PROFILE OF ANTHONY “SPEEDO” WILSON: Born in 149 8th Street, Speedo Wilson grew up in the “Cape Reserve – Cape Location – (an anomaly in its own right), Marabastad – Marabi”. This Group Area had little to do with the Cape, had very few – if any “Cape Coloureds” and yet at one and the same time was a both “Reserve and Location”, a multi-cultural rather than a multi-racial melting pot of apartheid Pr
etoria. He is an accomplished Director, Producer, Presenter, Writer and Actor in all forms of the modern performing media. An authority on Afrikaans literature in all its forms – written and spoken, he was nominated for an Artes Award (the South African equivalent of the British Actors Film and Television Awards (BAFTA) for a 13-part Television Drama Series, “Onder Engele” (“Protected by” or “Among Angels”) and awarded the “Best Television Drama Director Award” by the ATKV (The South African Afrikaans Language and Culture Guild). In 2004 he was warded the KANNA AWARD at The Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees (KKNK) for his contribution to Afrikaans and Community Theatre. Some of the choice categories in the above field:
• JIVE! ‘n DANSDRAMA – 2009
• SPAT – 2004 – 2008 (Sanlam prize vir Afrikaans Theater.)
• VUVUZELA – 2006
• SARAH – 2006
• NYL VANNIE WESKUS – 2005
• DIE VAN AARDES VAN GROOT OOR – 2004
• BUSHIE! JY’S OP JOU EIE – 2004
• SKURKE! – 2003
• PERLEMOEN MY GHOEN: ‘n Perlemoen storie – 2003
• MARABASTAD “KAS-KENADES” – 2002
• DIE AFSPRINGERS – 2001
Speedo has also published short stories in an Anthology of Short Stories, together with other well-known acclaimed South African writers. ANTHONY WILSON THE BOARD AND COMMITTEE MEMBER
Anthony Wilson has served on various Arts Boards, and Committees. The most prominent of these are the Klein Karoo National Arts Festival and the Aardklop National Arts Festival of Potchefstroom. He was also nominated for the (Transvaal/Gauteng) Provincial Arts Council and is a member of the Afrikaans Writers’ Association. . ANTHONY WILSON THE COMMUNITY CULTURAL ACTIVIST
Here, Speedo is a league of his own because he brings various formats of the dramatic and performing Arts into one: directing, producing, writing and performing. He readily acknowledges the exceptional contributions of his colleagues throughout the “Coloured” Afrikaans speaking community in the country such as Adam Small and others in the Western Cape and Chris van Wyk in Gauteng. It is however his passion and ability to bring these different formats of cultural expression to “life at home” giving new meaning in every production to the theory and praxis of Theatre in Education (TIE). As a resident he has for several years served as a member of the Local/Community Arts Council such capacities as Drama Advisor on the National School Board for Eersterust and also local School Board. He is founder member of Eersterust Theatre Kitchen, a drama School that empowers people through the arts and that caters for the underprivileged within the community in and around Eersterust. He is the current Project Manager of the Eersterust Theatre Kitchen. ANTHONY WILSON PRODUCTIONS
Anthony Wilson Productions (AWP) was established / founded in the early 80s. Its pre-cursor was a theatre production company called Pre-Pack Productions – an outfit established to cater and at the same time by-pass some regulations of the former South African Broadcasting regime. The company started as a Theatre in Education (TIE) production-house doing productions for the then, and now defunct, Department of Coloured Affairs. These productions were taken to all the Coloured High schools in the old Transvaal, Free Sate and Eastern Cape. South African democracy is no longer an “infant democracy”. It is now a veritable “teenager” and almost an “in-between ager” with all the natural and concomitant growth pangs of growth. AWP has taken cognisance of these factors. AWP has prides itself in that it has not “shifted paradigms” but has “changed the paradigm”. It reads the pulse of the community; speaks to and attempts to address the changing needs of our youth in particular and society in general. We now offer productions in different genres and mediums:
• Theatre productions to address the educational requirements at the same time as addressing new social ills in our society.
• Programmes that empower the youth through the Arts.
• Industrial theatre to address problems and challenges in companies and;
• Create job opportunities for the unemployed through theatre. VISION AND MISSION OF ANTHONY WILSON PRODUCTIONS
Our Vision is:
To prepare and equip South African youth from all communities and all walks of life, for the “NOT SO NEW SOUTH AFRICA”. Our Mission is:
To do so through Theatre in Education (TIE) on a long term, sustainable manner. Produced and attested by Randi Erentzen (2Hands.com Professional Services: I like what I write”).
