Contemporary African women in theatre: An interview with Warona Seane

Abstract

The opening stage directions of Danai Gurira’s Eclipsed read as bleak reminders of the horrors of civil war and fore-shadows the defiant sisterhood of survival that is given flesh and voice through the characters of her play.  On August 15^th 2014, a production of Eclipsed opened at the Soweto Theatre in Johannesburg and was directed by Warona Seane, its Artistic Manager.  For this special issue on African theatre, I chose to conduct an interview with Warona Seane as a leading black female director in South Africa.  This is a category that seems to have surprisingly few qualifiers until one examines the legacy of mainstream theatre making in South Africa, and the gatekeepers who continue to guard their territories.