Africans: Where Are We Going?

This year’s Bokamoso youth residency at GW attempts to make sense of South African society 25 years after the end of Apartheid.

February 4, 2019

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Teens from the Bokamoso Youth Centre of Winterveldt, South Africa, performed Friday and Saturday in the GW youth residency, the South Africa Project. (Photos by William Atkins/GW Today)

The 16th anniversary of the South Africa Project featured performances of traditional African song and dance and contemporary poetry in Marvin Center’s Betts Theatre Friday and Saturday.

The George Washington University’s partnership with the Bokamoso Youth Centre of Winterveldt, South Africa, continued with the presentation of “Africans: Where Are We Going.” The play explored modern South African society 25 years after the end of Apartheid in the country by underscoring its current issues with corruption and highlighting the Winterveldt community’s determination to create the South African Nelson Mandela envisioned.

Attendees also enjoyed special guest appearances by GW acapella singing groups, the Troubadours and the Voice Gospel Choir. The program ended with the audience joining in the dancing and singing.

The youth residency began in 2003 as an artistic exchange where GW Theatre students travel to Winterveldt to work with the Bokamoso youth to create theater that addresses challenges in their community. It continues today through a GW course, Theatre for Social Change.