Drama for Life

Drama for Life Drama for Life’s conceptual basis of Applied Drama is rooted in the indigenous history of Theatre for Development in Africa. Master of Arts in Drama Therapy
6.

Drama for Life, based at the University of the Witwatersrand, is an academic research department for social transformation and healing in and through Applied Arts, Arts Therapies and Arts Research. Drama for Life| The Wits School of Arts| University of the Witwatersrand|

Department of Postgraduate Studies in Applied Drama and Theatre, Performance Studies and Performance Ethnography, Drama Education, and Drama Therapy. Drama for Life is internationally recognized as representative of the University of the Witwatersrand’s unique postgraduate academic, research and community engagement division that brings together the disciplines of Applied Drama, Drama Education and Drama Therapy within the context of a critical reflexive praxis. Our ethos is driven by the key question: What does it mean to be human and how can we learn to be resilient, without compromising our humanity, as we engage with the enormous challenges of change in the 21st century? Our study of this discipline, through the lens of power, pedagogy and praxis, is a critical inquiry into the theories and practice of development, education and therapeutic drama approaches toward social behavior change, within a human rights and social justice discourse, in urban and rural communities impacted by psychosocial trauma, economic and educational impoverishment, global cultural and climate challenges. Drama for Life’s inclusion of Drama Education is a deliberate acknowledgment of the significant role of the drama practitioner who uses drama as an educational methodology; the drama practitioner who facilitates theatre-making as an educational strategy; and the drama practitioner who teaches drama as a subject. Drama for Life is the only university programme in Africa that offers a recognised professional qualification in Drama Therapy with Health Professional Council accreditation. Drama Therapy is the intentional and systematic use of drama and theatre processes to achieve the therapeutic goals of symptom relief, emotional, cognitive and physical integration, and personal growth. Drama for Life offers the following Postgraduate qualifications:

1. Postgraduate Diploma in Arts in the field of Applied Drama and Theatre
2. Bachelor of Arts with Honours in the field of Applied Drama: Theatre in Education, Communities, and Social Contexts
3. Bachelor of Arts with Honours in the field of Drama Therapy
4. Master of Arts in Applied Drama: Theatre in Education, Communities, and Social Contexts
5. Master of Arts by Creative Research or Dissertation
7. PhD by Creative Research or Dissertation

Drama for Life’s objective is to educate professional artists, therapists, facilitators, and educators in arts for social transformation. Drama for Life is committed to the education of professionals who are research active, who understand what it means to be resilient care-givers, creators and leaders, who embody and execute ethical practice, and who understand, harness and implement collaborative, systemic arts interventions in education, development and, or health that are effective, affective and sustainable. For more information visit www.dramaforlife.co.za

Contact: Omphemetse Mokgosi, Programme Manager (Student Recruitment, Welfare & Scholarships) omphemetse.mokgosi@wits.ac.za and at dfl.info@wits.ac.za. Phone: +2711-717-4755

We wish you all a joyful, restful, and thoroughly enjoyable festive season.Keep safe and see you next year!
19/12/2025

We wish you all a joyful, restful, and thoroughly enjoyable festive season.

Keep safe and see you next year!





A massive congratulations to all of our graduates! Your hard work has paid off, and now the next chapter of your life aw...
12/12/2025

A massive congratulations to all of our graduates!
Your hard work has paid off, and now the next chapter of your life awaits. Before then, enjoy this well-deserved victory!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!




Transformation


Last week in Cape Town, Drama for Life facilitated the Youth in Solidarity Programme at the Institute for African Altern...
09/12/2025

Last week in Cape Town, Drama for Life facilitated the Youth in Solidarity Programme at the Institute for African Alternatives’ Living Rights Festival!

First photo pictured with Nazeema Mohamed in the middle, director of the IFAA Festival. Thank you for having us!

PART 3 of the PAPER PLATES AWARDS 🍽️🏆 Congratulations to all our 2026 award winners! You all give DFL the passion, inspi...
03/12/2025

PART 3 of the PAPER PLATES AWARDS 🍽️🏆

Congratulations to all our 2026 award winners! You all give DFL the passion, inspiration and creative heart that make it so outstanding. Till next year!

