UPCOMING WSI EVENTS

• July 2010 - Conference in Lesotho,
• October 2010 - NYC Weekend Residency
• June-July 2011* - Institute in Lesotho

WSI Alumni
reach out
around the world

WSI reconvenes every two years, with new students taking part each session, to build an ongoing momentum. During the intervening period participating schools carry out activities related to the overall goals of the Institute. Current and former faculty and students are involved in a variety of individual endeavors that reflect their experiences and involvement with WSI.

Motjoka (Jokes) Ramonono
(Lesotho, Student 2006)
played the leading role in the 2008 film, Kau La Poho: Ho Se Tsebe Ke Lebote (When Ignorance is Not Bliss) produced in Lesotho and shown throughout the country. The film, a joint initiative of the Ministry of Finance & Development Planning and the Global Fund, is aimed at enhancing the government's goal of getting all Basotho above the age of 12 tested for HIV/AIDS. An entertaining and provocative look at stigma and denial in relation to HIV, the film was produced through the initiative of local director Silas Monyatsi and more than 20 local actors. Jokes, who has a law degree from the National University, is currently working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.   top ↑

Despina Stamos
(U.S.A./Greece, Student 2008)
spent this past July in Greece working on a community theatre-making project with African and Middle Eastern asylum seekers living in Athens. The project culminated in passTRESpass, a collaborative dance piece about exile which was performed for free to the public at outdoor venues around Athens. Alice Klugherz, a participant in WSI's March 09 residency in New York City, was so inspired by her residency experience she volunteered to accompany Despina as part of the collaborative team. Despina continues to make use of her WSI experience in her own work as choreographer/performer and co-founder of MDAS tmdas.org.   top ↑

Tshegofatso (Tshego) Makhafola
(South Africa, Student 2008)
is a student at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) where he's just become Secretary of the campus dance society Dance@Wits. "In this position, I work with communication and I'm expected to integrate other cultural and social societies on campus with ours in order to create a spirit of togetherness. My experience with WSI opened my eyes to ideas about integrating different groups and communicating in such a way that is progressive. I truly am blessed to have gone on the 2008 WSI Journey. Things have been awesome since my WSI experience!"   top ↑

Rethabile Malibo
(Lesotho, Faculty 2006; 2008)
a lecturer at the National University of Lesotho (NUL), was asked to join NUL's HIV/AIDS Policy Committee in September. She and her students helped launch the new policy with a festival of performance that included scenes from WSI's 2008 show It's Just You and Me ... and My Wife and Your Boyfriend. Rethabile's 2008 Masters thesis, Using Popular Participatory Theatre as a Research Method to Expose the Relationship between HIV/AIDS and Silence in Malealea Valley, Lesotho, uses WSI's 2006 creative work with gossip and silence as its central case study. She'll present part of her thesis at the Africa Research Conference in Applied Drama and Theatre in Johannesburg this November. www.dramaforlife.co.za.   top ↑

Eric Feinblatt
(U.S.A., Student 2006)
considers Waste for Life one of the most important things he's done since his time with WSI in Lesotho: "My decision to launch Waste for Life and work with cartonero cooperatives in Buenos Aires was a direct result of my participation in WSI 2006." Waste for Life is a loosely joined network of scientists, engineers, educators, architects, artists, designers, and cooperatives who work together to develop poverty-reducing solutions to specific ecological problems. Although Waste for Life has a thriving program in Lesotho, much of Eric's energy has been focused on their work in Argentina, with trips to Australia and London as well. "We now have very strong ties with the University of Buenos Aires, University of Western Australia, Queens University and the Rhode Island School of Design -- all of which are partnering with us by bringing our work into their curriculum ... In Perth, we worked with recent Sudanese immigrants and local aboriginal youth at the Metropolitan Migrant Resource Center to help with a forum theatre-style performance about teenage sexuality. And, we're trying to finish a film about our work in Argentina. Take a look around our site!" http://wasteforlife.org.   top ↑

