Heinrich Reisenhofer

(25 September 1973-) Actor, playwright and director. ** Trained at the University of Cape Town. *** Won the Rosalie van der Gucht Prize for New Directors in 1999 for Suip, which he co-wrote with Oscar Peterson (Also winner of the Fleur du Cap Award for Best New Indigenous Script 1999). Also co-wrote, performed in and directed?* Meet Joe Barber with Oscar Peterson and David Isaacs at Skokiaan Theatre Bar, Cape Town 1999. This went on to play the festivals, and in 2003 won a Kanna award for comedy at the Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees (KKNK). A spin off has been a TV series. *** REISENHOFER, Heinrich, Defrocked – Not the Midnight Mass, 2001. After graduating from the drama dept at the University of Cape Town, Heinrich joined the Jazzart Dance Theatre, as a contemporary dancer. There he performed and participated in the creation of a host of well known productions from Medea to Raw Dog Night. In his final six months at Jazzart was Acting Artistic Director and co-ordinator of the Arts in Education Residency Programme for the Western Cape Education Dept. As a freelance choreographer, singer and performer his credits include the mini musicals and cabarets like Almost the Sound of music and Not the Midnight Mass. In 1998 Heinrich teamed up with Oscar Petersen to co-write and direct the runaway success SUIP! for which he won Fleur du Cap Award - Best New Director and FNB Awards for Indigenous Script. Oscar and Heinrich Have since formed Djamaqua Productions. They produced the Cape-comedy series, Joe Barber, which has been running to full houses in Cape Town for over five years. His latest achievements are Cry the Beloved Country for which he received the Fleur du Cap Award for Best Director of 2003. REISENHOFER, Heinrich – Director / Writer / Producer Djamaqua Productions After graduating from the UCT Drama School in 1993 he worked for two years as a freelance actor and singer before joining the Jazzart Dance Theatre (Cape Town’s foremost African contemporary dance company) where he worked for five years as a dancer and choreographer. His directorial career was launched in 1998 when he teamed up with Oscar Petersen, to co-write and direct the runaway success SUIP! for the Baxter Theatre Centre. It earned him four prestige’s theatre awards and ran for three years including a successful tour to Perth Festival in Australia and to the Tricycle Theatre in London. In 1999, along with Oscar and David Isaacs, he formed Djamaqua Productions and produced, directed and co-wrote the popular award winning Cape-comedy Joe Barber which was followed by the equally popular sequel Joe Barber and Boeta Gamat Too and Joe Barber 3 the Family Affair. The series has now been running for over 7 years. As well as managing the Joe Barber Company he directed Marc Lottering in Say Cheese, Stuart Taylor in Techni Coloured, Not the Midnight Mass, Three Tons of Fun at On Broadway and recently Hot Chocolate for the Barnyard Theatre. His more serious works include the first South African stage adaptation of Alan Paton’s book Cry the Beloved Country for which he received the coveted Fleur De Cap Award for Best Director for 2003 and the production Groundswell, which earned him further Fleur Du Cap Award for Best Director 2006.

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