As women we are constantly placed under an environment where we do not matter, we are forced and pressured to live up to roles that were created by cultures and generations before us.
This play unpacks and showcases a depressing statistic is that even with all the knowledge and education in today’s society we are still dealing with the same issues as portrayed in the play. As women we are constantly placed and used as objects to satisfy men and our value is dependent on how we can please a man. It’s been brought to me upon my life that women have shown greater resolve in peace building processes, but our needs are overlooked in peace agreements, a situation that needs to be rectified I want to portray the true realities that women face in the world through this story. I am a self-made storyteller using my gifts and talent to heal and inspire, this project equates in creating job opportunities, shadowing and internships. I believe that the traveling and seeing the world is a great form of teaching, learning people’s ways in life allows us to tell stories better.
I am Katleho Mallela the producer and director of my adaptation of the play Ruined originally written by Lynn Nottage. Ruined is a story that deals with the political message that “ no one can ignore rape as weapon of war” and unconventional love story that warns society of the irreparable damage war can inflict on women.
I am raising funds to continue this journey of story telling, when I produced the production workshop of the play in LA in June 2019, we had a sold out show and this inspired me to enter the Hollywood Fringe Festival 2020 and take this production to South Africa, South Africa has a bad rape issue so telling the story there will educate not only the audience but also my cast about being African. The play has 14 casting members, our cast will consist of
African, African-American and Caucasian actors from both South Africa and United States of America, our crew as-well, this is a collaboration creating no borders for storytelling and making history.
As a storyteller, I believe that theater is the most complete art form. It not only helps us escape our reality but it helps us to understand it as well. Presenting this play which deals with such an important yet taboo topic, will leave the audience wanting to change their reality. Wanting to better for our society by actively starting conversations and being mentally aware of all the issues in our daily lives.
We only have 5 months before the first run in South Africa and 8 months before the Hollywood Fringe 2020, The timeline is short, However, this will help a lot for our crew and team if we got your support. We had two Fundraiser events, We will plan to create 10 more events to increase more publicity and media attention to boost ticket sale for each performance.