Zamaphuti Publishers has signed a publishing contract with Napo Masheane on her new play-write book “My Bum is Genetic, Deal with it and other plays” this year. The book is set to be published this month with expectations of it making a big impact in the South Africa theatre industry.
Napo Masheane is a multi-award-winning creative producer, playwright, poet, director, cultural activist, translator and acclaimed performer on both international and national stages. Being born in Soweto, growing up in Qwaqwa (Free State), and currently residing in Johannesburg, Napo holds a Marketing Management, Speech & Drama and Master’s Degree in Creative Writing. She is a founding member of Feela Sistah! Spoken Word Collective and with its demise, went on to become one of the leading South African black theatre-matriarchs, after her provocative plays such as: ‘My Bum Is Genetic Deal With It’, ‘The Fat Black Women Sing’, ‘KHWEZI… Say My Name’, and ‘My Vagina Was Not Buried With Him’.
More so, Napo became the first black woman to produce, write and direct a play: ‘A New Song’, at the Market Theatre’s main-stage (John Kani Theatre). Between 2017/18, Napo held the position of Deputy Artistic Director at The South African State Theatre. Napo sits as the advisory board member, under performing arts department at Stockholm University of The Arts where she also is a guest lecture at SP Escholar (Brazil). Napo’s drive as a scholar and researcher is to inspire the kind of pedagogy that also recognises African Theatre History (HerStory), and Performing Arts Methods that also spring from African rituals and practices.
Over the years, Napo has worked and/or collaborated with: Equal Opportunity Productions (Los Angeles), Wimbledon School of Art (United Kingdom), The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), The Market Theatre (South Africa), Jungel Theatre in Bremen (Germany), University of Botswana, University of Johannesburg, Tshwane University of Technology (SA), Pretoria University (SA), University of Udine (Italy), AfroVibes (Netherlands), Royal Court (London), McClymonds Youth & FamilyCentre (USA), Afrique-Carib Breathtaking Foundation (Netherlands), and UNFPA East and Southern Africa Regional Office, to name but a few. To date Napo is the Managing Director of ‘Village Gossip Productions’, a theatre company that allows her to travel the world; directing, researching, collaborating, lecturing, performing and advocating for black women narratives. While co-currently Napo is the founder/curator of HerStory International Theatre Festival, a layered artistic program of theatre works and performances by Womxn – for Womxn – with Womxn creatives (and/or those who identify as a woman plus LGBTQIA±).
FB: Napo Masheane/ IG: @PopoMasheane/ Twitter: MasheanePopo