PART 2 of the PAPER PLATES AWARDS 🍽️🏆 Safe to say that DFL’s people clean up well 🔥 Capturing the phenomenal style, stee...
02/12/2025

PART 2 of the PAPER PLATES AWARDS 🍽️🏆

Safe to say that DFL’s people clean up well 🔥 Capturing the phenomenal style, steez and spirit of the 2026 Paper Plates Awards!

PART 1 of the DFL PAPER PLATES AWARDS 🍽️🏆 Some behind-the-scenes moments from last week where we celebrated our annual c...
01/12/2025

PART 1 of the DFL PAPER PLATES AWARDS 🍽️🏆

Some behind-the-scenes moments from last week where we celebrated our annual closing ceremony, the Paper Plates Awards! This is where both our staff and students are celebrated and awarded paper plates under different categories across all course years (1st Years, PGDA, Honours, Masters and PhD).

This year’s awards were curated and put together by our colleague Lucky Moeketsi, with assistance from Thabang Kwebu and the Post Merit Award (PMA) students. More content to follow soon ✨

This past weekend, DFL partnered with the Living Rights Festival to perform “GUARDIANS OF THE GODS” - a powerful collabo...
27/11/2025

This past weekend, DFL partnered with the Living Rights Festival to perform “GUARDIANS OF THE GODS” - a powerful collaboration with Sweden’s children’s theatre company, Unga Klara.

A heartfelt, honest and electric story performed for children, this piece follows two friends trying to make sense of a world where “adults don’t think we understand everything that’s going on”.

Congratulations to the team - writer Erik Uddenberg, director Gustav Deinoff, translator Rachel Wilson-Broyles, and the phenomenal performers Pertunia Msani and Hamish Mabala Neill - for creating a moving, dynamic experience for families! 🎭✨❤️

Don’t miss out on our performance tomorrow “GUARDIANS OF THE GODS”⭐️ Sunday 23 Nov at 4pm and 7pm⭐️ Methodist Church Hal...
22/11/2025

Don’t miss out on our performance tomorrow “GUARDIANS OF THE GODS”
⭐️ Sunday 23 Nov at 4pm and 7pm
⭐️ Methodist Church Hall, Observatory, Cape Town
⭐️ Tickets R80 children, R120 adults

GUARDIANS OF THE GODS: 👯‍♂️ Theatre for young people aged 9-12 years old and for families.

Guardians of the Gods is a new theatre performance about what unites children all over the world living in a world ruled by adults. Created by Unga Klara, Sweden’s premier children’s theatre company in collaboration with theatre makers from around the world , Guardians of the Gods is a heartfelt, honest and dynamic story of two friends making sense of a world where adults “don’t think we understand everything that’s going on.”

Written by Erik Uddenberg (UNGA KLARA/Sweden). Directed by Gustav Deinoff (UNGA KLARA/Sweden). Translated from Swedish by Rachel Wilson-Broyles. Performed by Pertunia Msani and Hamish Mabala Neill. A Drama for Life and Unga Klara partnership production supported by FIRST RAND.

📅Sunday 23rd November
⏱️4pm & 7pm
🎟️ R80 children | R120 adults

Book through www.theatrearts.co.za

Presented as part of the Living Rights Festival taking place in CT from the 21st Nov - 6th Dec.

Highlights from last week’s Autobiography Exams of Drama for Life’s Honours in Drama Therapy students. A huge well done ...
17/11/2025

Highlights from last week’s Autobiography Exams of Drama for Life’s Honours in Drama Therapy students. A huge well done to our phenomenal students 👏🎭

Drama for Life stands in solidarity with the call for an immediate and urgent national acknowledgment and response to th...
13/11/2025

Drama for Life stands in solidarity with the call for an immediate and urgent national acknowledgment and response to the GBV crisis in South Africa. We stand with all women, always.

Pictured above: “Silenced Till When” - an artwork created by DFL’s MA student Phumudzo Matsila.

