ANNIE BAKER WILL ENO ATHOL FUGARD BRANDEN JACOBS-JENKINS SUZAN-LORI PARKS

STUDY GUIDE

2016-17 SEASON

“MASTER HAROLD”... AND THE BOYS

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY

Athol Fugard

TABLE OF CONTENTSSynopsis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Playwright Letter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Historical Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Interview with Athol Fugard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Further Discussions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Cast & Creative Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Playwright Bio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Cast Bios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Creative Team Bios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Supplemental Programming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

About Signature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

SYNOPSIS

SOUTH AFRICA, 1950, AT THE START OF South Africa’s racist apartheid regime. Sam and Willie, two black waiters at the St. George’s Park Tea Room, practice ballroom dancing while they do their work. Hally, a white 15 year-old and the son of the Tea Room’s owner, arrives from school. As Hally begins his homework, he and Sam fall into comfortable conversation as they discuss history, culture, and their own favorite memories. Chief among these is the time that Sam made a homemade kite for Hally, instilling youthful pride in the boy. However, Hally soon receives a call from the nearby hospital: his sick father, with whom he has a complicated relationship, will be coming home soon. Angry and frustrated, Hally lashes out at Sam, eventually spitting in his face. Hally leaves, forced to confront the fact that he has begun to demonstrate the racist attitudes held by so many South African whites. The play ends with Sam and Willie dancing together, hoping things are “going to be okay tomorrow.”

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PLAYWRIGHT LETTER

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DEAR YOUNG FRIEND, Firstly, my sincere thanks to you for coming to the Signature Theatre to see “Master Harold” ... and the boys in New York. This play is no stranger to 42nd Street. Many years ago, it opened on Broad-way, and it has since been seen all around the world. This story is set in a very different world and time to the one you are growing up in. But I am hoping that this story about one teenager’s encounter with racism, bigotry and prejudice will not only en-tertain you, but might also help you to negotiate the many challenges facing young people today. In some ways, these challenges are not so different from those that stared Hally in the face in that tea room in South Africa in 1950. Love,Athol

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

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APARTHEID (AFRIKAANS FOR “APARTNESS”)A policy that governed relations be-

tween South Africa’s white minority

and nonwhite majority. It sanctioned

racial segregation as well as political

and economic discrimination against

nonwhites. The implementation of

apartheid was made possible through

the Population Registration Act of 1950,

which classified all South Africans as

either Bantu (black Africans), Coloured

(those of mixed race), or White. A

fourth category, Asian (typically Indian

and Pakistani), was later added. The

Group Areas Act of 1950 established

residential and business sections in ur-

ban areas for each race, and members

of other races were barred from living,

operating businesses, or owning land

in them; the end result was to set aside

more than 80 percent of South Africa’s

land for the white minority. To help en-

force the segregation of the races and

prevent blacks from encroaching on

white areas, the government strength-

ened the existing “pass” laws, which

required nonwhites to carry documents

authorizing their presence in restricted

areas. Other laws forbade most social

contacts between the races, authorized

segregated public facilities, estab-

lished separate educational standards,

restricted each race to certain types of

jobs, curtailed nonwhite labor unions,

and denied nonwhite participation

(through white representatives) in the

national government.

SOUTH AFRICATHEN AND NOW“Master Harold” ... and the boys takes

places in 1950, two years after Prime

Minister D.F. Malan came to power in

South Africa and began instituting the

regime of apartheid, or “separateness.”

Building on three centuries’ worth of

oppressive policies, this system of laws

and institutions formally mandated the

economic, legal, and social dominance

of the country’s white minority, and

was maintained by state-sanctioned

violence and political repression. In

response, a number of opposition orga-

nizations arose, including Nelson Man-

dela’s African National Congress, and

international pressure effectively isolated

South Africa. As a result of these internal

and external pressures, Malan’s Nation-

alist Party, then led by F.W. de Klerk,

began dismantling apartheid in the early

1990s.

In 1994, Mandela was elected presi-

dent in South Africa’s first democratic

elections. While many hoped that this

would usher in a new “rainbow nation”

of racial progress, the reality has been

more complicated. Violent crime, racial

tensions, economic inequality, and xe-

nophobia represent serious challenges

to stability. Millions of South Africans

today live with HIV, due in part to the

government’s initial denial of the crisis.

The country’s current president, Jacob

Zuma, was recently rebuked by the

Constitutional Court of South Africa for

corruption. Nonetheless, South Africa

remains the second largest economy

in Africa as well as one of the continent’s

most successful democracies as it

continues the difficult process of

reconciliation.

MAJOR APARTHEIDLEGISLATION• Prohibition of MixedMarriages Act (1949)

Together with the 1927 Immorality Act,

the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act

prohibited any sexual or conjugal rela-

tions between whites and non-whites.

Athol Fugard’s Statements After an

Arrest Under the Immorality Act (1972)

brought to haunting life the shame and

dehumanization experienced by an in-

terracial couple charged under the law.

