Baxter Theatre Centre
Conference in Cape Town

Baxter Theatre Centre's Home Page, with full details of current and future performances.

The Baxter Theatre Centre is a vibrant, multicultural entertainment hub in the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town. Built in 1976, the Baxter was a pillar of hope during the apartheid era. Coffee shops, gyms, restaurants are easily accessible and the railway station is only minutes away. These take place in various communities in and around the Western Cape. Depending on the number of applications from each community, Zabalaza is committed to bringing mini festivals to as many of the communities across the province as possible. Community theatre groups are given the opportunity to present their plays on a professional performance platform. Zabalaza and the Baxter Marketing team assist all participating productions to market their shows, however, participants are encouraged to take a BIG PART in the selling of their production as all the door takings go straight to the participants. In the past, participants have been able to generate enough income to enable them to extend the life of their productions by re-staging it elsewhere or to create new productions. This provides the company with another opportunity to stage their work in a professional theatre with full logistical support. Most of the previous winning productions have had the opportunity to participate in other festivals and tour across South Africa, even been invited to participate in international festivals. Zabalaza’s focus is on the communities in and around the Western Cape as this is where we are based and where our main funders request that we utilize their grants. Zabalaza has also been able to bring productions to participate in the festival from the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. Zabalaza encourages theatre-makers, who have funding, to bring their productions to the Zabalaza Theatre Festival. The Western Cape Department of Arts and Culture, together with Zabalaza, aims to create drama festivals in all of the districts. These writers are asked to go back to their communities and create productions to be staged in a showcase in August. To encourage and contribute to the development of new South African work by providing a platform for artists who want to venture into acting, stage management, writing and directing. To provide an ongoing skills programme in areas of theatre-making to upcoming artists. To identify raw talents in the community theatre groups and expose them to theatre of a professional standard. To provide mentorship/internships to deserving individuals (writers, directors, stage managers, actors, etc.) To provide guidance and information where necessary to upcoming artists. Identify and nurture talent: Visit theatre groups and companies in and around Western Cape. Build theatre audiences: Encourage and build a culture of attending theatre for new audiences. Create full theatre experiences for audiences as well as performers. We wanted the artists, audiences and ourselves to GIVE what we have in terms of skills and knowledge.