By Frederick Philander
WINDHOEK
Committed Artists of Namibia (CAN) has announced the final cast for its forthcoming second festival play, The Mole People, to be performed on Friday 28 and Saturday 29 September.
The play, loosely based on research done on the Namibian spy saga during the liberation struggle, tells a universal story of suffering of people in military detention and incarceration.
The cast for The Mole People are: Basil Dewaldt (Camp Commander), Neville Hipikuruka (Captain Danger), Armas Shivute (enemy spy), Maria Guriras (raped woman), Ronald Krotz (internal security agent 2), Menghis Kamsay (prisoner 2), Richard Swartz (supreme commander), Sakeus Kanyanda (sergeant), Anna Louw (Guard 2), Milton Hochobeb (internal security agent 1) and others.
The Mole People is the second play of the CAN annual four-month festival being staged as part of the Bank Windhoek Festival and the Theatre Zone Competition of the National Theatre of Namibia (NTN).
The CAN festival is sponsored by the American Cultural Center, Bank Windhoek, The Franco-Namibia Cultural Center and the NTN.
The first festival play, Katutura ’59, received rave reviews from the local press for its historical content and educational and entertainment value.
“CAN wishes to inform the public that with its motto: ‘We strive for Quality Theatre’, the theatre group will continue doing just that with a primarily new cast in The Mole People.
“This is part of the creation of the new generation of actors the group is working for,” said CAN organizing secretary, Felicity Celento.
She also confirmed that her organization has received financial support for the festival project from the Jolie/Pitt Foundation.
“This gesture of financial support by the two Hollywood super film stars is highly appreciated to continue with our most important Namibian theatre work over the past 29 years as the most innovating, enterprising contemporary and educational theatre promoting company in the country.
“The foundation’s contribution once again confirms that CAN is internationally acknowledged and recognized for its high quality theatre work, amidst a very competitive envious local theatre fraternity,” she said critically in a press statement.
CAN also apologized for the confusion caused by printing gremlins of the season tickets for the dates of the first festival play, Katutura ’59.
The organization explained that the dates of 28 and 29 were rightly printed, but not the days.
“This CAN festival is being presented as an experimental forerunner to an annual one that will be staged again in 2008. By then we are hopeful that such problems will not arise again. Therefore our heartfelt apology to those who missed out on the first play,” Celento said. She further stated that the fund for a new CAN generation of actors is now well under way after the sales of the souvenir performance programmes at the first play.
“We found that there is a lot of goodwill and understanding for the fund, which we would like to grow in the shortest space of time to train young talented Namibian actors from an early age. The future of Namibian theatre depends solely on this venture.
“Businesses and donor agencies will in due time be contacted for substantial contributions to make the educational project a viable and lasting one,” Celento concluded.
Theatre enthusiasts interested in the Mole People can obtain tickets at the Boiler Theatre of the Katutura Community Arts Centre on Friday 28 and Saturday 29 September at N$50 per person.
The Festival Season tickets can also be bought at N$150 per piece from the actors.