User:KgomotsoRamushu/Sumboornam (Sam) Moodley

Sumboornam 'Sam' Moodley (nee Pillay) is an artist, community activist and writer. Sam was a founding member of the Theatre Council of Natal (TECON), which worked closely with the Black Consciousness Movement. She has produced and performed in numerous theatre productions and art festivals. She is also a published author.

Early life
Sumboornam (Sam) Moodley, nee Pillay,was born in 1948 in Dundee, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa.

Education
Sam Moodley (nee Pillay) enrolled for a teaching degree at the University of Durban Westville (now University of KwaZulu Natal) from 1966 - 1969.

Activism
Sam Moodley was a member of the Theatre Council of Natal (TECON). The organization’s co - founders along with Sam Moodley were    Benji Francis, Smiley Peters,  Saths Cooper Roy Jagesar and Strini Moodley (later her spouse) amongst others.

In 1970, she was employed as a teacher at Witteklip Secondary School in Chatsworth, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. She was removed from this post following the discovery by the Security police and Department of Education authorities of her Black Consciousness activism and related activities. The then Indian Education Department did not renew her contract at the end of 1972

In August 1973, Moodley was banned and put under house arrest for five years

Theatre Productions
•	 The life of Mahatma Ghandi staged in 1969 at the Little Theatre, University of Natal. (commissioned by Mewa Ramgobin, Dr Fatima Meer and Dr Alan Paton)

Twelve Angry men which TECON staged in August 1970 directed by Ben Persad at the Bolton Hall

•	Heart of Negritude staged in 1970. This play was based on the poetry of Aimé Césaire and Léopold Senghor, situated in a South African, anti – apartheid context.

•	Requiem for Brother X written by W.W. Mackay and adapted for the South African stage

•	Black on White was staged in 1971 •

Antigone '71 was staged in 1961. This was a South African adaptation of Anouilh’s French play Antigone

•	Resurrection (co – written and performed with Kula Pillay, Rugs Naidoo, Gops Cooppen, Vidhya Naidoo, Kosila Moodley, Asha Rambally, Kogila Pillay, Percy Marimuthu, Collin Jeffrey, Linga Moodley, Jessie Moodley, Indren Cherry)

•	Africa hurrah (co- written and performed with Kula Pillay, Rugs Naidoo, Gops Cooppen, Vidhya Naidoo, Percy Marimuthu and Collin Jeffrey)

•	Black Images (co - written and performed with Lefifi Tladi, Gilbert Mabale, Lawrence Moloisi, Lingam Moodley, Kogila Cooper, Rashida Haffejee and Asha Rambally)

•	Our time is now (co – written and performed with Vuyi Baqwa and Sisana Duma)

Black Review Journal
Sam Moodley was a researcher for the annual yearbook, the Black Review from 1972 – 1976. This journal was part of the Blac Consciousness Programmes compiled by Thoko Mbabjwa and BA Khoapa. At the height of apartheid censorship, “Black Review is a factual report of events and trends in the black community in South Africa designed to inform the Black Community about who they are, what they did and what happened to them during the year under review’ (B.A Khoapa 1972 Black Review introduction)

Community Work
Apart from the Black Consciousness Movement, she has participated in the programmes of a number of non governmental organizations namely the Women Teachers Movement, the Umtapo Centre, Participatory Education Through Theatre (PETT), and the Disability Movement in South Africa. She served as the Vice President of the Teachers Association of South Africa (Tasa) Women Teachers Organisation

Publication
Time to Remember – Reflections of Women from the Black Consciousness Movement. ISBN: 987-0-620-82078-3