Plays Gone Wild — Afrika Burn 2017
The year when the theme is Play, you happen to work in theatre and your researcher co-conspirator happens to do “lab experiments with kids”…
At the end of last year a very good friend of mine, the above mentioned co-conspirator and researcher, called me up with a crazy idea, “Let’s submit a proposal to do something theatre related… with kids in the desert..at Afrikaburn!”. AfrikaBurn’s theme for 2017 was Play, the explanation for theme is prefaced with an Albert Einstein quote “Play is the highest form of research.” And so a theatre-maker and researcher started working on a proposal for an Art Grant…
AfrikaBurn is open to young children at the burn as it can be a wonderful carnivalesque experience for young minds! We learned that approx 300 children in our target age group (ages 7–11) usually attend the event. That means approx 1.8% of the attending community are kids.
We want to give kids a chance to make a *real* contribution. Our focus is NOT to have babysitting activities that happen to be fun for the kids but are actually for cutting the parents some slack so they can go party. Nope! We want to facilitate workshops where learning,contributing and fun-making can happen.
Our AfrikaBurn Mission
Pukka’s AfrikaBurn project and our “real world” projects are pretty much the same thing. We facilitate designing, building and performing activities in such a way that kids learn how to make *real* theatre. So we’re going to put on a show with large theatre puppets out in the desert.
These creatures will incubate in our Cage Stage. At sunset on the Saturday of the Burn, we’ll release our hatchlings into the wild, hence the project-name Plays Gone Wild. Spoiler Alert: all the creatures are deep-sea themed.
Since that “I have an idea” phone-call, we’ve managed to rally the troops and put together a piggybank of sorts. Part of our project is being funded by AfrikaBurn (thank you Afrikaburn), some self-funding and a piggy-bank filled with contributions from our team members (thank you team Plays Gone Wild).
None of this would be possible without out super star crew! We have an incredible over-competent team (15 woman/man strong), not bad for our 1st Burn, right?
Presenting the Cage Stage!
The first workshop was for our ridiculously dedicated stage-building team. We wanted to ensure that we are prepared for the build in the desert and keep surprises minimal. So we spent a weekend at a teammate’s holiday house, in a beach town, rehearsing the build!
Our team for the weekend was comprised of no less than 1 designer, 1 theatre practitioner, 1 MPhil student (with years of exhibition building skills), 1 PHD-student/researcher, 2 lawyers, 4 engineers and organic inspector…
So folks if you’re looking for beautifully designed, dramatically well-researched, liability free, over-engineered, local-is-lekker-organic theatre performance (in a desert)…*drum roll*… we’ll be between 4ish and 5ish on the Binnekring!
Needless to say, our construction rehearsal went superbly…and here’s the proof!
1st Props and Puppets Workshop …
This past weekend we held our first prop and puppet making workshop for kids. Our goal was to complete our paper-mache eggs (the ones that will incubate in the stage cage), complete making seeds for the bird feed and complete one of the cardboard puppets. Without giving too much away, here’s a sneak peek at some of the backstage magic making!
Pro-tip: If you need an endless supply of large cardboard boxes (and Amazon is only rainforest to you) then hit the panel beaters! Car parts come in large packaging, which is great for puppet making and its free!
It was really exciting to have the kids get busy and messy which is something kids seem to do less and less these days. Making paper-mâché paste with a cordless drill and paint-mixing bit was a highlight, as were the chocolate cupcakes!
One thing that really excited me was seeing kids try new things, some had never done paper-mâché before others had never used a glue gun or drill.
The Plays Gone Wild team gained 4 more kid crew members and met the parents attending the Burn! We’re super excited about this! A handful of kids from the Bo Kaap, who were on holiday, attended the workshop too. We would have loved having even more kids be involved, SO moms and dads if you’re reading this AND you’re attending the Burn look out for Plays Gone Wild!
Check out our event on Facebook or learn more about us at www.pukkatheatre.com.