Franklin Players

Franklin Players Franklin Players is a community theatre group based in Roosevelt Park, Johannesburg.

Franklin Players are a community theatre group based in Roosevelt Park, Johannesburg. The society has been running for over fifty years and puts on a variety of shows, from our mid year comedy to our big bang end of year musical, a festival of One Act Plays and many more. We aim to get community members active in the arts and welcome anyone who wants to join, regardless of experience.

🎭✨ THANK YOU FOR APPLYING TO PLAYGROUND FEST 2026! ✨🎭 We are incredibly excited by the response and can’t wait to exper...
22/05/2026

🎭✨ THANK YOU FOR APPLYING TO PLAYGROUND FEST 2026! ✨🎭

We are incredibly excited by the response and can’t wait to experience the bold, creative, and innovative works shared by artists in the community!

📩 Successful applicants will be contacted via email on 27 May.

If you do not receive communication after 27 May, unfortunately your application was not able to be programmed into this year’s festival.

Best of luck and see you soon!💫🎭

21/05/2026

We closed this years One Act Play Festival off with a BANG! Celebrating the passionate thespians who brought resonant stories to life on our stage!🎭

A special thanks to our adjudicators, committee, assistants and community at large for a successful run!✨

See you again soon👀

19/05/2026

Scenes from the 2026 One Act Play Festival🎭

In the beginning of the year we rolled our curtains open for new writers, directors, and performers with important stories to tell. Stories that highlighted the duality of the human experience: love and heartbreak, life and death, and the intricacies in between.

Through process, a community of creatives grew and challenged themselves to put truth on stage. Talented thespians who found their voices in theatre and found eachother in the process!

This is community theatre! Stick along for the ride✨🎭

WEEKEND 1 RECAP🎭The past weekend was nothing short of magic ✨The vibes. The laughter. The energy of a community coming t...
28/04/2026

WEEKEND 1 RECAP🎭

The past weekend was nothing short of magic ✨

The vibes. The laughter. The energy of a community coming together to celebrate bold, new voices on stage — truly something special to witness. 🎭

And we’re not done yet…

Join us on the 1st of May as we close the festival with a bang! Trust us, you don’t want to miss this final night!

🎟️ Tickets are still available! Secure yours and be part of the moment. Link in bio🔗

ADJUDICATOR ANNOUNCEMENT: Monoke Tlhako🎭Manoko Francisca ‘a Tlhako is an interdisciplinary performer, choreographer, the...
21/04/2026

ADJUDICATOR ANNOUNCEMENT: Monoke Tlhako🎭

Manoko Francisca ‘a Tlhako is an interdisciplinary performer, choreographer, theatre-maker, award winning stage manager, creative arts facilitator and academic scholar based in Gauteng, South Africa.
Thako holds a BA degree and a joint BA Honours (English and Drama) degree from Rhodes University.
She also holds a Master of Arts degree (with distinction) in theatre and performance from the University of Cape Town in the Western Cape, South Africa. With a history of creative practice that demonstrates an agility toward acting, movement, choreography, theatre technology, stage management and arts facilitation, her research interest lies predominantly in arts education. In addition, Thako is a member of the prestigious and exclusive Golden Key International Honours Society and is currently employed as a Senior Lecturer in the School of Postgraduate Studies, Live Performance at AFDA Johannesburg a PhD candidate in the department of film, TV and media Studies at the University of Cape Town.

Tickets for the Franklins Players One Act Play Festival are Luve! Ticket link in bio🔗🎟️

ADJUDICATOR ANNOUNCEMENT: Thorsten Wedekind🎭Thorsten has 40 years’ experience in various facets of the entertainment ind...
20/04/2026

ADJUDICATOR ANNOUNCEMENT: Thorsten Wedekind🎭

Thorsten has 40 years’ experience in various facets of the entertainment industry - as an actor, voice-over artist, writer, theatre producer, theatre director, acting & dialogue coach, and casting director - in both South Africa & the USA. He initially trained at the University of Natal, and gained acting & drama teaching qualifications from Technikon Natal, UNISA & the Trinity College of London.

Theatre highlights as director have been EQUUS and SARAJEVO, for which Thorsten won a 2026 Naledi Award for Best Director. Thorsten has been a Johannesburg-based performance casting director since 1995; in the course of 32 years in the casting arena, he has worked on 43 FEATURE FILMS, 12 SHORT FILMS & 48 TV SERIES in that capacity. Highlights in international film include working on the Academy-Award-nominated film ALI, THE PIANO PLAYER, and casting a character for THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON (winner of 3 Oscars). Television highlights include SOUL CITY IV, for which Thorsten received an Avanti Craft Award for Casting.

