Writer’s Block

A one-person show about an academic who leaves South Africa to avoid having to face her partner’s killers at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission; she is later forced to return and face her demons. It premiered on the Main Programme of the National Arts Festival in 2013, when I was featured as the inaugural “Festival Artist”.

Introduction

I originally wrote this piece for Megan Kruskal Metrikin, an extremely talented South African actor, now based in New York. When I was invited to be the inaugural festival artist at the National Arts Festival in 2013, I reworked the text and premiered this one-hander on the Main Programme of the Festival, as one of four plays that I had at the Festival that year.

Writer’s Block is about a writer/academic who leaves South Africa just before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission starts as a way of avoiding having to confront the killers of her partner in detention. She takes up a teaching job in the USA, and through a series of events, is obliged to confront her past and its demons.

First Production

National Arts Festival, Main Programme, 28 June-8 July 2013

Director

Nicky Rebelo

Cast

Jennifer Steyn

Seasons

Wits 969 Festival, 9-21 July 2013

Availability of script and audio-visual material

The script is available on this website. There is no audio-visual material.