• Population Registration Act (1950)

All South Africans were divided and

registered as belonging to one of three

racial groups: White, Black, or Coloured

(mixed-race). An individual’s entire

range of action was circumscribed by

their racial categorization.

• Group Areas Act (1950)

Under the Group Areas Act, land use was

tightly segregated, leading to the growth

of the black townships outside white

cities. In “Master Harold” … and the boys,

Sam and Willie work in Port Elizabeth but

are forced to walk miles home to the New

Brighton township each night.

• Suppression of Communism Act (1950)

Although ostensibly meant to curtail

the activities of the Communist Party,

the Suppression of Communism Act

was in practice used to persecute any

person or organization advocating an

end to apartheid.

• Natives Abolition of Passes andCoordination of Documents Act (1952)

The hated “passbooks” were identifica-

tion documents meant to control the

movement and economic opportunities

of blacks. A defiance campaign against

this repressive measure culminated in

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the massacre at Sharpeville in 1960, in

which 69 blacks were killed. Fugard’s

dark comedy Sizwe Banzi is Dead,

written with John Kani and Winston

Ntshona, illuminates the absurdity of

this system by portraying a man who

takes on another’s identity under the law.

• Reservation of SeparateAmenities Act (1953)

Known as “petty apartheid,” this law

institutionalized the segregation of

public amenities such as taxis, trains,

beaches, bathrooms, benches, parks,

movie theatres, restaurants, and hotels.

PORT ELIZABETH, 1950Located along South Africa’s eastern

seaboard, Port Elizabeth developed

in the nineteenth century into the

country’s largest port city. After the

passage of the Native Urban Areas Act

(1923), the Native Land and Trust Act

(1936), and the Group Areas Act (1950),

the city grew increasingly polarized by

race. Blacks looking for work were

forced to travel into Port Elizabeth

from the segregated suburbs, including

New Brighton, where Sam Semela lives

in “Master Harold” … and the boys.

Like all such townships, New Brighton

was plagued by inhumane living

conditions: enforced poverty, violent

crime, little infrastructure, poor

sanitation, and overcrowding.

In the 1950s alone, the suburb’s

population exploded from 35,000

to 97,000.

As a white boy growing up in the city,

Athol Fugard’s experiences would have

been quite different from Sam’s.

As Fugard describes the Port Elizabeth

of his youth:

“All it needed as you stepped out of the

front door, was a left turn and then a hop

and a skip downhill and you were slap in

the middle of Main Street.”

Here, young Athol found the five movie

theatres where he and his father saw

classic horror films, the library where

he first discovered Faulkner, and the

Donkin Reserve, where he and the

real-life Semela would one day fly

a kite together.

“A WORLD WITHOUTCOLLISIONS”:BALLROOM DANCE INSOUTH AFRICABallroom dance first arrived in South

Africa in the seventeenth century with

the region’s first European colonizers.

By the twentieth, industrialization and ur-

banization had opened the dance floors

to previously-excluded working-class

South Africans. Heavily influenced

by American popular culture, many

became devoted to jazz and ragtime,

performing new dance crazes like the

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foxtrot and the quickstep that they saw

performed by Hollywood greats like

Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

From the very beginning, economic barri-

ers and legal segregation hindered black

South Africans’ opportunities to learn, per-

form, and compete in ballroom dancing. In

response, they created their own opportu-

nities, hosting casual dance parties in the

townships, forming clubs, and sponsoring

competitions. Although these attempts

faced disapproval on several fronts–whites

feared that dance promoted promiscuity

in the townships, while a number of blacks

considered ballroom a betrayal of their

own traditions—the art form soon became

part of the distinct performance culture

emerging in the townships.

ATHOL FUGARD AT SIGNATUREAthol Fugard’s 2012 Residency One

series was one of firsts for Signature: the

first in the new Pershing Square Signa-

ture Center, and the first dedicated to an

international writer. That season began

with Fugard’s 1961 play Blood Knot,

featuring two mixed-race brothers—one

light-skinned, the other dark- —and the

indissoluble connection that binds them

together. Next up was My Children! My

Africa! (1989), about an inspirational

teacher urging peaceful protest rather

than political violence: “Stones and

petrol bombs can’t get inside those

armored cars,” he tells his young student

Thami, “Words can.” Fugard’s season

concluded with the New York Premiere

of The Train Driver, in which a white man

grapples with the death of an impov-

erished black woman who stepped in

front of his oncoming train, her child on

her back.

Fugard returned to the Center in 2015

for his first Legacy production, The

Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek. In-

spired by the work and legacy of “out-

sider artist” Nukain Mabusa, The Painted

Rocks at Revolver Creek poses power-

ful questions of human dignity and the

possibility of cross-racial understanding

in the new South Africa. Now, Signature

is thrilled to welcome Fugard back for

this production of his seminal 1982 work

“Master Harold” … and the boys, one of

his most autobiographical plays.

