Interplay (Internet Education Play) was produced to teach communities in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa about the possibilities the Internet can offer them through the use of the Xhosa peoples traditional form of educating one another - storytelling.

Schools and community members reached out to the producers of Interplay with their interest in using the play to teach more people about the possibilities and limitations of the Internet. 

We will film the play using a multi-camera set up, edit it and put it on a DVD to distribute it to schools in communities in the Eastern Cape Province. 

We need your help to be able to do this. 

Why Us?

Susan Hansen co-wrote and produced the play. She has brought together the director, cast and crew to execute this. She has built connections in Grahamstown, Joza and surrounding areas to get this play off the ground, making it available to many audiences and she is motivated to continue to do so. 

Susan is a User Experience Researcher and PhD Candidate at the University of Technology Sydney and Rhodes University, South Africa. More information on Susan can be found at http://au.linkedin.com/in/susankhansen

Lisa Mazzotta is an experienced film director, producer and editor. She will film the play, edit it and prepare the packaging materials for the DVD. She aims to use her filmmaking skills to empower through education.

Lisa has directed and produced material for over 40 promotional campaigns for clients such as Disney, Nickelodeon, CW, E!, MTV, FOX, Us Weekly, NBC and others. 

THE IMPACT!

Interplay has been performed in the Joza Township several times and was part of the 2012 National Arts Fringe Festival in Grahamstown, South Africa. To date, it has been seen by over 1000 people in the Grahamstown and the surrounding township areas and received with much excitement and support.

In October 2012, Interplay partnered with Isiseko Senkonjane/ The Swallows Foundation SA (ISSA), and was workshopped to produce a version of the play that is specifically aimed at educating primary school children.

There are several groups of people for which this this campaign will have a positive impact.

The main groups include:

Community Members and School Children

If we can reach our funding target, we plan on sending out Interplay DVDs to at least 50 primary schools and 50 high schools in the Eastern Cape. We will promote the touring of the play to marginalised communities so that more poeple can hear about the possibilities that the Internet can offer them.

Thanks to mobile phones, the majority of South Africa's population will have at least basic access to the Internet. The Eastern Cape Province is the poorest Province of South Africa.

Mobile phones and the excellent mobile reception coverage is now connecting these isolated communities to the rest of the world for the first time. The potential of the Internet in these areas is huge, but there is a lack of education about these possibilities in ways that community members can relate to.

The Actors of Interplay

In the year of the actors' involvement with Interplay, their lives have been impacted in postivie ways. With new found inspiration to pursue education, several actors have chosen to go back to school, two of them planning to major in computer science.

Two actors have also written their own plays and submitted these to local festivals.

Last but not least..

The Egazini Outreach Project

 Any donation of $25 involves you (as the contributor) receiving artwork from Egazini. This will provide the artists with much needed support for their wonderful creations.

WHAT WE NEED

Following performances in the township and National Arts Festival we were approached by many people who wanted to know how we could take Interplay to other communities.

ISSA expressed their desire to be the vehicle to make this happen by taking Interplay to rural schools around the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa and creating versions of Interplay in other African languages spoken in South Africa.

However funding, as is commonly the case, is tight. ISSA, and other groups interested in bringing Interplay to schools as part of larger education programs need a good quality version of the play to show their funding partners. Unfortuantely, that has not been possible until now.

We plan on filming the two versions of Interplay - the original version designed for the Egazini Outreach Project and the new version adapted for young children in collaboration with ISSA.

To date we have arranged the venue in which Interplay will be filmed, a talented group of crew and the actors. Unfortunately we both live a great distance from Grahamstown and need help to get us there.

We are running this campaign to raise enough money to make possible the production of a high quality version of Interplay which can be used to distribute to primary and high schools, as well as promote the touring of Interplay to schools and communities in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa.

Where will the money go?

We need money to:

• Help get us to Grahamstown to film the play (Susan lives in Australia and Lisa lives in Canada). We have found a small window of time where this is possible according to everyones schedule (we have a busy team of talented professionals, mostly from South Africa), but don't have the means to get us there.
• Cover the production and distribution of the Interplay DVD
• Transport members from the Joza community (a township area outside Grahamstown) to view the filming of the play as live audience members
• Pay for English subtitles to be inserted in the DVD so that non-Xhosa speaking potential funders can understand the play, as well as anyone else interested in the story!
• Send the Interplay DVD to 50 primary schools and 50 high schools in the Eastern Cape.

We would ideally like to:

• Pay the actors (who are living in the Joza township and have volunteered the majority of their involvement with Interplay which is now over a year).
• Promote the play to organisations and educational institutions
• Support an Interplay tour to a series of township and rural schools

Other Ways You Can Help

There are many non-financial ways that you can help our campaign. 

In order to get funding, people need to hear about this and thankfully these days, technology provides many avenues for this to happen!

If you like what we are trying to do, we would love it if you can pass on this link to your friends, family, or anyone else you think may be interested. Ways to share this can include email, Facebook, Twitter or whatever other social tools you use.

With love, hope and graditude,

Susan and Lisa :o)