01/06/2022
About: Napo Masheane
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Napo Masheane was born in Soweto, grew up in Qwaqwa (Free State) and holds a Mar- keting Management, Speech & Drama and Master’s Degree in Creative Writing from Rhodes University. She is an executive creative producer, playwright, scriptwriter, poet, storyteller, stage director, translator and acclaimed performer on both international and national stages.
Napo is a founding member of Feela Sistah! Spoken Word Collective and with its demise, went on to become one of South Africa’s leading black female theatre makers, after her provocative and humorous one woman show My Bum Is Genetic Deal With It and The Fat Black Women Sing, which saw her being named one of the Top 100 youth in South Africa by the Mail & Guardian in (2007).
Napo Masheane is the winner of Mbokodo Award, under Theatre in (2012) and Pan African Language Award, PALA for Sesotho Language in (2014) and later worn SAFTA
in (2016) for Umlilo. She has three poetry collections, Caves Speak in Metaphors (2009) and Fat Songs For My Girlfriends (2012), and Heartbeat Of The Rain (2019) ... while picked up on the international circuit was one of her monologues performed by leading actor, Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years A Slave) at Royal Court.
Napo’s work credit includes working and collaborating with; Equal Opportunity Productions (Los Angeles), Wimbledon School Of Art (United Kingdom), The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), The Market Theatre Foundation (SA), Jungel Theatre in Bremen (Germany), University Of The Free State, Performing Centre Of The Free State (PACOFS), Joburg Theatres,University of Botswana, University of Johannesburg, University of Udine (Italy)
University of Pretoria (Drama Department), AfroVibes (Netherlands), Royal Court (London), British Council (ConnectZA), The South Africa State Theatre (SAST), MACUFE, McClymonds Youth & Family Centre (USA), Oakland (USA), Afrique-Carib Breathtaking Foundation (Netherlands), Toronto International Festival Of Authors (TIFA), Department of Sports, Arts and Culture (SA).
Napo Masheane became the first black women to produce, write and direct a play: A New Song, at the Market Theatre mainstage (John Kani Theatre). Between 2017/18, Napo held the position of Deputy Artistic Director at The South African State Theatre, where she wrote and directed KHWEZI... Say My Name, a stage adaptation of Redi Tlhabi’s book: KHWEZI...The Remarkable Story of Fezekile Ntsukela Kuzwayo. Napo is one of the advisory board member, at Stockholm University Of The Arts in (Sweden) under perform- ing arts and a guest lecture at SP Escola de Teadro (Brazil). Currently she is working on her new play My Va**na Was Not Buried With Him, which she is producing and performing in. Overall... Napo is also the Managing Director of Village Gossip Productions, a theatre company that allows her to travel the world... directing, researching, performing, documenting, and lecturing African Theatre History/ Herstory (Theatrics/ Narratives/ Poetics).