GUARDIANS OF THE GODS: 👯‍♂️ Theatre for young people aged 9-12 years old and for families.Guardians of the Gods is a new...
13/11/2025

GUARDIANS OF THE GODS: 👯‍♂️ Theatre for young people aged 9-12 years old and for families.

Guardians of the Gods is a new theatre performance about what unites children all over the world living in a world ruled by adults. Created by Unga Klara, Sweden’s premier children’s theatre company in collaboration with theatre makers from around the world , Guardians of the Gods is a heartfelt, honest and dynamic story of two friends making sense of a world where adults “don’t think we understand everything that’s going on.”

Written by Erik Uddenberg (UNGA KLARA/Sweden). Directed by Gustav Deinoff (UNGA KLARA/Sweden). Translated from Swedish by Rachel Wilson-Broyles. Performed by Pertunia Msani and Hamish Mabala Neill. A Drama for Life and Unga Klara partnership production supported by FIRST RAND.

📅Sunday 23rd November
⏱️4pm & 7pm
🎟️ R80 children | R120 adults

Book through www.theatrearts.co.za

Presented as part of the Living Rights Festival taking place in CT from the 21st Nov - 6th Dec.

Address

University Corner, 17th Floor, Corner Jorrisen And Jan Smuts
Johannesburg
2050

Opening Hours

Monday 09:00 - 17:00
Tuesday 09:00 - 17:00
Wednesday 09:00 - 17:00
Thursday 09:00 - 17:00
Friday 09:00 - 17:00

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Drama for Life | The Wits School of Arts | University of the Witwatersrand| Department of Applied Arts, Arts Therapies and Arts Research. Drama for Life is internationally recognized as representative of the University of the Witwatersrand’s unique postgraduate academic, research and community engagement division that brings together the disciplines of Applied Drama, Drama Education and Drama Therapy within the context of a critical reflexive praxis. Our ethos is driven by the key question: What does it mean to be human and how can we learn to be resilient, without compromising our humanity, as we engage with the enormous challenges of change in the 21st century? Drama for Life’s conceptual basis of Applied Drama is rooted in the indigenous history of Theatre for Development in Africa. Our study of this discipline, through the lens of power, pedagogy and praxis, is a critical inquiry into the theories and practice of development, education and therapeutic drama approaches toward social behavior change, within a human rights and social justice discourse, in urban and rural communities impacted by psychosocial trauma, economic and educational impoverishment, global cultural and climate challenges. Drama for Life’s inclusion of Drama Education is a deliberate acknowledgment of the significant role of the drama practitioner who uses drama as an educational methodology; the drama practitioner who facilitates theatre-making as an educational strategy; and the drama practitioner who teaches drama as a subject. Drama for Life is the only university programme in Africa that offers a recognised professional qualification in Drama Therapy with Health Professional Council accreditation. Drama Therapy is the intentional and systematic use of drama and theatre processes to achieve the therapeutic goals of symptom relief, emotional, cognitive and physical integration, and personal growth. Drama for Life offers the following Postgraduate qualifications: 1. Postgraduate Diploma in Arts in the field of Applied Drama and Theatre 2. Bachelor of Arts with Honours in the field of Applied Drama: Theatre in Education, Communities, and Social Contexts 3. Bachelor of Arts with Honours in the field of Drama Therapy 4. Master of Arts in Applied Drama: Theatre in Education, Communities, and Social Contexts 5. Master of Arts in Drama Therapy 6. Master of Arts by Creative Research or Dissertation 7. PhD by Creative Research or Dissertation Drama for Life’s objective is to educate professional artists, therapists, facilitators, and educators in arts for social transformation. Drama for Life is committed to the education of professionals who are research active, who understand what it means to be resilient care-givers, creators and leaders, who embody and execute ethical practice, and who understand, harness and implement collaborative, systemic arts interventions in education, development and, or health that are effective, affective and sustainable. For more information visit www.dramaforlife.co.za Contact: Student Recruitment, Welfare & Scholarships office 0027 (011) 717 4755