Selloane Mokuku
(Lesotho, Faculty 2006; 2008)
WSI's remarkably talented bilingual (Sesotho/English) facilitator, completed her Masters degree at University of the Witwatersrand School of Arts, through the newly formed Drama for Life (DfL) Programme. Her thesis, The Role of "Rapid Cognition" in the Facilitation of Theatre-Making: A Case of the 2008 Winter/Summer Institute in Theatre for Development, highlighted the evolving creative method of WSI. She recently worked with Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVC), providing input for the development of the revised National OVC Strategic Plan through the use of image theatre. And she facilitated a workshop in the 2009 DFL Festival as part of the preparatory process for an upcoming UNICEF Lesotho supported project that will use applied theatre to enhance risk reduction skills among young people - a project that will be implemented through the NGOC Coalition on the Rights of a Child (NGOC). Selloane is currently documenting Lesotho's journey in meeting the 2006 UNESCO "Road Map for Arts Education" and is preparing to present a paper and a workshop on WSI at the upcoming Africa Research Conference in Applied Drama and Theatre at Wits.   top ↑

Kim Chantelle McLaughlin (formerly Hess) and Bernie McLaughlin
(South Africa, Student 2006 and U.K., Student 2006)
met at WSI in Lesotho in 2006 and were married in Johannesburg in 2008. They live in the U.K. and are active in Brothers and Sisters Everywhere (BASE), a community theatre company specializing in touring educational theatre and film. Through many different forms of theatre and performance, BASE tackles current issues and successfully challenges young members of the community around things like bullying, drug/alcohol misuse, sexual health, crime and anti-social behavior. www.basetheatrecompany.co.uk.   top ↑

Neil Marshall
(U.K., Student 2006)
is currently running his own Drama Department at a private school in the North of England, a new job he began this September. Since 2006, he trained to be a Drama teacher in Edinburgh and worked in Scotland for two years. "I've used drama techniques gained from WSI in my lessons. And I am currently developing a scheme of work for 16 year olds to create awareness of global issues such as HIV/AIDS."   top ↑

Julius Nkosi
(South Africa, Student 2008)
studies at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. He recently won a Latin/Ballroom Dance contest in Cape Town and was asked to perform a poem, Imagine, during the awards ceremony that he wrote during WSI 2008. He's also just been cast in a professional production of Lysistrata at The Space Frame Theatre in Johannesburg. "Of course I would not be doing this [Lysistrata] if I had not gone to Lesotho with WSI in 2008, which motivated me on the path of performing plays for the benefit of others."   top ↑

Ed Hodson
(U.S.A., Student 2008)
followed up his work with WSI 2008 in Lesotho by teaching theatre to 4th graders at CS 102 Primary School in the Bronx, New York as a Teaching Artist. He did so in collaboration with Dream Yard Project (http://www.dreamyard.com) and Good Shepherd Services (www.goodshepherds.org). Much of the material Ed presents to both classroom teachers and students is inspired by the exploration he was involved in through WSI.   top ↑

Jacqueline Cadger
(U.K., Student 2006)
returned to Scotland after WSI 2006 and worked with young children to create shows on recycling. She then traveled to Namibia as a volunteer where she worked with wildlife and helped run a school for the children of local tribespeople. "WSI inspired me to travel and to help others. Lesotho was my first major trip ...I never thought it was possible for someone like myself to ever get to Africa and since then it has pushed me to go further and see more of the world." She's returned to England and is currently working with homeless youth.   top ↑

Popa 'Maleng
(Lesotho, Student 2008)
is a talented actor and fiery praise poet who just graduated from the National University of Lesotho with a degree in Pastoral Care & Counseling, and Theatre. Since WSI 2008, along with completing his studies, Popa has been working as a volunteer at the Leratong Community Centre in Roma, Lesotho, doing theatre workshops using the exercises and methods he learned through WSI and teaching life skills to the children there, many of whom are HIV/AIDS orphans.   top ↑

Jussara Santos-Raxlen
(U.S.A./Brasil, Student 2006; Faculty Intern 2008)
has continued the personal transformative journey she began in Lesotho in 2006 and 2008 by pursuing a Masters degree in sociology at the New School for Social Research in New York City. Now in her second year, Jussara's studies, together with her WSI experiences, have propelled her further into exploring the possibilities and intersections of popular theatre and social change, as she "inquires into the politics of everyday people's interactions, their affects and the collective dreams they imagine of a better future."   top ↑