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Cape Town Campus Dean

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Diaan Lawrenson

CAPE TOWN CAMPUS DEAN
MFA (AFDA)

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Diaan Lawrenson may be better known in South African households as ‘Paula’, for her role in the role in the TV soapie 7de Laan, but she has also very successfully mined her multiple skillset in the entertainment industry, working across all genres as an actor, producer, director and scriptwriter on a host of television shows, short films, feature films, theatre productions and music videos. Diaan started lecturing at AFDA in 2016 and was appointed as Dean of the Cape Town campus in early 2019. She is also the co-founder of the award-winning production company, Jester Productions.

Diaan has played the lead role of ‘Ingrid’ in the film “Raaiselkind”, for which she was nominated at the SAFTA’s 2019, she also acted in box office hit “Susters” directed by fellow AFDA alumnus Corne van Rooyen, she played ‘Megan’ in the film “Table Manners” and starred in the multi-award winning film “Sink”, directed by AFDA alumnus Brett Michael Innes.

Over the last 12 years her production company, Jester Productions has been responsible for productions in theatre, corporate and industrial theatre, DVD production, film and television. Jester has been nominated for various awards including the prestigious Fleur du Cap, Naledi and Fiesta awards and management of Jester Productions have won various Awards including SAFTAS, ATKV Veertjie, YOU Spectacular, Tempo, Fleur du Cap and Naledi Awards

As Dean of Cape Town campus Diaan hopes to share her experiences as an actor, producer, director and scriptwriter with our future industry leaders. “ When I started lecturing at AFDA Cape Town campus I discovered another passion- I realized that I am a student at heart, that I adore being a mentor and so bridging young, dedicated practitioners into the industry.” says Diaan.

Learning Staff

Alexander Tabisher

LECTURER:
Character Design & Styling
MFA (AFDA)

Atiyah Stanley

TUTOR:
Year 1
BA Honours (AFDA)

Catherine Jacot-Guillarmod

LECTURER:
Production Design
MFA (Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA)

David Max Brown

LECTURER:
Postgraduate Studies
Honours (York University, Toronto, Canada); MFA (AFDA)

David Stein

PROGRAMME COORDINATOR:
Motion Picture
MA (University of Cape Town)

Declan Hooper

TUTOR:
Year 2
BA Honours (AFDA)

Gerard Rudolph

LECTURER:
Screen Acting

Hannes Benade

LECTURER:
Editing; Data & Grading
MFA (AFDA)

Jesse Lesch

LEARNING GROUP COORDINATOR
BA Honours (AFDA)

Johan de Klerk

TUTOR:
Year 2
BA Honours (AFDA)

Justin Vallay

LECTURER:
Higher Certificate
BA Honours (AFDA)

Kayla Masha

TUTOR:
Year 1
BA Honours (AFDA)

Kayla van der Merwe

LECTURER:
Screen Acting and Voice
BA Honours (University of Stellenbosch)

Kevin Yates

LECTURER:
Directing
BA Honours (University of the Witwatersrand)

Kuba Silkiewicz

LECTURER:
Music Performance
Diploma; MFA candidate

Lara Bye

LECTURER:
Live Performance
MFA (University of Stellenbosch)

Dr Leuna Obioha

LECTURER:
Bcom
PhD (Cape Peninsula University of Technology)

Leopold Senekal

PROGRAMME COORDINATOR:
Higher Certificate
MFA (AFDA)

Dr Lucia Saks

PROGRAMME COORDINATOR:
Postgraduate Studies
PhD (School of Cinematic Arts, University of Southern California, Los Angeles)

Liana Hassim

PROGRAMME COORDINATOR:
Creative Writing
BA Honours (AFDA)

Liz Mills

PROGRAMME COORDINATOR:
Live Performance
MFA (Rhodes University)

Lumka Sibeko

TUTOR:
Year 1
BA Honours (AFDA)

Lungile Ndlovu

TUTOR:
BA Honours (AFDA)

Michael Thorn

LECTURER:
Media Music Production
MA (University of Cape Town)

Mishal Mookey

LECTURER:
Media Presenting
MBA (Henley Business School, University of Reading)

Nareen Rebello

LECTURER:
Producing
MFA (AFDA)

Nick Matthews

LECTURER:
Sound Design
MFA (AFDA)

Ndumiso Khovana

LECTURER:
Screenwriting
MA (New York University, Tisch School of the Arts)

Reuben Dassah

LECTURER:
Bcom
BA (Cape Peninsula University of Technology); MFA candidate

Robyn Aronstram

LECTURER:
Scriptwriting
MA (WITS)

Royston Michaels

LECTURER:
VFX; Learning Circle Coordinator
BA Honours (AFDA); MFA candidate

Sarah Place

SUPERVISOR:
Research Studies
MA English (University of Pretoria)

Servane Lewane

TUTOR:
Year 1
BA Honours (AFDA)

Sibonokuhle Myataza

LEARNING GROUP COORDINATOR
BA Honours (AFDA)

Sher Omar

TUTOR
BA Honours (AFDA)

Success Phiri

TUTOR:
Bachelor of Commerce
BA Honours (AFDA) 

Stephan Aucamp

LECTURER:
Cinematography
MFA (AFDA)

Stephen Drake

PROGRAMME COORDINATOR:
Bcom Business Innovation & Entrepreneurship
MBA (UCT & London Business School)

Tamara MacLachlan

LECTURER
Editing; Learning Circle Coordinator
MA (Goldsmiths, University of London)

Thato Mathole

LECTURER
Live Performance

Waylin Jafta

LECTURER:
Research Studies
MA Sociology (University of the Western Cape)

Wharton Matibidi

TUTOR:
Year 1
BA Honours (AFDA)

Support Staff

Carlyn Julies

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

Dr. James Lizamore

REGISTRAR
PHD (Bircham International University Madrid)

Gcina Fifi Jojo

LIBRARIAN & RESEARCH LECTURER
MFA (AFDA)

Lanna Lamberts

STUDENT AFFAIRS OFFICER
BSS (SACAP)

Larise Krishnan

ASSISTANT LEARNING COORDINATOR 
BA Honours (AFDA)

Tahiera Abrahams

REGISTRY ADMINISTRATOR

Wade Johnson

LEARNING AND CAMPUS COORDINATOR
BEd (Unisa); Honours candidate

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