Most recently, his credits include the successful Leon Schuster film MR BONES 3 - SON OF BONES and season 2 & 3 of the Netflix hit series BLOOD AND WATER, while also being the resident casting director for 7DE LAAN from 2020 until it ended in 2023. For the past 3 years, he was appointed a SAFTA Judge on the Performance for Film and Television jury panels for the SAFTA Awards, and he has also taught various workshops and masterclasses over the years. In addition, Thorsten has been writing & compiling a comprehensive reference book on the first 100 years of the SA film & television industry - a long-held passion project!

ADJUDICATOR ANNOUNCEMENT: Naleli Mercy🎭Naleli Mercy is a theatre practitioner, creative and educator currently completin...
18/04/2026

ADJUDICATOR ANNOUNCEMENT: Naleli Mercy🎭

Naleli Mercy is a theatre practitioner, creative and educator currently completing her Masters
in Theatre and Performance. She is the co-founder of the Isolated Photon, a theatre production company, which aims to illuminate the magic of live theatre. Through her company her directing credits include Franklin Players’ 2025 pantomime, Girl in the Hood.

As well as THE GREAT RACE, a piece for family and young audiences which won best production at the National Children’s Theatre’s Plug and Play: Young Directors’ Festival. Naleli has spent the past six years teaching drama to children across various schools in Joburg and her work with young people is a central part of her practice. She is passionate about creating spaces where the youth feel confident, seen, and excited about theatre. Her work bridges performance, education, and community, and she is delighted to be adjudicating this year’s One Act Play Festival which does exactly that!

See you soon! Tickets link in bio🔗🎟️

We’re counting down the days until Opening Night of our One Act Play Festival! Get ready for stories of love, heartbreak...
14/04/2026

We’re counting down the days until Opening Night of our One Act Play Festival!

Get ready for stories of love, heartbreak, life and death!

🎭24 April
Roosevelt High School
Moon and Marrow
Fractured Vows

🎭25 April
The Surrogate
Awkward Brunch

🎭1 May
Parktown Girls High School
The Passenger
A New Lease on Life

Book your tickets before they run out! Link in bio🔗🎟️

🎭 CALL FOR WORKS: PLAYGROUND FEST 2026 🎭 The Franklin Players invite theatre-makers, performers, and creatives to be pa...
10/04/2026

🎭 CALL FOR WORKS: PLAYGROUND FEST 2026 🎭

The Franklin Players invite theatre-makers, performers, and creatives to be part of Playground Fest 2026 — a curated theatre experience rooted in play as a creative methodology.

A celebration of the arts in our communities, Playground Fest creates space for creators to test ideas, experiment with new works, and push creative boundaries!

📍 Festival Dates:
Friday, 31 July & Saturday, 1 August

WHO CAN APPLY?
• Theatre societies
• Community theatre groups
• Independent practitioners
• Dance companies & movement collectives
• Devised ensembles
• Performance & interdisciplinary artists
• Choirs & vocal groups

ELIGIBLE WORKS INCLUDE:
• Existing theatre productions
• New works-in-progress
• Devised & workshop-based pieces
• Dance & movement works
• Physical theatre
• Monologues & short-form pieces (“Hang 10s”)
• Interdisciplinary performances (music, spoken word, multimedia)

2926 THEME: THE ART OF TOGETHERNESS

📩 HOW TO APPLY
Submit via email to: [email protected]

Include:
• Title
• Genre / performance type
• Script / synopsis / description
• Running time
• Cast & crew size

⏰ Deadline: 4 May 2026

Note: Rehearsal space is limited and not guaranteed.

HOLA! LET’S PLAY🎭

Address

Roosevelt Park Recreation Centre, Anton Van Wouw & Preller Drives
Roosevelt Park

Opening Hours

Monday 09:00 - 22:30
Wednesday 09:00 - 22:30
Sunday 09:00 - 22:30

Website

https://linktr.ee/franklinplayers

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Franklin Players posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category

//iconSize: [32, 32], //html: '' }) .bindTooltip(name, { //permanent: true, direction: 'bottom', //offset: L.point(12, 25), //opacity: 0.88, interactive: true }) .bindPopup(name); markersLayer.addLayer(marker); } function getMore() { if (gettingMore) { return; } gettingMore = true; var center = map.getCenter(); $.ajax({ url: "/vicinitysearch", data: { lat: center.lat, lng: center.lng, country: "SOUTH AFRICA" } }) .done(function(data) { var added = 0; data.forEach(function(loc) { if (!locationIds.includes(loc.id)) { var mapLoc = {id:loc.id,lat:loc.latitude,lng:loc.longitude,title:trunc20(loc.name),popupHtml:loc.popupHtml,urlPath:loc.urlPath,pictureUrl:loc.pictureUrl}; locations.push(mapLoc); locationIds.push(loc.id); map._addMarker(mapLoc); added++; } }); }) .always(function() { gettingMore = false; }); } map._clearMarkers = function() { markersLayer.clearLayers(); } }); }, 4000); });