‘My Children! My Africa!’ onstage at BGSU

BOWLING GREEN, O.—South African playwright Athol Fugard’s “My Children! My Africa!” will open Bowling Green State University’s spring theatre season.

Presented by the Department of Theatre and Film, performances will be at 8 p.m. Feb. 12-14, and at 2 p.m. Feb. 14 and 15 in the Joe E. Brown Theatre on the University campus.

Fugard’s controversial 1989 drama illustrates the profound struggles of three characters living in apartheid-ravaged South Africa. Dedicated teacher Mr. M attempts to raise two high school students—one black, one white— above the intense political and social strife surrounding them as they are all forced to make life-altering decisions against the backdrop of ever-increasing violence and a failing education system.

“My Children! My Africa!” is directed by Dr. Eileen Cherry-Chandler, an assistant professor in the theatre and film department. It stars Dean Bryson, a junior music education and Africana studies major from Euclid, as Mr. Anela Myalatya; Charles Dent, a sophomore theatre and telecommunications major from Lima, as Thami Mbikwana, and Katrina Milnes, a senior dance and theatre major from Bridgeport, W.Va., as Isabel Dyson. The production is stage managed by Brittny Adkins, a senior theatre major from Hilliard.

Single tickets are $12 for students and adults, $6 for children under 12, and $5 for senior citizens. Group rates are available. Contact the theatre box office at 419-372-2719 for more information or to purchase tickets.

The remainder of the BGSU spring season includes “The Trojan Women” by Euripides, translated by Brendan Kennelly (Feb. 26-28), “Into the Woods”by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine (April 2-5), and “Monkey Storms Heaven,” adapted by Bradford Clark, a BGSU professor of theatre and film, from “The Journey to the West” by Wu Cheng’en (April 23-25).

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(Posted February 03, 2009 )