Mike van Graan

"Mike van Graan is one of the leading contemporary playwrights in South Africa. He is Associate Professor of Drama at the University of Cape Town, a Technical Expert for UNESCO’s 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions and serves on the Boards of the Klein Karoo National Arts Festival and PEN South Africa. Currently, he is a Richard von Weizsaecker Fellow of the Robert Bosch Academy, and is based in Berlin until the second quarter of 2017. He has been involved in numerous artistic projects and in the management of arts centres, conferences, festivals and institutions. He is also an artist engaged in the monitoring and promotion of freedom of expression, research and the distribution of information within and on behalf of African creative players. He received his undergraduate education at the University of Cape Town majoring in English and Drama. In 1986, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Honors degree at the same university with a thesis on international models of political theatre and how they relate to the development of political theatre in South Africa. He wrote his first play in 1991 (The Dogs Must Be Crazy). Since then, he has written and has had staged a large number of plays (a total of 27), all characterized by his deep concern for social justice. Racism, discrimination, humanism, migration, environment, exploitation, freedom, apartheid, xenophobia, corruption, are among the topics he constantly explores. He is currently involved in a multinational project which triggered our conversation."

- Savas Patsalidis

This interview can be found in the e-journal as a whole (www.critical-stages.org) with its focus on refugees and theatre in Europe:

http://www.critical-stages.org/14/theatre-can-play-a-more-prophetic-role-in-our-society-an-interview-with-mike-van-graan/

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Mike van Graan