Dr Petro Janse Van Vuuren – Director
Petro Janse van Vuuren is an applied theatre researcher and practitioner. She likes to inspire and equip those who inspire and equip others.
Petro received her PhD in drama and performance at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in 2007. In her thesis she developed a strategy for using improvised drama as a means for reflecting on personal and communal values. Read more…
Burgert Kirsten – Associate
Burgert Kirsten is an industrial psychologist and improvisational theatre actor/coach. He sees himself as a connector who facilitates people’s connection with themselves, with their creativity and with one another.
He has conducted workshops using his unique improvisational methods for large companies such as Siemens and SAB Miller, and also for small groups of teenage recovering drug addicts and youth prisoners. Read more
Tshego Khutsoane – Associate
Tshego is a performer, facilitator, educator, and theatre-maker with a master’s in dramatic arts from the University of the Witwatersrand.
Tshego has experience directing for stage, and site- and community-based theatre. She has extensive experience in facilitating applied drama and theatre processes with schools, target groups and communities, as well as collaborative education in the areas of performance, improvisation, and voice and applied drama and theatre techniques. Recently Tshego has become involved in organisation development and coaching as facilitator and coaching assistant.
Lesley Nkosi – Associate
Les Nkosi is a renowned community capacity enhancement (CCE) and drama facilitator and social change agent in various fields. His experience in work with HIV/Aids goes back eleven years. He also has extensive experience in communications and media management and content production.
Having studied applied drama and theatre through Wits University’s Drama for Life programme, Les brings a wealth of experience and expertise to increasing effective community mobilization, advocacy and stakeholder engagement. Les is trained in Theatre of the Oppressed (Forum Theatre) and other theatre for development and social change methodologies. He holds a master’s degree in applied theatre from Wits University’s Drama for Life.
Christian F. Freisleben-Teutscher – Associate
Christian went to the University of Vienna. He studied communication science in combination with political science and dramatics. After that he completed advanced training in media pedagogy. Since 1992 he has been working as a freelance journalist focussing on health policy, social work, communication and improvisation. Also since 1992, he has been working as a facilitator and teacher in the fields of adult education, health care and social work. Since May 2015 he has been working part time at the St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences in a team responsible for didactics of higher education and e-learning. He is responsible for a programme on inverted classroom, coaching teachers, facilitating workshops, doing research, organising conferences, and so forth.
Since 1996 he has attended a lot of advanced training in applied improvisation methods. Applied improvisation is his most important mindset and tool kit in offline and online facilitation, training, teaching and research. He is working on a thesis on applied improvisation in the field of higher education.