Amajuba at the Culture Project

Culture Project presents Farber Foundry Production's Amajuba: Like Doves We Rise, a new drama of monologue, mime, song, and dance from South Africa, will open at the Culture Project on 25 Jul 2006, following previews from 20 Jul and running through to 3 Sep 2006. Amajuba: Like Doves We Rise paints a very personal portrait of survival in the South African townships during apartheid, with narratives based on the real lives of the five performers who make up the cast.

Directed by Yael Farber, Amajuba: Like Doves We Rise features Tshallo Chokwe, Roelf Matlala, Bongeka Mpongwana, Phillip 'Tipo'Tindisa and Jabulile Tshabalala.

According to Ms. Farber, the shows creator and director, "Amajuba was created as a celebration of the survival of the spirit against the exceptionally harsh environment in South Africa. The performers share their very personal experiences of growing up in the townships and surviving the consequences of apartheid. What emerges in the telling of these stories is the resilience and personal power that the average young, black South African utilizes to survive."

Amajuba began at a small theater in Johannesburg in 2000 after Ms. Farber was invited by the North West Arts Council to create a new work with the five resident actors. Farber proposed the concept of a production in which she would work as a biographer with the performers to create a text based on the details of their childhood living in the ghettos of South Africa. The production ran in South Africa for two years before an extensive tour of the UK began in 2004.