That's So Gay Festival

THAT’S SO GAY theatre festival, Presented by UJ Arts and Culture hosts ‘more than just gay plays’ but presents three award-winning gay-interest plays which headline the performances.

Reading Gay, which took place last year, was the inspiration behind taking two of the best readings and turning them into full stage productions. Also accompanied by two guest pieces, Snowman, by Canadian playwright Greg MacArthur’s, and Little Poof Big Bag by Bruce Little. This was to bring light to pieces which haven’t been seen before adding an international stamp to the show.

Being one of the biggest metropolitan cities which is home to a great gay population, UJ Arts and Culture wanted to achieve different things by not only catering to the gay population, or doing something unique in our society, but also to highlight our diversity through this. The gayness is incidental, its celebrating differences and being informed about the human complexity in all forms of colour, creed culture or sexuality, commented Jade Bowers director of ‘The Boy Who Fell From The Roof’

 According to Ashraf Johaardien, who heads up UJ Arts and Culture, “The role of arts at UJ -- and indeed in the world -- is to be provocative, to push boundaries and to engage with the broader community rather than just presenting safe comfortable work for UJ students, performed by UJ students. In 2011 UJ Arts launched Reading Gay, a season of staged readings of five new South Africa plays in collaboration with the UJ intercampus student LGBTI organization, LIBBERATTI. The current THATSOGAY Festival is the evolution of that project and marks international LGBTI history month, falls over the week of Jo’burg Pride as well as UJ Campus Pride and is a precursors to Diversity week.”