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INTERVIEW WITH THE PLAYWRIGHT For more than 50 years, Legacy Playwright Athol Fugard has challenged the world’s

conscience with his incisive portraits of individuals grappling with the intimate

repercussions of systemic injustice. “How one human being deals with another

remains the most critical fact in history,” he’s said of his dramatic worldview.

“You can kill a man or you can bless him.” This distinct blend of the personal and

political first brought him international acclaim with his groundbreaking 1961 play

Blood Knot, and continues to motivate his work to the present day. It’s also a

quality never more apparent than in “Master Harold” … and the boys, which

Fugard has described as one of his most “nakedly autobiographical” plays.

Harold Athol Lanigan Fugard was born in Middleburg, South Africa, in 1932. When he was

three years old, his family moved to Port Elizabeth, the industrial city that would provide

the setting for much of his work. There, Fugard’s mother ran a 16-room boarding house

and later the St. George’s Park Tea Room, where “Master Harold” … and the boys is set.

From his father—a “gentle but weak” jazz pianist permanently consigned to crutches

due to a childhood injury—the young Fugard developed a love for both music and stories.

Over the years, Fugard indulged his growing passion for books at the Port Elizabeth

Library, where he would hide his favorite novels amidst the theology section lest someone

else check them out before he was able. He also developed a lifelong interest in the world around him, whether it was the microbes he

watched with fascination under his childhood microscope or the men and women he passed each day on Main Street and who would

one day come to populate his plays. Fugard later described the relationship between “that one little corner of South Africa” and the

inspiration for his characters: “I can stand on a street corner in Port Elizabeth, look at anybody and…know where they come from, where

they’re going. I have a feel of the textures of their life.”

As Fugard—then known as “Hally”—grew into a young man, South Africa began implementing its brutal racial regime of apartheid, or

“separateness.” Fugard experienced firsthand the privileges conferred upon him by virtue of his white skin. He also learned from his

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mother, an Afrikaner “gifted with a natural

sense of justice,” to question the profound

inequities he witnessed daily. At the same

time, he developed lifelong friendships

with two of the black men who worked for

his mother, Sam Semela and Willie Malopo.

Semela in particular became a father-

figure to the young boy. On rainy days in

the tea room, the two discussed literature,

science, philosophy, and sex. When Fugard

found himself humiliated by his father’s

public intoxication, it was Semela who

cheered him up by constructing a make-

shift kite. One day, however, after a rare

argument Fugard spat in Semela’s face.

This moment haunted Fugard for de-

cades—and came to epitomize the confu-

sion, helplessness, and misplaced anger

experienced by Hally in “Master Harold” …

and the boys.

Fugard crafted “Master Harold” … and the

boys from these myriad boyhood memo-

ries. First performed at Yale Repertory

Theatre in 1982, the play has become one

of the most performed, read, and taught

plays in the world. It’s been seen twice

on Broadway, across the U.S., in London,

South Africa, and around the globe. Long-

time Fugard collaborators Zakes Mokae

and John Kani are just a few of the promi-

nent actors to have brought the play’s

characters to life. Now, it is being given a

new production at Signature, directed by

Fugard himself. Before rehearsals began,

he spoke with Literary Associate

Nathaniel French about the play’s inspira-

tion, the challenges of the initial produc-

tion, and returning to the rehearsal room

34 years later.

What got you started thinking about Master Harold” … and the boys?

Oh my God. Having a chance to publicly

reckon with one of the most disgraceful

moments in my private life, which is when I

spat in Sam’s face.

You’ve said before that many of yourplays are inspired by both an internaland an external provocation. It sounds like that was the case here…

The quote I always make in that connec-

tion comes from a Swedish poet, [Tomas]

Tranströmer. He wrote a poem in which he

talks about a magical moment when there

is a coincidence between some external

event and an internal need. In the case

of “Master Harold” … and the boys, I can

remember so clearly how that coincidence

took place. Long before actually writ-

ing Master Harold, I was trying to write a

two-hander involving just Sam and Wil-

lie. Those two men were so important in

my life that I just felt a need to somehow

celebrate them in a play. But I just couldn’t

find the element that created the drama,

the tension and the demand for resolution

that theatre usually involves. I can remem-

ber struggling with the need to find a play

for these two beautiful men when, quite

separately, I was looking back on my life

and thinking, “My God, you’ve got a lot to

answer for, Master Harold.” And suddenly

I put Master Harold into the equation with

Sam and Willie, and like Einstein I ended

with E=MC2.

What can you tell us about your relation-ship with the real-life Sam Semela?

The Jubilee Boarding House is where so

much of my relationship with Sam really

started. The little cold, cement basement

room where he and Willie lived—under-

neath the Jubilee Boarding House—that

was the safest place in my world. When

I would go in there and Sam and Willie

were sprawled out on their beds, and they

had those pictures of Joe Louis and Fred

Astaire on the walls, those moments in

that little room taught me what a safe

place was really about: that a safe place is

where you can be yourself. Those memo-

ries of Sam and Willie down in the base-

ment, of Sam teaching me all the time,

and of coming in one day at the lowest

point in my still very young life, and seeing

Sam working on the floor on something I

couldn’t at first recognize. Then it dawned

on me: “Oh my God, Sam is making a

kite.” He was making a kite so that he

could teach me to look up. We went to

the Donkin Reserve [a park in Port Eliza-

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beth], where I ended up sitting holding

the string and admiring my kite, but Sam

couldn’t sit down because, by a very

brutal irony of South Africa, there was a

sign: “Whites Only.”

