University of the Witwatersrand (Wits)

Drama for Life (DFL) is hosted by the Division of Dramatic Art, Wits School of Arts, Wits University.

University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

The University of the Witswatersrand, also known as Wits University or simply Wits, is an urban, comprehensive university based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Wits is an internationally recognised university which seeks to play a leading role in Africa. It is a visionary learning institution which sees its future in the creation of meaningful and lasting relationships across the continent, confronting pressing issues of our times. Wits has an explicit and demonstrable commitment to forging strategic partnerships across Southern Africa.

The university is structured into five faculties, which contain 37 schools. Wits comprises seven major ‘clusters’ spread over 400 hectares in Braamfontein and Parktown, Johannesburg: East and West Campus, Sturrock Park, the Education Campus, the Management Campus, the Health Sciences Campus and the Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre.

Dramatic Arts

The Wits School of Arts is the top interdisciplinary school of arts in the country.

It provides a showcase for some of Africa’s most significant academic and artistic talent. With emphasis on quality professional training in digital arts, dramatic art, fine arts, history of art, music, film and media studies and television and because of its reputation for academic excellence, it offers students superb preparation for the contemporary workplace.

Wits School of Arts students have access to a range of specialised teaching environments, including theatres, music venues, fine arts studios, digital media laboratories, television studios, and multimedia libraries.

Students also have the opportunity to participate in the increasing number of international exchange programmes attracted to the school by its excellent reputation.

The Dramatic Art division offers a comprehensive, inter-disciplinary dramatic art undergraduate degree with a range of specialisations that can be further explored in our postgraduate degrees. The division is home to a number of prestigious individuals and projects:

• Together with the Wits Theatre Complex, the division stages more than 12 student productions with leading professional directors on an annual basis
• It presents a range of diverse productions at the National Arts Festival
• It is host to a number of leading academics in drama, theatre, performance and television and film
• It collaborates with several community initiatives that facilitate the use of drama and theatre as activism, education and therapy
• It is home to a dynamic community of outstanding academics, drama and theatre artists, directors and educators, and television, media and film scholars
• Its staff are actively engaged with groundbreaking traditional and creative research
• It is home to the international Drama for Life programme
• It has partnerships with New York University Tisch School of the Arts, De Appel Toneelgroep in the Hague, the German Technical Corporation (GTZ), the Goethe-Institut, the Southern African Theatre Initiative (SATI) and several African universities
• In collaboration with Wits Theatre and WSOA it presents a number of events, including the 969 Festival, Drama for Life Festival, film festivals, conferences, seminars and workshops