PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS - The New Horizons community celebrated an award-winning theatrical team from Plettenberg Bay Secondary School with a “homecoming” performance on Friday 25 April.
The team, talented young actresses Bronlyn van Rhyner and Carin Fourie, and playwright Matthew Smith (26), made the headlines when their play, PAS, was named Best Overall Drama Production for High Schools 2024 – 2025 by the Department of Culture and Sport last month.
In addition, Van Rhyner won the Best Actress award, and the play is now being nominated for Best Ensemble, Best Writer, and Best Supporting Actress (Carin Fourie) for 2025.
Van Rhyner and Fourie are both from New Horizons in Plett, and Smith, who also grew up in New Horizons, is a BA psychology and English graduate from Potchefstroom University.
Celebratory performance
The performance of PAS (the Afrikaans for “pass”, which refers to the working passport non-whites had to have during the apartheid years) left the audience breathless.
It was a specially organised homecoming event, to celebrate the team winning top honours at the Baxter Theatre in Cape Town.
Carin Fourie (left) and Bronlyn van Rhyner (right) on stage.
Smith said they had no help and had to do everything on their own - he even bought props out of his own pocket.
The community was called up to support the performance by New Horizons ward councillor Claude Terblanche, who posted a plea on social media “for everyone to support this amazing initiative”.
Hard work
“Bronlyn often used to sit up until 02:00 in the morning going over her script, and often I told her to get to bed,” said her proud dad, Adam van Rhyner, “yet all her dedication and hard work has really paid off.”
One of the locals who attended the performance, Leigh Dunn, was overwhelmed by the special performance.
“It was a great honour to watch members of the audience shed a tear as they shared in the joys and sadness elicited in the play, but even a greater honour to share in their [the theatre team's] journey and support them as they now move on to represent their school and community on new platforms,” Dunn said.
“It would be amazing if we could also get them to perform at more local events such as the Plett Arts Festival, because our area has no shortage of good arts and entertainment opportunities.”
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