How did your relationship with Sam change when your family took overthe St. George’s Park Tea Room,where the play is set?

Well, the tea room was when our relation-

ship acquired intellectual status, because

by then I had read a lot of books. I was

into mathematics, into science. I was just

greedy for knowledge. And Sam happily

ate the leftovers of my feast.

Like in the play, when Hally and Sam

debate what figure in history was a “man

of magnitude”...

That was a real, living moment between

Sam and myself!

You dedicated the published script not only to Sam, but to your father as well. What can you tell us about him?

Firstly, he was a beautiful man. He did

drink too much, and he was burdened

with traditional South African attitudes

of that period in terms of white and

black. He was in that sense a typical

racist white South African. But he was

also a gentle man and a superb storyteller.

I don’t think I would have ended up

writing a single bloody play if I hadn’t

spent so many hours in the middle of

the night in the Jubilee Boarding House,

massaging his leg. He rewarded me for

those candlelit midnight hours by telling

me stories, wonderful stories about the

books he had read as a little boy:

Call of the Wild, The Hound of the

Baskervilles, The Man in the Iron Mask.

I think that was a decisive experience in

my evolution as a writer.

This will be your third time directing Leon Addison Brown, who plays Sam in this production. What does that familiar-ity bring to the rehearsal process?

My career in theatre is rooted in an inti-

mate relationship with a handful of actors

that I have used again and again and again

as we begin to understand each other

more and I begin to understand how to

challenge them. It happened first with me

and Yvonne Bryceland, who created the

important first performances of Lena in

Boesman and Lena, Millie in People are

Living There, Hester in Hello and Goodbye.

Look for the female portraits in my plays—

Yvonne created almost all of them. I didn’t

write them to fit her, I wrote them to chal-

lenge her. And then there was that magnif-

icent man, Zakes Mokae, who got his Tony

Award as Sam in the original production

of “Master Harold” … and the boys. Then

another South African actor who I love to

this day called Sean Taylor. And then, of

course, John Kani and Winston Ntshona,

who got their Tonys for Sizwe Bansi is

Dead. These were long-term relationships.

That is my theatre: If I’ve got the actors

that can rise to the challenge, I use them

again and again. I know that I can chal-

lenge Leon out of his skin. He’s not going

to have an easy time and he knows it.

Zakes Mokae was also a regularcollaborator of yours. Do you feel that that kind of long-term relationship is particularly important for this play?

I’ll tell you this little incident from the Yale

Rep production of “Master Harold” ... and

the boys, which ended up on Broadway.

We were in rehearsal with that in New

Haven, Sam being played by Zakes Mo-

kae, and at that point Hally was played by

Željko Ivanek. And I began to realize at a

certain point that both Željko and Zakes

were backing off from the moment when

Hally spits in Sam’s face. They were not

confronting that moment full-on. And it

had to be confronted, because we had

to put it in the face of the audience. Can

you think of an uglier way of demonstrat-

ing racism, stupidity, vulgarity, evil? I can’t.

Spit in another man’s face? Holy God. So

Željko once again just sort of made a ges-

ture and Zakes on his side sort of made a

little gesture. And I finally stopped the re-

hearsal and said, “No. No, no, no, no. Zakes

and Željko, come here.” They came and I

said, “Listen, chaps. What are you scared

of?” They both just said nothing. So I took

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Zakes’ face in my hands and I spat in it.

Not once, not twice, but I think about six

times. After that, Zakes wiped his face

and we all went and got drunk together

at my favorite pub. And we never had that

problem again.

Ballroom dancing plays a key role in the play. When you were twelve, you and your sister Glenda became Eastern Province Ballroom Junior Dancing Cham-pions. What is it that drew you—like Sam and Willie—to that art form?

You see, in those days we danced to the

classic waltz, to the foxtrot, to the quick-

step. And the music that went with them

was the music my dad played on the

piano. It all just came together. It was just

the music, the fact that you moved your

body through space while beautiful music

was filling your ears. Now, I don’t know

about my doing any ballroom dancing at

this point…

“Master Harold” … and the boys has been produced a number of times around the world. What is it about this very personal, very regional story that resonates with people with such diverse backgrounds and experiences?

That’s a hard question for me to answer

because it’s really hard or me to be objec-

tive about this play. But I think, in essence,

what Sam demonstrates—what Sam gives

us hope for—is love. How big love can be.

You know, I spat in Sam’s face and Sam

forgave me. Simple as that. And I think

that act of forgiveness is a lesson of which

this world is still so in need.

