I, Catrijn, Steyn’s powerful new one-woman play, draws inspiration from Catharina van Bengale, known as Groote Catrijn, the first recorded female slave convict at the Cape. Tracing her journey from India to the Cape, the play explores displacement, survival, and resilience, connecting seventeenth-century history with contemporary conversations about freedom, identity, and gender-based violence.
The event also celebrates the launch of The Bridges We Build, an anthology by Jacobs featuring poetry in English, Afrikaans, and Kaaps. Rooted in lived experiences, the collection explores grief, healing, activism, resistance, motherhood, memory, pain, and possibility.
Together, the performance, book launch, and Q&A invite audiences to reflect, engage in meaningful dialogue, and consider how we can collectively build a future grounded in dignity, solidarity, and healing
In a collaborative event honoring the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, Latifah Jacobs and Savannah Steyn
In recognition of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, activist and author Latifah Jacobs and award-winning playwright Savannah Steyn come together for an evening of performance, poetry, reflection, and dialogue. Bringing together performance, poetry, and conversation to raise awareness and inspire action towards healing and social change. Through the performance of I, Catrijn, the launch of Jacobs’ new poetry anthology, The Bridges We Build, and a post-event Q&A discussion, the collaboration seeks to honor survivors, raise awareness of gender-based violence (GBV), and create space for meaningful conversations about survival, healing, and collective action.
I, Catrijn, is Steyn’s powerful new one-woman play, performed by Nawaal Adams and inspired by the life of Catharina van Bengale, known as Groote Catrijn, the first recorded female slave convict at the Cape. Tracing Catrijn’s journey from India to the Cape, the play explores displacement, survival, identity, and resilience. By revisiting a seventeenth-century life shaped by oppression and the struggle for autonomy, the production draws connections between historical narratives of silencing and contemporary experiences of gender-based violence. It invites audiences to consider whose stories are remembered, whose voices are erased, and how reclaiming these narratives can contribute to a deeper understanding of freedom, dignity, and justice.
Steyn is an award-winning playwright whose work engages with questions of identity, oppression, and empowerment. Her play Extreme Lengths won Best Script at the 2024 Zabalaza Theatre Festival. Through her writing, she has explored the experiences of survivors of abuse and oppression, using theatre as a space for difficult conversations and opportunities for reflection. Her master's research focused on developing practices that empower adults to facilitate difficult conversations with young people. With experience working with diverse audiences and participant groups, particularly children, Steyn is committed to creating spaces where stories can be shared, challenging subjects can be approached with care, and dialogue can become a catalyst for change.
Joining Steyn is Latifah Jacobs, an activist, author, and founder of the Aurorah Kuils River Community Action Network (CAN) in the Western Cape. Through her community work, Jacobs has long supported survivors of violence and advocated for the empowerment of women and children. Her commitment to community building and social change has earned her a nomination for the 2026 Warrior Woman Awards in the Community Builder category. Jacobs has authored several books and contributed to numerous anthologies that thoughtfully gather and preserve the stories of survivors. Working within creative frameworks, her writing creates opportunities for voices that are often marginalized or silenced to be heard. Beyond documenting lived experiences, her work seeks to bring communities together, foster healing, and encourage collective action towards safer, more supportive environments for women and children.
The event also marks the launch of Jacobs’ latest anthology, The Bridges We Build. Featuring poetry in English, Afrikaans, and Kaaps, the collection draws on lived experiences of grief and healing, activism and resistance, motherhood, memory, pain, and possibility. Through the intimacy and power of poetry, the anthology reflects the complex journeys individuals and communities undertake as they navigate hardship, reclaim their voices, and imagine new possibilities for the future. It celebrates the bridges built through storytelling, shared experience, solidarity, and the courage to speak.
Bringing together theatre, literature, activism, and community engagement, this collaboration recognizes that art can do more than bear witness: it can challenge silence, deepen understanding, and inspire action. The post-event Q&A will offer audiences an opportunity to engage with the artists, reflect on the themes raised through the performance and poetry, and consider the role individuals and communities can play in addressing gender-based violence.
Jacobs and Steyn share a commitment to empowering voices, creating spaces for difficult but necessary conversations, and using creative practice to encourage social change. Through this event, they hope to move beyond awareness towards meaningful engagement and collective responsibility, inspiring audiences to listen to survivors, challenge the conditions that allow violence to persist, and take action towards a future grounded in dignity, justice, solidarity, and healing.