In conjunction with the celebration, the National Children's Theatre has announced that it's two 2013 productions of The Secret Garden and Honk! Jr. were nominated for the Naledi Award for Best Production for Young Audiences, and that The Secret Garden was judged the winner at the awards evening.
For the past 25 years, the NCT has producing outstanding theatrical and educational programmes and won several awards including three Naledi Awards, an IPRA Golden World Award for Excellence in Public Relations in the Arts category, and a Life Vita Award for Joyce Levinsohn, past artistic director of the NCT.
The anniversary year started off with a production of an HIV/AIDS awareness play It's Your Life, quickly followed by The Revealers, an anti-bullying play, based on the American book of the same name by Doug Wilhelm.
This is being followed with four main stage productions. First off is The Astounding Antics Of Anthony Ant by Professor Pieter Scholtz, which began playing on Monday, 17 March.
This will be followed by a first time on South African stage performance of Freckleface Strawberry The Musical, based on the beloved New York Times best-selling book by actress Julianne Moore. It will open to the public on 9 June and run until 20 July. This fun musical has a serious underlying theme of bullying and is not to be missed.
August will feature the return of the bullying play, The Revealers - back by request from schools and supported by the Gauteng Education Department.
From 15 September to 19 October NCT will produce an adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic Great Expectations.
The undoubted highlight of the year will be The Wizard Of Oz - a production that will enthral audiences from beginning to end. This interpretation of a golden oldie has been designed to delight both old and young, on from 10 November to 21 December, 2014.
For more, go to www.nationalchildrenstheatre.org.za