This was the final season programmed by Signature’s Founder, Jim Houghton. What was your response when he ap-proached you about including “Master Harold” … and the boys in the season?

I couldn’t believe it. I was just dumb-

founded with gratitude. You must under-

stand, Jim not only gave me my New York

theatre home, he also loved my work in

such a humbling way. And for him to have

wanted to do this particular play, which

is so close to my heart, was just wonder-

ful. You know, I first came to Signature [in

2012] to do [a new production of] Blood

Knot, my watershed play. Everything I’ve

written comes out of Blood Knot—it de-

fined me, it was the moment when I found

my voice. That all important moment for

a writer. So here I am, having now done

what I consider to be my watershed play

at Signature, returning for the one play

that I feel sort of…I don’t feel the author

of it. I feel as if somebody else wrote that

play, not myself. In any case, it is incred-

ibly sad for me that Jim will not be in the

audience in person to see it come alive on

his stage.

Do you feel that, in a way, you and Sam wrote it together?

That’s correct, that’s correct. That’s really

not a bad way of putting it! And now I

have a chance to bring it to life again

with these beautiful actors. I’m 84, and

you know, you’ve got to look back, with

gratitude, love, regret. This return to

“Master Harold” ... and the boys at Signa-

ture, this is part of the final reckoning with

what it was all about. My god, what a gift

I’ve been given.

13

QUOTES FROM ATHOL FUGARD

“That little schoolboy in the tearoom on thatrainy afternoon when his company is the twoblack servants who work in the tearoom, thatwhole setting comes directly from my youth.” – ATHOL FUGARD

“Realise, now, he was the most significant –the only – friend of my boyhood years.On terrible windy days when no-one came to swimor walk in the park, we would sit together and talk.” – ATHOL FUGARD ON SAM SEMELA

“He was the father I wanted, a decent, goodman, generous, full of laughter, caring…But how can a white boy in the apartheid yearshave a black man as a surrogate father?” – ATHOL FUGARD ON SAM SEMELA

“From early on there were two things thatfilled my life – music and storytelling, bothof them provoked by my father.”– ATHOL FUGARD

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QUOTES FROM THE PLAY

HALLY: Every age, Sam, has got its social reformer. My history book is full of them.SAM: So where’s ours?

HALLY: For God’s sake, Sam, you’re not asking me to take ballroom dancing serious, are you?

SAM: There’s no collisions out there, Hally. Nobody trips or stumbles or bumps intoanybody else. That’s what that moment is all about.

“We both loved the monster movies – Frankenstein,Dracula, The Mummy,The Wolfman – though Ialways closed my eyes at the really scary parts. Walking home slowly afterward along the quiet street, we woulddiscuss and cast a critical eye on what we had just seen.The key phrases were: ‘I didn’t believe that part where he…’ and ‘What they should have done was…’ and we would then dismantle the story,examine its bits and pieces, and reassemble them to our liking. It was all about stories, you see, and telling them,and those sessions with my dad were probably my first lessons in the craft.”

– ATHOL FUGARD, COUSINS: A MEMOIR

FURTHER DISCUSSIONS

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• Why do Sam and Willie enjoy ballroom dancing?

• In the play, Sam and Hally debate who in history was a “man of magnitude.” Who would you “submit for examination” if asked to come up with your own?

• Why does Hally have such a complicated relationship with his father? Why does he take that frustration out on Sam?

• At the end of the play, Sam asks Hally if they can “try again” to “fly another kite.” What do you think he means by this? What might this look like?

• What do you think happens to Hally after he leaves? Does he decide to “walk away from” the “whites only” bench and stand up to racism? What kind of person do you think he becomes?

CAST & CREATIVE TEAMSIGNATURE THEATRE Artistic Director Paige Evans

Executive Director Erika Mallin

Founder James Houghton

“MASTER HAROLD” … AND THE BOYS Written and directed by Athol Fugard

Featuring

Leon Addison Brown Sahr Ngaujah Noah Robbins

Scenic Design Christopher H. Barreca

Costume Design Susan Hilferty

Lighting Design Stephen Strawbridge

Sound Design John Gromada

Dialect Coach Barbara Rubin

Production Stage Manager Linda Marvel

Casting Telsey + Company, Karyn Casl, CSA

Press Boneau/ Bryan-Brown

Associate Director Paula Fourie

Choreographer Peter Pucci

Associate Artistic Director Beth Whitaker

General Manager Gilbert Medina

Director of Development Jeralynn Miller

Director of Marketing & Audience Services David Hatkoff

Director of Finance Jeffrey Bledsoe

Director of Production Paul Ziemer

“Master Harold”… and the boys was originally produced in

1982 by The Yale Repertory Theatre, New Haven, Connecticut.

It was originally produced on Broadway by The Shubert

Organization, Freydberg/Bloch Productions, Dasha Epstein,

Emanuel Azenberg and David Geffen.

