By Frederick Philander WINDHOEK Actress, playwright, poet, singer and journalist, Lize Kubersky, was selected to attend and represent Namibia’s theatre fraternity at a ten-day playwriting workshop in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. The young writer from Mariental was selected from eight Assitej-Namibia (Theatre Organization of Theatre for Children and Young People) for her passionate and creative inclination for Namibian theatre. She will be joined by 19 other selected playwrights from around Africa to be trained in the adaptation of novels for the stage as well as playwriting for children. “Having experienced the passion of Namibian Playwrights and the uncompromising flare for theatre by local actors and writers such as Richard Swartz, David Ndjavera and Vickson Hangula, has exposed me to real theatre over the years,” Lize Kubersky said telephonically in an Art/Life interview from her southern home town. According to her, she is looking forward to being engaged in this all- important workshop for the development of theatre in Namibia. “I am sure I will be empowered by the creative experts from Europe and Africa who will be presenting the workshop made possible by Assitej-International. I will definitely plough back the expertise I will be learning at the workshop on my return,” she said excitedly. Selected playwrights from Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Swaziland, Cameroon and Nigeria will be attending the workshop which will be facilitated by established playwrights from Sweden. On Kubersky’s own admission, she has never been outside the country. “This is my first – and I hope not the last – trip abroad, to broaden my creative horizons by working with other playwrights in Africa and anywhere else,” she said. Assitej-Namibia will present 18 weekend playwriting workshops with the acquired knowledge at all its centres next year, finances permitting. “We need a variety of playwrights and styles to stimulate the writers to excel in their craft as stage-writers. In so doing, we will be able to improve Namibian playwriting as well as theatre in the country in general,” said the national chairperson of Assitej-Namibia, David Ndjavera, when asked for comment on Kurbersky’s representative visit to Rwanda. The workshop runs until November 13 in Kigali in the centre of Africa’s Great Lakes region.