Inter-generational project ‘Sounds Like You and Me’ premieres this month

The Outreach Foundation’s annual creative inter-generational project, Sounds Like You and Me, in partnership with Tswelopele Frail Care, premieres at the Constitution Hill Human Rights Festival on 23 March 2019.

The project, now in its fourth production, see youth from Hillbrow’s Outreach Foundation and the elderly from Tswelopele Frail Care (also based in Hillbrow), explore music as a way to trigger sweet and bitter memories, and use true accounts of the sad, joyous, reflective, funny, and at times, obscure and random stories and memories, to create an exciting theatrical experience.

The show’s director, Gcebile Dlamini, has again assembled a stellar creative team to bring the show to life: Carmen Ho for the dramaturge, Bigboy Hadebe for choreography, and acclaimed African Jazz Pioneer musician, Madoda Gxabeka, as well as Quinton Mamabolo, for music. Together, Gxabeka and Mambolo will bring the nostalgic sounds of Jazz and marimba to the production.

Over the last three years the inter-generational project has travelled from the Olive Tree Theatre in Alexandra, where it brought young and old to witness the production (for many of the elders, this was the first time they had ever been in a theatre), to PopArt in Maboneng, and to the Emakhaya Theatre at the University of the Witwatersrand (home to many Drama for Life Festivals).

It has also travelled to Cape Town to the prestigious 19th ASSITEJ World Congress and International Theatre Festival for Children and Young People in 2017.

In addition to its premiere on 24 March at the Constitution Hill Human Rights Festival, the project will perform at:

Hillbrow Theatre – 30th March
South Rand Recreation Centre – 6th April
Tswelopele Frail Care Centre – 13th April
Gerard Fitzpatrick House – 27th April (Still to be confirmed)
Hillbrow Theatre (High Schools) – 17th April
Itlholomeleng Old Age Home (Alex) – Date still to be confirmed
National Arts Festival – July

For more information on the project, contact Outreach Foundation on 011 720 7011 or email hillbrowtheatre@outreachfoundation.co.za. ‘Sounds Like You and Me’ are looking for sponsors and support to extend the tour to the National Arts Festival this year. Contact Outreach Foundation if you would like to fund or support the project.

The project has been made possible through the generous support of the Danish Agency for Culture. Outreach Foundation would also like to thank and acknowledge Henrik Haartman, Naghmeh Mahmoudi Kashani, and the C: NTACT team for inspiring this project.

To view the second production of the project presented in 2017, young@home, go to https://youtu.be/oeMvDVQUp0k

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