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PLAYWRIGHT BIOATHOL FUGARDAUTHOR/DIRECTOR For over half a century, Legacy Playwright Athol Fugard

has borne witness to South Africa’s shifting political

landscape, from the darkest days of apartheid to the

fractious present. In plays like Blood Knot, A Lesson from Aloes, and “Master Harold” … and the boys, Fugard has

chronicled the ways in which his country’s brutal racial

regime affected even the most intimate of encounters—as

well as the common bond of humanity that offered hope

for reconciliation. For these incisive portraits, drama critic

Mel Gussow wrote in 1982 that Fugard is “a rare playwright,

who could be a primary candidate for either the Nobel

Prize in Literature or the Nobel Peace Prize.” When the

country held its first non-segregated elections in 1994,

Fugard speculated that he would soon become the

country’s “first literary redundancy,” as apartheid had

provided the moral imperative behind his plays. Events,

however, soon proved his voice as essential as ever. Two

decades later, he continues to challenge the world’s

conscience, exploring issues ranging from his government’s

disastrously ineffectual response to the AIDS crisis to the

wide gulf of understanding that continues to separate

South African whites from blacks.

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CAST BIOSLEON ADDISON BROWN (SAM) Broadway: Misery,

The Trip To Bountiful, On The Waterfront, Someone Who’ll

Watch Over Me, Prelude To A Kiss. Off-Broadway: The Painted

Rocks of Revolver Creek, The Train Driver, Two Trains Running,

The Orphans’ Home Cycle, The Alexander Plays (Signature),

The Box (Foundry Theatre), The Lights (LCT), As You Like It

(TFANA). Regional: Hartford Stage, Westport Playhouse,

The Peoples Light and Theatre Co., Arena Stage, William-

stown Theatre Festival, Yale Rep., Long Wharf. Film & TV: “The

Breaks,” “The Knick,” “A Walk Amongst the Tombstones,” “The

Whirly Girl Hamlet,” “The Good Wife,” “Law and Order” & “SVU.”

Training: UNCSA.

SAHR NGAUJAH (WILLIE) Originated the title role in Fela!

Off-Broadway, Broadway and in the West End. Ngaujah earned

an Obie & Theater World Award, and was nominated for an

Olivier, Tony, Grammy, Drama Desk, Lortel and Drama League

award for his performance. TV: “The Good Wife,” “Taxi-22”

(pilot), “The Blacklist,” “Last Resort.” Film: Money Monster,

Freeheld, Kenshow at the Bedfellow, Blood Done Sign My

Name, The Signal, Stomp the Yard, Finding Fela.

Director: Conversations With Ice, Seven Sins. Masters of

Theatre: DasArts - Netherlands. Music: Sahr + Ricardo aKUsTIc,

Chop & Quench.

NOAH ROBBINS (HALLY) Broadway: Brighton Beach Memoirs

(Outer Critics Circle nomination), Arcadia. Off-Broadway: Punk

Rock (MCC Theater), The Vandal (Flea Theater), The Twenty-Sev-

enth Man (Public Theater), Secrets of the Trade (Primary Stages)

(Clive Barnes Award nomination). Regional: several shows at the

Kennedy Center with director/choreographer Debbie Allen. Film:

Miss Sloane (starring Jessica Chastain), Cruise, Indignation, Aard-

vark, The Outskirts, Aftermath, Newsworthy (Best Actor Award, L.A.

Comedy Festival). TV: Fox’s “Grease: Live,” Lizzy Caplan’s son on

“Masters of Sex,” “Orange Is The New Black,” “Gotham,” “The Good

Wife,” “The Slap.” He graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum

laude from Columbia University, where he majored in Philosophy.

(right to left) Leon Addison Brown, Noah Robbins and Sahr Ngaujah. Photo by Gregory Costanzo.

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CREATIVE TEAM BIOSCHRISTOPHER H. BARRECA(Scenic Design) Signature; Painted Rocks,

The Train Driver, Blood Knot. Broadway:

Rocky (2014 Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics

Circle), Search and Destroy, Our Country’s

Good, Marie Christine, The Violet Hour, Mar-

quez’s Chronicle of a Death Foretold (Ameri-

can Theatre Wing). Off-Broadway: Three

Days of Rain (Drama Desk nomination), Ev-

erett Beekin, Bernarda Alba, Roberto Zucco,

Neon Psalms (American Theater Wing nomi-

nation). Opera: Matsukaze (Lincoln Center/

Spoleto), Peach Blossom Fan, Soyinka’s

Scourge of Hyacinths (BMW Award Nomi-

nation). Regional: Culture Clash’s The Birds,

Charles Ludlums’ Hedda Gabler, Smith’s

Twilight: Los Angeles. Internationally: King Lear (Dijon Festival), Stephen Dallane’s Solo

Macbeth (Almeida, London). Directing;

Dachniki, (Nomination, Russia).

