Vuka Actor Challenge: Play with Iman Isaacs

IMAN ISAACS

Iman Isaacs  is an award-winning performer, theatre-maker, director, stage designer, and mask expert. She graduated from the University of Cape Town (UCT) with a BA (2011) and a Master’s degree (2018) in Theatre and Performance. Iman has worked and performed extensively both locally and abroad in both the English and Afrikaans film and theatre industry. Beyond the creation of multiple socio-politically driven original works (notably Klippies van die grond, The Rabble, Modjadji in absentia, Irma and Law of Carnage) all of which contribute to the canon of South African Theatre, her body of work has always been informed by the communities she works with. 

Iman has worked with NGOs and NPOs such as: Second Chance Theatre where she developed a series of masks and exercises used in workshops as tools for social development in prisons and marginalised communities; SWEAT and the development of their theatre company; Zakheni Arts Therapy Foundation as a drama facilitator working with troubled children from impoverished areas in the Western Cape; Magnet Theatre’s Training Programme as the voice teacher; Curro Create as a facilitator and mentor in their youth programme; and most recently has co-developed Yabonga’s Grade 11 Leadership Camp for young aspirational leaders from impoverished coloured communities across the Western Cape. 

Iman has taught at multiple tertiary institutions over the past 14 years. Her research and body of work explores the process of image-making for stage, using the body as both a point of departure and as a generative tool, which then developed into a methodology of layering and patterning images to develop complex, metaphorical, visual landscapes reflective of South Africa’s socio-political context. Her research interests moving forward towards her PhD is in the development of theatre and performance pedagogical practice drawn from Indigenous Knowledge Systems from within South Africa and the Global South. She is currently a lecturer at the Centre for Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies at the University of Cape town.