Baxter's Zabalaza Festival expands to hip-hop and opera

Now in its third year, the Zabalaza Theatre festival programme has expanded to poetry, hip-hop, musical theatre and opera for the first time.

Over 30 productions featuring 200 artists will be showcased in its three-week run this month. The festival is a developmental platform for theatre and other art forms and this year productions include contributions from the Western Cape, Johannesburg, Durban and Pretoria.

Zabalaza artistic director Thami Mbongosaid, "We are merely responding to the needs of community-based theatre-makers, writers, directors and actors. By introducing additional and new aspects each year ensures that the festival is always fresh, representative and exciting for participants and audiences."

He continued, "For me, the third year is the biggest for us since we've started. In the past two years, we focused only on theatre but this year we've added new components. I think our festival is important in bridging the gap for emerging artists to become professional artists. Many artists who've started here have gone on to study or seen their careers take off professionally."

The festival will end on a celebratory note with an awards ceremony on Saturday 23 March.