Best of Zabalaza Production TIP-EX to Play Short April Season at the Baxter Theatre

The Baxter's Best of the Zabalaza Theatre Festival production winner for 2016, Lauren Hannie's TIP-EX, will be staged at the Baxter Golden Arrow Studio for a short season this April, following its recent success at the annual festival.

This is the first time that a woman writer and director has won the Best of Zabalaza award since the festival's inception in 2011. Nominated in five categories, TIP-EX beat over 17 productions to take this year's top spot, also winning for Best Script. Junkets will publish the play in March 2017

This is only Hannie's second year as a participant.The 27-yead-old theatre-maker says:

Winning this award means more to me than I can express in words. Just thinking about my life so far and the challenges that I have had to deal with along the way, I can say with certainty that it has been worth it. It has restored my confidence so that I can push myself even harder to succeed. It was a big step for me to enter the Zabalaza Festival, having to allow myself the possibility to thrive and to stop being a behind-the-scenes small town girl. After years of yearning for this opportunity, I now feel that doors are starting to open for me. I would like to thank the Zabalaza and Baxter teams for helping to make my dreams come true.

TIP-EX is a dynamic and powerful three-hander which stars Hannie with Melissa Johannisen and Maxine Caesar. The central theme of the play focuses on gender issues and, in particular, corrective rape, which remains prevalent in some South African communities today. The narrative is about a woman, Katie (played by Hannie), who takes the audience back to her teenage years when she first started to realise that she was attracted to persons of the same sex. When she mentions this to her conservative family for the first time, outrage breaks out and everything changes. As still often happens today, she is sent to confirmation classes to "fix" the problem.

Hannie was born in Mafikeng and moved to Cape Town with her family when she was 12 years old. She is a UCT-graduate having attained her Bachelor of Social Science degree, majoring in psychology and drama, while developing her skill in script-writing. She has performed in more than 10 productions which include BEYOND THE FOOTLIGHTS and TAPESTRY and directed ECHOES 2 as well as co-writing and directing her own play called WO-MAN. In 2015, she wrote the play called THE WEDDING DRESS, which was also showcased at the Baxter's Zabalaza Theatre Festival and was nominated for Best Actress and Best Script.

Zabalaza's artistic director, Thami Mbongo says:

Lauren Hannie is a very exciting talent to watch in the future. This is a beautifully written play and since it has always been our mission to encourage women writers and directors all along, it was great news that this award was bestowed on our first female Best of Zabalaza winner. She has a lot to offer the arts and theatre industry and hers is a voice that needs to be heard.

TIP-EX joins the list of previous Best of Zabalaza winners which are UHLAZO by Loyiso Damoyi (2011), WORST OF BOTH WORLDS by Bulelani Mabutyana (2012), SKIERLIK by Phillip Dikotla (2013), THE CHAMPION by Khayalethu Anthony in 2014 and Paul Noko's FRUIT in 2015. These productions went on to be staged at various festivals and events in the Western Cape. SKIERLIK received two Fleur du Cap nominations and Khayalethu Anthony won the Fleur du Cap award for Best Performance in a Revue, Cabaret or One-person Show for THE CHAMPION. The Zabalaza Theatre Festival recently received the 2016 Fleur du Cap award for Innovation in Theatre.

TIP-EX previews at the Baxter Golden Arrow Studio on 12 and 13 April, opens on 14 April and runs until 23 April at 19:30 nightly with matinees on 16 and 23 April at 14:00. Booking is online through Computicket, on 0861 915 8000 by phone, or at any Shoprite Checkers outlet. For discounted corporate, schools or block-bookings, charities or fundraisers, contact Sharon Ward on 021 680 3962 or Carmen Kearns on 021 680 3993. There is an age restriction of 13.

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