Dr Mbongeni N. Mtshali

Director

Mbongeni N. Mtshali is a performance maker, scholar, artist and teacher. He completed his Ph.D in Performance Studies at Northwestern University on a Fulbright Scholarship, and is currently Director of the Centre for Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies at the University of Cape Town. Mbongeni’s research explores black queer/femme performance in South Africa as well as Africa and its diaspora more broadly, with a focus on how black queer and/or femme subjects use performance tactically, to challenge nationally sanctioned repertoires of African respectability, cultural intelligibility and belonging. He has recently turned his attention to tracing queer genealogies of African decolonial world-making across the Caribbean, South Atlantic and Indian Ocean. Mbongeni has collaborated on creative projects with The Other Foundation, The Buffet Foundation, the Institute for Creative Arts, the Weaver Hughes Ensemble, the Block Museum, The Court Theatre, Victory Gardens Biograph Theatre, Hunan Opera House and the Artscape Theatre, among others. His recent professional recognitions include the Standard Bank Silver Ovation Award and the Fleur du Cap Theatre Award for notable achievements in directing and performance-making.

 

RECENT PUBLICATIONS & PROJECTS

  • Mtshali, Mbongeni N. “Recalcitrant Aesthetics, Memory and Modernity in the Post-Colonial/Post-Apartheid City.” in Pather, J. (ed.) Restless Infections (2025). Johannesburg: WITS University Press, pp.41-62. [in press]
  • Henderson, G. (2013). Skin Tight. Directed by Mbongeni N. Mtshali. [The Fugard Theatre Avalon Auditorium, Cape Town. 03-15 July 2023.]
  • Mtshali, Mbongeni N. “Hottentot Venus Redux: Nelisiwe Xaba’s Critical Moves of Resistance.” TDR : Drama Review 64.2 (2020): 28–37
  • Baxter, Veronica, and Mbongeni N Mtshali. “‘This Shit Is Political; Shit Is Real.’ The Politics of Sanitation, Protest, and the Neoliberal, Post-Apartheid City.” Studies in Theatre and Performance 40.1 (2020): 70–82.

 

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS