Kathy Barolsky

South Africa

Kathy is a National School of the Arts and University of the Witwatersrand BA Dramatic Arts (BADA), MA Dramatic Arts (MADA) graduate. She has extensive experience in using Applied Theatre techniques to address HIV and AIDS and various social issues and has worked as an intern at Sibikwa Arts Centre on the East Rand, managing the HIV and AIDS programme, later going on to do HIV and AIDS industrial theatre work.

In 2008, Kathy was awarded a scholarship to become part of the Drama for Life programme at Wits. It was during this time that she developed a passion for Playback Theatre; she pursued this passion and was awarded an overseas study grant by the Oppenheimer Foundation to train at the Centre for Playback Theatre in New York. She is currently the only person in South Africa with this advanced skills qualification. Kathy graduated with from her Masters with distinction, and was awarded the Marshall Kandar Drama for Life Award for outstanding research in the field of HIV and AIDS education in Applied Theatre.

Currently Kathy is a facilitator on the Acting Against Conflict initiative, developing an Applied Theatre model to address conflict in a South African context. The artistic director and founder of the Drama for Life Playback Theatre Company, she is also the course co-ordinator and facilitator for the core course in Drama for Life’s special study project.

Kathy continues to pursue her hunger for theatre and social change through the power of Applied Theatre.