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AIMS HIGH: Jerry Pooe

Pooe was speaking to Sowetan in the context of the Windybrow Theatre community, which will re-start its programme on February 16, having launched late last December.

The programme, which has been sponsored by the National Lotteries Distribution Trust Fund, will commence with a play called Weekend Nightmare from February 16 to 19, followed by After Tears from February 23 to February 26 and Rice from March 1 to 4.

"Community theatre is an old form of democracy. It is theatre of the people, by the people for the people.

"It has always been the voice of society. In the 1970s and the early 1980s, community theatre gave birth to protest theatre and then in the late 19 80s, it popularised educational theatre," Pooe says.

This is a simple form of theatre where members of the community use theatre to become actors and the rest of the community become spectators.

"It really does not depend on theatre techniques, but it concentrates on the message," Pooe says.

He says Windybrow Centre of the Arts has developed many artists who started their career at this theatre, which has become home for new and community works. It is an important platform to mould and nurture talent, Pooe says.

"We were blessed to get funding from the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund to revive Windybrow's strength to develop young artists in the country.

"We were exposed to extreme talent and passion for theatre by the young people who had never seen a theatre in their lives. We are providing an opportunity that might lead to these young people becoming our stars of tomorrow.

"We are proud to be an institution that is willing to invest in raw talent, providing training that will shape these productions into semi- professional shows and as they grow, they will receive an opportunity of being discovered by other houses. Our pride will always remain in the fact that it is us who has opened doors for community artists who were hungry to express themselves," Pooe says proudly.