This program premiered in November of 2020. We are happy to front-page it again and share with you the remarkable talents of early career theatre practitioners from The Market Theatre Laboratory.

In apartheid-era South Africa, at some risk to itself and its participants, The Market Theatre in Johannesburg gathered artists from all different government-designated ‘races’ and created groundbreaking and meaningful theatrical work. The popularity of the protest theatre genre owes a great debt to the artists at The Market, among others.

Today, in addition to being a major force on the South African theatre scene, the internationally respected Market Theatre runs a professional intensive theatrical arts training experience for predominantly Black and Brown South African artists who continue to find themselves under-resourced. This training program, the Market Theatre Laboratory, is producing astonishing new actors already locally making a name for themselves, and the contemporary work these young artists are creating speaks to today’s South Africa and its issues of importance. In this program we’ll meet the members of the Market Theatre Laboratory, see excerpts of their Naladi Award-winning work, and take a unique look into the professional practice of young artists living, working, and creating in Johannesburg.