Ashraf Johaardien (born 1974) is a multi-award-winning playwright, actor, and

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

. He was the recipient of the inaugural PANSA Jury Award (2002), was listed as one of '' Mail & Guardian's'' 'Top 200 Young South Africans' (2008) and he received a Legends Award (2012) for his achievements in arts and culture.

Biography

He was born in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

in 1974 and was schooled in South Africa and the UK. He holds an International Baccalaureate from

United World College of the Atlantic Atlantic College (formally the United World College of the Atlantic; alternatively styled UWC Atlantic College, UWCAC, or UWCA) is an independent boarding school in the Vale of Glamorgan in south Wales. Founded in 1962, it was the first of th ...

in Wales, a Bachelor of Arts Degree and an English Honors Degree from the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

, a Postgraduate Diploma in Leadership from the

University of Johannesburg The University of Johannesburg (UJ) is a public university located in Johannesburg, South Africa. The University of Johannesburg came into existence on 1 January 2005 as the result of a merger between the Rand Afrikaans University (RAU), the Te ...

and a Research master's degree from the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African Public university, public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( o ...

. His career in the arts encompasses professional and creative roles across a spectrum of disciplines. He has held senior management and leadership positions with key South African cultural and academic organisations (Iziko Museums of Cape Town, Baxter Theatre: University of Cape Town, Film & Publications Board, Centre for the Book: National Library, Arts & Culture Trust, Wits Theatre:

, UJ Arts & Culture:

). He was the Executive Producer of the National Arts Festival and the Cape Town Fringe, from July 2016 to February 2019. He took up the position of chief executive officer of Business and Arts South Africa (BASA) in March 2019. His plays include ''Coloured Son X, Salaam Stories/SALAAM, Happy Endings Are Extra, STRIPPED, Miracle*, Ecce Homo!'' adapted from Tim Miller's ''Body Blows'' and ''The Quiet Violence of Dreams'' based on the novel by K. Sello Duiker. His work has been performed and produced at mainstream theatres and festivals in South Africa, Ireland, the UK, the Netherlands and the USA. He has been published by Compress, Just Done Productions Publishing, Oxford University Press, Waverly Books (Glasgow) and Umuzi (Random House). He is also the author of ''The Perfumed Closet'', a monthly gay column published in The Pink Tongue (Independent Newspapers) and he went on to compile a collection of queer South African writing entitled "Yes, I am!" with Robin Malan. He played the title role in the film ''Sando to Samantha'' (Cape Town, Johannesburg, New York, Toronto, Paris, San Francisco, Chicago, Turin, Adelaide, Bologna, Brussels, Melbourne and Lisbon) directed by Jack Lewis. Television credits include the role of Lucas in season 4 of the

SABC 3 SABC 3 (stylised as S3) is a South African free-to-air public television network owned by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). It carries programming in English and, few in other South African languages. It has a number of its own re ...

drama series '' Hard Copy'' produced by

Quizzical Pictures Quizzical Pictures, formerly known as Curious Pictures until 2012, is a South African film and television production company based in the Johannesburg area. The company was originally founded as Weekly Mail Television in 1993 and then '' Mail & ...

. He originated the role of Boy in the devised play SUIP! as part of a student ensemble at the University of Cape Town (1993). He performed the role of Lawrence with two different casts in the South African and Irish productions of ''The Myth of Andrew and Jo'' by Gideon van Eeden (2010). He also originated the solo Hamlet of ''iHAMLET'' which was adapted specifically for him to perform by Robin Malan (2012).

Plays and publications

Coloured Son X

* Baxter Theatre Centre, CT, SA (1998) * Circle East Theatre Company, NY, USA (2001) * Published by Compress

Salaam Stories/SALAAM

* Spier/PANSA Festival of New Writing (2002) * Theatre Row, New York City (2002) * Spier Summer Arts Festival (2003) * University of the Western Cape (2003) * Baxter Theatre Centre (2003 & 2004) * Darling Festival (2004) * Oval House Theatre, London (2006) * Grahamstown National Arts Festival (2006) * South African National Schools Festival (2006) * The Wits Theatre 969 Festival (2006) * State Theatre (2006) * Artscape Theatre Centre (2006) * Montecasino (2008) * Baxter Theatre Centre(2008) * Afrovibes (Netherlands 2008) * Drama for Life SA Season (2012) * SA Schools Festivals (Bloemfontein & Mmpumalanga 2012) * National Arts Festival, Grahamstown (2014) * Athenaeum, Port Elizabeth (2014) * Published by Just Done Productions Publishing * Published by Oxford University Press

Happy Endings Are Extra

* Baxter Theatre Centre (2003) * Grahamstown National Arts Festival (2004) * Standard Bank National Arts Festival (2004) * Artscape Theatre Centre (2005) * Dublin International Gay Theatre Festival (2006) * Diversionary Theatre, San Diego CA (2007) * Bailiwick Rep Theatre, Chicago IL (2007) * TheatreOut, Santa Ana, Ca (2009) * Published by Just Done Productions Publishing

Miracle*

* Commissioned by the Glasgow Arts Council * Published in the anthology Freedom Spring by Waverley Books (Glasgow)

STRIPPED

* Baxter Theatre Centre (2005)

Yes, I Am!: Writing by South African gay men

* Compiled by Robin Malan and Ashraf Johaardien (2010) * Published by Junkets Publishers

Adaptations

Ecce Homo!

* Adapted from ''Body Blows: Six Perforformances'' by Tim Miller * Grahamstown National Arts Festival (2006) * The Wits Theatre 969 Festival (2006)

The Quiet Violence of Dreams

''Based on the novel by K. Sello Duiker'' * Grahamstown National Arts Festival (2008) * South African National Schools Festival (2008) * Artscape Theatre (2010) * Walsh Black Box Theatre, Washington D.C. (2010) * University of Johannesburg Con Cowan Theatre (2011)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Johaardien, Ashraf 1974 births Living people South African dramatists and playwrights University of Cape Town alumni People educated at Atlantic College People educated at a United World College