Understanding Playwriting for Young Audiences

10th May - 19th July
6 x 2-hour sessions
R1000
Enquiries - letlhogonoloriba@gmail.com
Closing Date - 1st May
Sign Up Here

Are you a Playwright or Theatre Maker interested in gaining an in-depth understanding of how to write for young audiences? Letlhogonolo Riba in partnership with Theatre Arts has designed an exciting online programme where participants will learn to craft age-appropriate scripts for young audiences in different age clusters.

Using the dramatic elements of Thought, Character, Word, Musicality, Spectacle and Plot, facilitators will explore the age of the child, their development at that age, age-appropriate stories and theatrical form when considering writing plays for young audience members in various age clusters. Participants can either sign up for one, or more age cluster.

The Age Clusters will be facilitated by:
0-4 years - Caroline Calburn
5-9 years - Letlhogonolo Riba
10 - 12 years - Jenine Collocott
13 - 16 years Francesco Nassimbeni

The sessions will be interactive, and participants will get to complete a script / text by the end of the programme.

Workshop Dates and Times
10th May, 24th May, 7th June, 21st June, 5th July and 19th July 2025. (2 hours per session)
0 - 4 years: 9-11am
5 - 9 years: 11-1pm
10-12 years: 1.30-3.30pm
13-16 years: 3.30-5.30pm

Cost and Payment Plans
R1000.00 per age cluster
R500.00 upon signing up – Closing Date: 1st May 2025
R500.00 – Due date: 1st June 2025

Sign Up Here

7 slots maximum per age cluster on a first come first serve basis.
Initial payment of R500 on signing up secures your slot.
Payments can be made into:
Theatre Arts Admin Collective
ABSA
Cheque Account: 407 527 1062
Ref: Playwright/YourName

FACILITATORS

0-4 YEAR OLDS
Caroline Calburn initiated Theatre Arts (as it is now known) in 2009 after a long history in theatre in which she has been a performer, theatre director, educator and facilitator in both universities and communities, working at a local, national and international level. Whilst being mostly caught up in admin and running a theatre, she has mentored numerous emerging directors making work for young people of different ages. Her most recent production Red Boots for both hearing and deaf toddlers toured deaf schools in the Western Cape and was nominated for a Kanna Award in 2024 for Best Children's production. In 2025 Red Boots travelled to Dublin, Ireland to perform at the Mother Tongues Festival.

5-9 YEAR OLDS
Letlhogonolo Innocentia Riba is a Children’s Theatre Practitioner, Writer and Director who creates stories to educate and entertain young people. She also writes to challenge social norms and address social issues. Her children’s short stories titled Stories that Heal (2024); Lilly, Bobby and Spots (2023); Rabbit learns to forgive (2023); The forgetful Hen (2023); Hen’s big tea party (2020); and Horse and Donkey (2019) were featured in Season 10, 9, 6 and 5 of Nal’ibali Children’s radio stories. Her published works include a short story Home published in ‘Writing Woman Anthology: Personal Essays and Short Stories – An Anthology of African Asian Writers and Artists Volume 3.’(2023), a monologue Redirection featured in Between the Pillar and the Post: A Multilingual Anthology of Contemporary South African Monologues And Scenes (2019), Poems featured in Tapping into Poetry Anthology (2018), The Hen That Lost Hawk’s Needle and The Ungrateful Lion published in African Folktales Onstage 1 and 2 (2015).

In 2021, Letlhogonolo coordinated Online Theatre Works: Children’s Tales – a Children’s Theatre online storytelling festival. She produced and directed productions of The Hen that lost Hawk’s Needle (2020 and 2019) and The Ungrateful Lion (2018) for the Incubator Programme 2020; and Youth Expressions Festival 2019 and 2018 at the South African State Theatre.

10 - 12 YEAR OLDS
Jenine Collocott's journey into theatre deepened under the guidance of master pedagogue Giovanni Fusetti at the renowned Helikos School in Florence, Italy. Her unique approach to theatre creation has since captivated audiences worldwide.

Jenine's productions have enjoyed international acclaim. Her play Dirt was showcased at Fringe World in Perth and the Brighton Festival. Sunday Morning was selected for the South African contingent at Edinburgh in 2014 and later invited to the prestigious Bitesize Festival at Riverside Studio London in 2021. Her compelling performance in A Day in the Desert took her on tours across California in 2016 and to Munich, Germany in 2019.

An acclaimed director and designer, Jenine's work has earned her numerous accolades. She received the Naledi Award for Best Youth Production in 2016 for Making Mandela. Babbelagtig won two Kanna Awards in 2018, a Woordtrofee and a Fiesta award in 2019. Jenine’s exceptional talent has also been recognized with Ovation Awards for High Diving, A Day in the Desert, Making Mandela, The Devil and Billy Markham, and Silkworm. In 2020, she won the Fleur du Cap Award for her innovative mask designs in The Old Man and the Sea. Her critically acclaimed adaptations, including The Snow Goose, The Boy Who Cried Ninja, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, have garnered numerous award nominations, further cementing her reputation in the theatre world.

In January 2020, Jenine collaborated with Barbara Draeger in Munich, Germany, on a new work titled My Family and Other Strangers. Her latest production, Monika, It's Me, was nominated for the 2024 Kanna Award for Best Comedy. With a career marked by creativity and critical success, Jenine Collocott continues to inspire and innovate in the world of theatre.

13-16 YEAR OLDS
Francesco Nassimbeni is an interdisciplinary artist, educator, theatre-maker, designer and poet. An award winning multi-hyphenate, he has applied his creative skills to animation, film, graphic design, participatory art, illustration, theatre, creative writing and poetry, both as a practitioner and teacher. He is the co-founder of the #kidsartcollective, a progressive arts programme for young people, together with award-winning architect Ilze Wolff. He is the winner of various prizes for theatre and film: You Suck, and Other Inescapable Truths created with clown Klara Van Wyk, garnered two Standard Bank Ovation Awards, a Kanna award for Best Debut, A Fleur du Cap nomination for Best one-person show, and a Fresh Fringe Award at Cape Town Fringe in 2016. He is the writer of numerous plays and short stories for young audiences, including The Borbles (Cover2cover) and The Skin I Live In published by Fundza and translated into 4 languages. His short film, AEIOU, won the Jury Award for Best Experimental Film at the Cannes Short Film Festival in 2022. In the same year he directed the music video for Cloud Witness’s Aah, finalist at both the Dumbo Film Festival in New York and Music Video Awards in London. In 2022 he was artist in residence at A4 Arts Foundation, studying play as a method toward artistic production and social cohesion. His poem Tenebris appeared in issue 205 of New Contrast in May of this year. And Things my Best Friend Can Do In A Dream will appear in issue 207 of New Contrast in December 2025.