SUSAN HILFERTY(Costume Design) Master Harold marks

Hilferty’s 41st collaboration with Athol

Fugard. Together: South Africa, London, Sin-

gapore, Canada, Australia, and in the States

on Broadway, at The Promenade, Manhattan

Theatre Club, Second Stage, Roundabout,

New York Theatre Workshop, McCarter, La

Jolla Playhouse, Yale Rep, Alliance Theatre,

and Mark Taper Forum. Hilferty directed Val-

ley Song at Seattle Rep. For Signature: Train

Driver; Blood Knot; The Illusion. She chairs

Graduate Design Stage/Film at NYU/Tisch.

Awards include the Tony, Drama Desk and

Outer Critics Circle awards for Wicked and

the South African Vita Award for her scen-

ery for Fugard’s Playland.

STEPHEN STRAWBRIDGE(Lighting Design) Signature: Blood Knot,

The Train Driver, The Painted Rocks at Re-

volver Creek. Over 200 productions on and

off Broadway and at most major regional

theater and opera companies across the

US. International: Bergen, Copenhagen, The

Hague, Hong Kong, Linz, Lisbon, Munich, Na-

ples, Sao Paulo, Stratford-upon-Avon (RSC),

Stockholm, Vienna and Wroclaw. Recent:

Turn Me Loose with Joe Morton, Westside

Arts; Pericles, directed by Trevor Nunn, TFA-

NA; Happy Days with Diane Wiest, Yale Rep.

Nominations and awards: American Theatre

Wing, Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle, Con-

necticut Critics Circle, Dallas-Fort Worth

Theater Critics Forum, Helen Hayes, Henry

Hewes Design and Lucille Lortel. Co-chair,

Design Department, Yale School of Drama;

resident lighting designer, Yale Repertory

Theatre.

JOHN GROMADA(Sound Design) music and/or sound for

more than 35 Broadway productions includ-

ing The Elephant Man, The Trip to Bountiful

(Tony nomination), The Best Man (Drama

Desk Award), Clybourne Park, Seminar, Man

and Boy, Road to Mecca, The Columnist,

Next Fall, A Bronx Tale, Prelude to a Kiss,

Proof, Sight Unseen, Rabbit Hole, Twelve

Angry Men, and A Few Good Men. Other

New York credits include Old Hats, Incident

at Vichy, Dada Woof Papa Hot, Ripcord, My

Name Is Asher Lev, Measure for Measure

(Delacorte Theater), The Orphans’ Home Cy-

cle (Drama Desk and Henry Hewes Awards),

The Screwtape Letters, Shipwrecked!... (Lu-

cille Lortel Award), The Skriker (Drama Desk

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CREATIVE TEAM BIOSAward), Machinal (Obie Award), and many

more. His regional theatre credits number

more than 300 productions at major re-

gional theatres. His television credits include

a score for the Emmy Award-nominated film

version of The Trip to Bountiful. johngro-

mada.com.

PETER PUCCI(Choreographer) Lucille Lortel Award win-

ner, Drama Desk Nominatee for Outstand-

ing Choreography, Queens Boulevard (the

musical), Drama Desk Award for Orphans’

Home Cycle. Off B’way: Incognito, Desire,

The Money Shot, The Old Friends, Death

Takes a Holiday, Paradise Park, People Be

Heard, After Ashley, The Late Henry Moss,

True Love. Regional: Alley Theater: One

Man Two Guvors, As You Like It, Dracula;

Paper Mill Playhouse: Carnival! Yale Rep:The

Cherry Orchard; McCarter Theatre: Antony

and Cleopatra, Fool for Love. Dance: Ballet

Hispanico, Joffrey Ballet, Dance Theater of

Harlem, Pilobolus Dance Theatre, Dance

Films: In the Garden and Swag n’Bach.

BARBARA RUBIN

(Dialect Coach) Broadway: The Road To

Mecca. Off Broadway: My Name Is Asher

Lev. For Signature: Blood Knot, My Children!

My Africa!, The Train Driver, The Painted

Rocks At Revolver Creek. TV: “The Ameri-

cans.” Proudly South African, Barbara’s as-

sociation with Mr. Fugard began 15 years ago

as his Assistant Director on the US premiere

of Sorrows & Rejoicings at the McCarter

Theatre and then at Second Stage. In 2003

she directed the Cape Town premiere of Val-

ley Song. Barbara is the Co-Director of the

Academy Company at The American Acad-

emy of Dramatic Arts. This is her seventh

collaboration with Mr. Fugard.

PAULA FOURIE(Associate Director) Paula Fourie is a South

African-born theatre director and academic,

currently research fellow at Africa Open:

Institute for Music, Research and Innova-

tion, Stellenbosch University. Fourie has

been working as associate and co-director

alongside Athol Fugard since 2012, work-

ing on the Fugard Theatre productions of

Die Laaste Karretjiegraf, The Shadow of the

Hummingbird and The Painted Rocks at Re-

volver Creek. Premiered at the Long Wharf

Theatre, The Shadow of the Hummingbird,

which includes an opening scene written by

Fourie with the use of Fugard’s unpublished

notebooks, was awarded a Naledi Theatre

Award in 2015 for Best New South African

Script. Education: PhD (Stellenbosch), MMus

(Pretoria), BMus (Pretoria).

