Aims and Objectives

• 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 promote and build a culture of attending theatre among new audiences.
• To provide mentorship/internships to deserving individuals (writers, directors, stage managers, actors, etc.) who would like to take up theatre as a career.
• To provide guidance and information where necessary to upcoming artists.

Identify and Nurture Talent

• Visit theatre groups and companies in and around Western Cape.
• Attend theatre festivals in the 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.

Create Performance Platforms

• Mini-festivals
• Main Festival (with an award ceremony)
• Community theatre group showcases

Skills Development Workshops

• Stage management
• Script-writing/devising a production
• Directing
• Acting
• Arts administration and management
• Theatre design
• Marketing

Mentorship/Internship Programmes

• Adopt/mentor a theatre group initiative
• Joint productions
• Young writers' initiative (script development)
• The Finest of the Fest

17th Zabalaza Theatre Festival — Applications Now Open!

We are very excited to announce that Applications for the 17th Zabalaza Theatre Festival are officially OPEN!

Applications close: 26 June 2026 at 13:00

APPLY NOW

Physical copies of the application form can be collected at Baxter reception and distributed across our venue partners:

• Makukhanye Art Room (Khayelitsha)
• Rainbow Arts Organisation (Delft South)
• Zolani Centre (Nyanga)
• Guga S'thebe (Langa)
• Alliance Française (Mitchells Plain)
• Africa Tikkun (Mfuleni)
• Kraai4Theatre (Kraaifontein)
• Desmond Tutu Hall (Makhaza)

Should you have questions about the application process, please contact the Zabalaza Office: zanele.tlali@uct.ac.za

Auditions and Revisits

All applicants from the City of Cape Town are contacted to arrange an audition/showcase session in which the team go to the applicants' rehearsal spaces to watch a 15 minute audition piece and provide detailed feedback. Based on the outcomes of the audition process, selected groups/individuals are revisited and assessed on whether or not they have incorporated the feedback notes from the auditions.

Community Mini-Festivals

Selected productions are then invited to participate in mini festivals. These take place in various communities in and around the Western Cape. Mini festivals have been hosted in the communities of Robertson, Kraaifontein, Stellenbosch, Khayelitsha, Langa, Delft, Nyanga East and Athlone to name a few. We strongly believe in taking the theatre to the people.

The Baxter Zabalaza Main Festival

The Zabalaza Theatre Festival takes over the Baxter Theatre Centre every March, invading all the Baxter's spaces to create a festive atmosphere. Community theatre groups are given the opportunity to present their plays on a professional performance platform. Approximately 50 new theatre works, many of them in indigenous languages, are created annually.

All door takings go straight to the participants — The Baxter does not take any of the ticket sales.

Golden Arrow Bus Services provides transport for audiences at a very low cost (R10.00). Contact Carmen Kearns (carmen.kearns@uct.ac.za) or Nontsikelelo Maboza (nontsikelelo.maboza@uct.ac.za) for more info.

Finest of the Fest

Every year one or more production is awarded the winner of Zabalaza Finest of the Fest. The winning production goes through a mentorship process before being mounted for a two week season at the Baxter.

Bursary

We have partnered with City Varsity and ACT Cape Town for the bursary program that takes one participant for a degree, diploma, or certificate in creative arts courses.

Zabalaza's focus is on the communities in and around the Western Cape. We work with the Western Cape Department of Cultural Affairs and Sports as this is where we are based and where our main funders request that we utilize their grants. In the past we have been able to audition productions and invited productions from other provinces such as the Eastern Cape, Johannesburg and KwaZulu-Natal, but this is dependent on funding.

Zabalaza encourages theatre-makers, who have funding, to bring their productions to the Zabalaza Theatre Festival. Some of the productions that have been awarded the Best of Zabalaza production and provided a professional season at the Baxter are:

2013 – Skierlik by Phillip Dikotla (Gauteng)
2015 – Fruit by Paul Noko (Gauteng)