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Ana Lemmer | | Chief Executive Officer | Since graduating in 2008 from the University of Stellenbosch with an MPhil in Cultural Tourism and Heritage Studies and a BA in Language and Culture, Ana has gathered a wide range of experience working in the tourism, arts and heritage sectors. No stranger to managing the business side of the arts, she also completed a Business Leadership programme with The Louie Group in partnership with the Business and Management Schools of the University of Stellenbosch. She has applied these skills to the various projects on which she has worked and created.
In 2010 Ana initiated a volunteer programme at Iziko Museums of Cape Town to coordinate marketing and public relations campaigns to coincide with the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup. She also completed an internship with the Department of International Relations in the South African Parliament, assisting with logistical management and content and database development and gaining experience in cultural diplomacy.
Ana was selected by FTH:K's Company Director to be mentored into the role of CEO. She joined the Company in 2011 training under Tanya Surtees and in 2012 stepped into her new position of leadership. |
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  | Marlon Snyders | | Deaf Trainee | | While still at school, Marlon became the Company’s first Deaf Scholar-Trainee, joining FTH:K after school in the afternoons for additional performance training. After finishing at Dominican School, he became a full-time participant in FTH:K’s Integrated Professional Development Programme, and now forms part of the young Deaf team within FTH:K being groomed for careers in the professional theatre world. With a focus on performance and education, he has performed in GUMBO, Ek Roep Vir Jou Vanaand, and Tales from the Trash, and was most recently seen in QUACK!, Shortcuts, and OfficeBLOCK. In 2011, Marlon flew to Washington, DC, to participate in the Artsbridge International Exchange between FTH:K, Quest Arts for All, and Gallaudet University. |
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Jayne Batzofin | | Artistic Director | Jayne graduated from Wits University Cum Laude with a BADA (Honours): majoring in directing and stage and costume design. During her honours year she created 2 original full-length shows as well as assistant directed for Alan Swerdlow on several others. After graduating, Jayne was invited to devise and facilitate a physical theatre module at the AFDA campus in Joburg.
She first met the FTH:K team in 2007 after a performance of GUMBO at the Wits Theatre as part of their national GUMBO Tour. She expressed an interest in working for the Company but was about to head to Paris to L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq. While abroad, she kept in touch with the Company and on completing two years at the school, she moved back to Cape Town to join FTH:K as a performer, designer and educator.
From 2009 and 2011, she performed in FTH:K's multi-nominated QUACK!, Womb Tide, and the award-winning Benchmarks, directed Tales from the Trash, and joined the design team on QUACK!, OfficeBLOCK and Womb Tide - receiving a Fleur du Cap Award nomination for her design of the last. In 2011 she made Shortcuts on the Company Trainees which toured South Africa and Washington, DC, as well as created her independent clown noir cabaret, Kardiavale.
In 2012, she steps into the role of FTH:K's new Artistic Director, taking control of the Company's creative and education vision; starting with an extensive national tour of her rework of OfficeBLOCK. |
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 | Christo Beukes | | Deaf Trainee | | While still at school at Dominican School for Deaf Children, Christo was a part of the Tell-Tale Signs programme’s first and second LEVEL’s. In his final year at school, he was employed by FTH:K as a Scholar-Trainee, performing alongside the professionals and full-time Trainees in QUACK! Having completed his schooling, he joined FTH:K as a full-time Trainee on FTH:K’s LEVEL 3 programme, and is showing great potential as a performer. He was most recently seen in QUACK!, Shortcuts, and OfficeBLOCK. In 2011, Christo flew to Washington, DC, to participate in the Artsbridge International Exchange between FTH:K, Quest Arts for All, and Gallaudet University. |
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Dee Mohoto | | Administrative Assistant | | Dee was recently appointed Administrative Assistant to FTH:K's CEO. She studied Drama and English at UCT with Classical Singing as a minor, and holds an Honours degree in Directing and Education. She is a Voice and Applied Theatre teacher at New Africa Theatre Academy where last year, under the banner of her own Talookii Collectives, she directed Township Safari for Josh Wilder, a USA-based actor and director, exploring notions of American and South African blackness while looking at the ‘industry of poverty’ that the current South African climate seems to cultivate. Dee has also worked as a soundscape artist for her collaboration with Mwenya Kabwe on Migritude in the Iqonga component of the Out the Box festival of 2011. She is currently working on a new one-woman show, combining elements of her written and soundscape work.
Dee is an interesting (and often confusing) combination of administrator and creative, holding down seemingly opposite obsessions with order and the chaotic process of the creative process.
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 | Themba Mgebsia | | Deaf Trainee | | Sinethemba is our newest trainee having joined the IPDP after finishing at Dominican School in 2010. He was the inspiration behind the short performance Exam Shenanigans , which grew to become the official IPDP piece, Shortcuts. In 2011, Themba joined his fellow FTH:K Trainees on a national tour with Shortcuts as well as directed performances on Dominican's Deaf learners for their Arts and Culture Day. He is showing great potential as a performer and was most recently seen in QUACK!, Shortcuts, and OfficeBLOCK. In 2011, Themba flew to Washington, DC, to participate in the Artsbridge International Exchange between FTH:K, Quest Arts for All, and Gallaudet University. |
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Sherna Botto | | Tour Manager | | Sherna Botto was recently appointed by FTH:K as Project Manager for its 2012 National School's Tour. Prior to FTH:K, she worked for Magnet Theatre from 2009 - 2011 as a Production Manager, traveling both nationally and internationally with the company as Stage Manager on several productions. Sherna graduated from UCT in 2008 with a BA in Theatre and Performance, with a Theatremaking major. She also worked as the Resident Stage Manager at The New Space Theatre from 2008 - 2009, received a diploma in Tourism Management from Varsity College in 2000, and worked for South African Airways from 2000 - 2005
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 | Tanya Surtees | | Company Director | Tanya co-founded FTH:K together with Rob Murray in 2004, two years before it established itself officially in 2006. A theatre-maker with an Honours degree from Rhodes University and training in mime, clowning and contemporary dance, she was responsible for devising and implementing the Company's groundbreaking performance and education programmes, with her particular passion being the integration of the Deaf and hearing communities. Her performance GUMBO toured extensively nationally and internationally, and in 2008 was awarded the prestigious Arts and Culture Trust award for the Creative Industries.
From 2007, Tanya shifted her focus offstage to the promotion and development of Arts Management, and in 2008, became one of two South Africans to be awarded a 3-year International Summer Fellowship at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. Through her training, she was able to significantly develop the Company's profile both locally and internationally, and established FTH:K as one of South Africa's leading independent theatre companies. In 2010, she set up a partnership with a DC-based theatre company and in 2011 relocated to DC to broker the Artsbridge International Exchange. Still serving as FTH:K's Company Director, she acts as a consultant to the Company's leadership while sourcing international opportunities for FTH:K's performance and financial portfolios.
She has co-authored learner books for both MML and Cambridge University Press, is fluent in English, French and South African Sign Language, is learning American Sign Language, and is training to become an interpreter for theatre. All this while promoting sound Arts Management as the key to success in any arts organisation. |
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