write for television. His next mentor was Barney Simon.

Career

Was appointed to the position of Development Officer at the State Theatre in 2002.

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

His first work for the stage, Enigma, was commissioned by the North West Arts Council.

As playwright, titles include: Not With My Gun co-written with Aubrey Sekhabi (1998), Urban Reality (1998), Cards, a re-writing of Mothusi Mokoto’s script (2002 & 2004), Relativity: Township Stories (2005), Telling Stories(2007), Interracial co-written with Aubrey Sekhabi (2007), Maru, an adaptation of the Bessie Head novel (2008), Foreplay ,an adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler’s Der Reigen/La Ronde (2008) and Welcome to Rocksburg (2009).

As theatre director productions include: Urban Reality (1998), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2001), King Lear (2002), Cards (2002–2008), Hamlet (2003), Julius Caesar (2003), In this Life (2004), later re-directed and re-titled Relativity (2005), Township Stories for a tour in the UK (2006), Telling Stories (2007), Interracial (2007), Maru(2008), Foreplay (2008), and Welcome To Rocksburg (2009).

Television writing includes episodes in: Young Vision(1994), Suburban Bliss(1995), Isidingo(2000), Soul City(2000), Orlando(2001), Mponeng (2005) and Healside (2005).