Lee-Ann van Rooi is laying down a legacy

The Cape Town theatre-maker says the ability to be very quiet, to listen and to be awake are superpowers she's always leant into.

- By Keith Bain

Cape Town actor and theatre-maker Lee-Ann van Rooi is many things: "Creatrix. Story doula. Concept farmer. Freedom facilitator" in her Instagram bio, stage performer, theatre director, film and television experience, traveller, mother, mentor and teacher.

She is first and foremost an artist, however. And she believes her job as a storyteller is to open conversations and expand consciousness. This is achieved not by providing answers, handing down judgements or drawing conclusions, but by posing questions - and doing so as openly and truthfully as possible.

It's why theatre is one of her superpowers - because it's a place where she and the artists she works with can experience the most intimate connection with audiences.

She's perhaps more widely known for her film and television work, but she says theatre's great benefit is that it provides greater capacity for the artists to control the story.

Plus, she says, there's something about the realness of theatre, the physical proximity of a community of people - an audience in a shared environment - working together to parse the meaning of a story, that is not only thrilling, but feels as if it's where the most meaningful connections can be made.