Amy Jephta

Amy Jephta is a South African playwright, screenwriter, theatre director, and teacher.

Early life and education Amy Jephta is from Mitchells Plain in Cape Town.

Career Creative career Jephta is a playwright, screenwriter, and theatre director. Her work has been published in South Africa, and performed internationally.

As a new graduate, Jephta won the inaugural Emerging Theatre Director's Bursary, established and run by the Theatre Arts Admin Collective (TAAC) in partnership with the Baxter Theatre Centre and Gordon Institute of Performing and Creative Arts (GIPCA). This enabled her to produce and direct her original work, Kitchen. She had presented a shorter version of the play during her final year at drama school, but it was extended to an hour and ran from 18 to 22 May 2010.

Her works include 'the plays Kristalvlakte and Other People's Lives, and the films Ellen: The Ellen Pakkies Story (2018), Sonskyn Beperk, and While You Weren't Looking.

Her monologue Shoes was performed by James McAvoy and directed by Danny Boyle as part of The Children's Monologues at the Royal Court Theatre in London, and in 2017 at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

As well as the Royal Court, her work has been performed at the Bush Theatre, and the 2019 Standard Bank Young Artist award for Theatre

She was listed in Destiny magazine's "Power of 40" list.

Plays This Liquid Earth: A Eulogy in Verse Kristalvlakte Other People's Lives All Who Pass Flight Lessons Free Falling Bird Damage Control Kitchen Interiors Pornography A Good House

Films and television While You Weren't Looking (co-writer; 2015) Sonskyn Beperk (screenwriter; 2016) Soldaat (screenwriter/director; short film, 2017) Ellen: The Ellen Pakkies Story (screenwriter; 2018) Trackers (screenwriter; TV Series 2019) Barakat (director; 2020 feature film) Catch Me a Killer (screenwriter, TV series, 2024–)

Publications Kristalvlakte (Tafelberg Publishers) Other People's Lives (Junkets Publishers) Contemporary Plays by African Women (editor)