Ann Wakefield

Ann Wakefield (19**-) Actress, playwright and director.

Career

In the 1980s she moved to the United States to continue her career as teacher and actress. She is a teacher in the Residency Program for Lifeline Theatre, collaborated on a translation of THE BARBER OF SEVILLE for Court Theatre, served as a dialect coach for British and South African plays, and served as dramaturg and vocal coach at Loyola University Theatre.

At The Theatre School, she teaches in the Acting Program and has directed numerous productions, including Mango Leaf magic by James Ambrose Brown (2005), ALICE IN WONDERLAND, THE OWL AND THE PUSSYCAT WENT TO SEE … and TOKOLOSHE for Chicago Playworks and LAPIN LAPIN for The Theatre School Showcase. [EDIT!!!**************]

Ann has worked in England, South Africa, France and the U.S.A.

Chicago companies for which she has appeared include Steppenwolf, Court, Shattered Globe, Remy Bumppo, Lifeline, Eclipse, Shaw Chicago, Interplay and Footsteps.

Wrote and directed Tales as Old as Africa (2007), She is dialect coach for Lifeline Theatre and is on the faculty of the Theatre School of DePaul University.

2013: Directed The Coral King by James Ambrose Brown for DePaul University's Theatre School at the Merle Reskin Theatre, Chicago, as part of the Chicago Playworks Program[1].

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

Stage roles include Children of the Wolf (The Space, 1975).

She was the assistant director on Umabatha (1971?),

Worked in children’s theatre, i.a. with Pieter Scholtz in Durban and the Brian Way Theatre in Education Company in England, and as director did plays for the Theatre Workshop Company (Durban), including *** [*in the 1970-80s?].

She presented Barney Simon's Miss South Africa in 1976.

Ann directed Archy's life of Mehitabel as adapted by her for the Department of Speech and Drama, University of Natal, at the Square Space Theatre, in May 1980.

Booby Beetle and the Protea People/Ann Wakefield (circa 1990?)

Awards

In Chicago she was awarded Joseph Jefferson Citations for her performances in THE ROAD TO MECCA and ANOTHER PART OF THE FOREST (also directed by Nick Bowling), and most recently an After Dark Award for her performance in THE LION IN WINTER.

Sources

Various entries in the NELM catalogue.

McM

Theatre programme, 1961.

De Beer, 1995;

Joyce, 1999;

Teacher Guide, The Coral King[2]

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