The Broadway SA Regional Awards 2022 winners have been announced, with several East London, acts receiving top honours.
The awards are presented to top regional productions and theatres, with audiences voting for their favourites.
The list of winners includes East London favourites such as Sonwa Sakuba, Daniel Anderson, Amanda Bothma, and Wêla Kapela Productions, among others.
The East London Guild Theatre was voted as the Favourite Theatre, an honour that chairperson Malwande Ntisana is very proud of.
“This is a very proud moment for us. We have a lot of talent in East London and it’s good that we made our facility available for them to utilise.
“It’s important for us to invest in our local talent. We have performers, artists, set designers and scriptwriters,” he said.
“We can even create our own productions and telenovelas. We have the Umtiza Festival coming up which will have a packed and exciting lineup of local talent.”
Anderson received the Best Cabaret/Concert/Solo Performance award for his show Mad About The Boys, which he performed alongside Germaine Gamiet.
“This is just truly such an honour, especially if I consider the other talents nominated in this category.
“These are people I have watched from when I was a young boy; those who have inspired me and who still inspire me to do what I do.
“To say I am blessed is an understatement,” he said.
“I must add that the award might have my name next to it right now, but it truly is the collaborative effort that makes the magic of anything like this: to my family at Wêla Kapela productions, my on-stage partner on Mad About The Boys, Germaine Gamiet, and of course the mother behind it all, Amanda Bothma, I do not have words to express my gratitude.
“Of course, the greatest thanks also goes to our supporters and those who took the time to vote for me.” said Anderson
Mad About The Boys will be touring Durban in March.
Anderson has another cabaret on the circuit, Vincent, which is touring Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg this year and is set to feature at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in the UK in August.
East London’s Wêla Kapela Productions received the award for Best Theatre for Young Audiences Production for its puppet show Jackal and Wolf, which was staged at the Guild Theatre.
Jackal and Wolf cast member Chule Novukela said winning an award for a puppet show, the first he had been involved in, was special.
“It means the world to the production team because this was the type of production that was new to them and to us as the performers and to receive the award is more than amazing. It was my first time being part of a puppet production.
“I can’t go into detail about all our plans but I can say we have a few things planned for the Umtiza Festival,” he said.
Once On This Island received multiple awards including Best Ensemble Performance, Best Musical, and Best Performer in a musical, among others.
Sonwa Sakuba received the award for Best Choreography of a Play or Musical.
“I feel so blessed and honoured that the public voted for us. This means we are doing a good job and that the work we do is of a great standard.
“It’s also amazing that people outside of East London and the Eastern Cape are recognising the work we do.
”One of our graduate students, Bathandwa Diniso, also won an award for Best Actor, which is amazing.
“I am just so incredibly grateful,” said Sakuba.
Among the academy’s productions planned for the year are All You Need Is Love, set to be staged in February and featuring second and third-year students, and Hidden Identity, in March, featuring first years.
