Plot 99
A new workshop production by The Paper Body Collective
www.paperbody.co.za
In March 2011, internationally acclaimed puppetry company, The Paper Body Collective, will be premiering their new Puppetry and Visual Performance Production PLOT 99, created and directed by Visual Performance Director Aja Marneweck. Based on the true story of Nonthetha Nkwenkwe, a visionary Xhosa prophetess from the Eastern Cape South Africa incarcerated by the state for mental insanity in 1922, it explores the provocative personal, emotional and spiritual experiences of madness and transformation. Working with an award winning team including American writer and performer Mitzi Sinnott, Julia Raynham of Resonance Bazaar, and singer/musician Nobuhle Ketelo, Plot 99 uses puppetry and visual metaphor to bring to light those voices of desire and inspiration pushed to the margins of society. Through her visionary spirituality and resilience at the turn of the 19th century, Nonthetha Nkwenkwe inspired her community to transformation. The production sheds light on untold histories and the meeting points between illness and self evolution. It brings to awareness the powerful role that an ordinary woman played in transforming her world.
PLOT 99 uses the dynamic visual and conceptual meeting points of narrative and myth to create a powerful and relevant tale of courage, devotion, desire, inspiration and transformation. It is a creative reclamation, not only of Nonthetha's touching and shocking story, but the power of personal awareness. It brings to the fore the voices of the invisible, the silences of the past and the potential freedoms of the future
