Winston Ntshona (6 October 1941 â€" 2 August 2018) was a South African
playwright and actor. He won a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play in
1975.Born in Port Elizabeth, Zola Winston Ntshona worked alongside
fellow South African Athol Fugard on several occasions, most notably
in the 1980 film version of Fugard's play Marigolds in August, and
played a minor role in Richard Attenborough's acclaimed film Gandhi
(1982) and a major role in the film A Dry White Season (1989).Ntshona
attended Newell High School in Port Elizabeth, where he met long time
collaborator and South African acting legend John Kani. Between 1963
and 1972 Ntshona worked as a laboratory assistant in a timber factory.
In 1967 he joined the Serpent Players drama group alongside John Kani
and Athol Fugard. Black members of the drama group all had day time
jobs. Rehearsals and workshops would take place in the evenings or
during weekends. Reputation of their work grew over time, and Winston
Ntshona had to quit his job at the timber factory, becoming an
employee of The Serpent Players. With Fugard and John Kani, Ntshona
wrote the 1973 play The Island. He and Kani starred in a number of
major international productions over the next 30 years. Ntshona and
Kani were co-winners of the Tony Award for Best Actor in a play for
their performance in both The Island and Sizwe Banzi Is Dead, which he
also co-wrote. This was a first for black actors at the time.
playwright and actor. He won a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play in
1975.Born in Port Elizabeth, Zola Winston Ntshona worked alongside
fellow South African Athol Fugard on several occasions, most notably
in the 1980 film version of Fugard's play Marigolds in August, and
played a minor role in Richard Attenborough's acclaimed film Gandhi
(1982) and a major role in the film A Dry White Season (1989).Ntshona
attended Newell High School in Port Elizabeth, where he met long time
collaborator and South African acting legend John Kani. Between 1963
and 1972 Ntshona worked as a laboratory assistant in a timber factory.
In 1967 he joined the Serpent Players drama group alongside John Kani
and Athol Fugard. Black members of the drama group all had day time
jobs. Rehearsals and workshops would take place in the evenings or
during weekends. Reputation of their work grew over time, and Winston
Ntshona had to quit his job at the timber factory, becoming an
employee of The Serpent Players. With Fugard and John Kani, Ntshona
wrote the 1973 play The Island. He and Kani starred in a number of
major international productions over the next 30 years. Ntshona and
Kani were co-winners of the Tony Award for Best Actor in a play for
their performance in both The Island and Sizwe Banzi Is Dead, which he
also co-wrote. This was a first for black actors at the time.
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