LINDA MARVEL(Production Stage Manager) Broadway:

PSM: Finding Neverland, Noises Off, Side

Show, Hands On A Hardbody, Fela!, 33 Varia-

tions, The Little Dog Laughed. Sub SM: The

Phantom of the Opera, The Humans, How to

Succeed… Off-Broadway: premieres of Athol

Fugard’s The Painted Rocks At Revolver

Creek and The Train Driver, both directed by

Mr. Fugard at Signature. Regional Theatres

include: La Jolla Playhouse, The Kennedy

Center, Long Wharf Theatre, and Hartford

Stage. Corporate clients include America’s

Got Talent, Radio City, LG, Tony Awards,

Broadway Cares. Ms. Marvel teaches Stage

Management at the School for the Arts at

Columbia University. For Ella.

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CREATIVE TEAM BIOSBETSY SELMAN(Assistant Stage Manager) Broadway:

Les Misérables, Hand to God, Side Show.

Off-Broadway: Manhattan Theatre Club,

MCC Theater, Primary Stages, NYCC

Encores, Roundabout Theatre Company.

Regional: Westport Country Playhouse,

Huntington Theatre Company, and seven

seasons at Berkshire Theatre Festival.

BFA in Stage/Production Management

from Emerson College.

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Left: Paula Fourie and Athol Fugard.Right: Linda Marvel, Athol Fugard, and Sahr Ngaujah. Photos by Gregory Costanzo.

SUPPLEMENTAL PROGRAMMING

TALKBACK SERIESLearn about the process of putting on a production, what

it’s like to play the characters, what goes on behind the

scenes, and much more in this post-show Q&A session

with the cast and creative team. Talkbacks brought to

you by American Express.

BOOK CLUBDelve into the context of a Signature playwright’s work

by discussing a related book or play and explore theatre’s

connection to other art forms through a guided discus-

sion with Signature’s literary staff.

BACKSTAGE PASSGet an inside look at the mechanics behind the magic in

this pre-show discussion with one of the show’s design-

ers. Learn how design shapes the audience experience

and transforms a production.

PAGE TO STAGEHear the full story on how artists transform an idea into

a play through a moderated discussion with members of

the Artistic Team.

THE WORLD OF THE PLAYExplore cultural themes in the play and gain insight into

the intellectual context for the work in this moderated

discussion, featuring a panel of scholars, experts and art-

ists.

THE ART OF COLLABORATIONDig deep into the relationship of multiple artists to under-

stand how their creative dynamic has changed over time

in this pre-show conversation between longtime artistic

collaborators.

Learn about a work’s inspiration, ask questions of its creators, and deepen your understandingof the artistic process and the role of a theatre artist at the Center and beyond.Our free supplemental programming includes:

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SUPPLEMENTAL PROGRAMMINGCALENDAR FOR “MASTER HAROLD” ... AND THE BOYS

TALKBACKS(Post-show on the Diamond Stage)

Tuesday, October 25thThursday, November 10thTuesday, November 15thTuesday, November 22nd

PAGE TO STAGE(Pre-show)

Wednesday, November 2nd

PARTICIPANTS:

Director Athol Fugard andAssociate Director Paula Fourie

BACKSTAGE PASS(Pre-show)

Wednesday, November 9th

OPEN CAPTIONPERFORMANCE(2pm) Saturday, November 12th

BOOK CLUB (7:30pm) Thursrday, December 1st

BOOK:

Cousins: A Memoir by Athol Fugard

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ABOUT SIGNATURESignature Theatre exists to honor and celebrate the playwright.

Founded in 1991 by James Houghton, Signature makes an ex-

tended commitment to a playwright’s body of work, and during

this journey the writer is engaged in every aspect of the cre-

ative process. By championing in-depth explorations of a play-

wright’s body of work, Signature delivers an intimate and im-

mersive journey into the playwright’s singular vision. Signature

serves its mission through its permanent home at The Pershing

Square Signature Center, a three-theatre facility on West 42nd

Street designed by Frank Gehry Architects to host Signature’s

three distinct playwrights’ residencies and foster a cultural com-

munity. At the Center, opened in January 2012, Signature con-

tinues its founding Playwright-in-Residence model as Residency

One, a first-of-its-kind, intensive exploration of a single writer’s

body of work. Residency Five, the only program of its kind, was

launched at the Center to support multiple playwrights as they

build bodies of work by guaranteeing each writer three produc-

tions over a five-year period. The Legacy Program, launched

during Signature’s 10th Anniversary, invites writers from both

residencies back for productions of premiere or earlier plays.

The Pershing Square Signature Center is a major contribution

to New York City’s cultural landscape and provides a venue for

cultural organizations that supports and encourages collabo-

ration among artists throughout the space. In addition to its

three intimate theatres, the Center features a studio theatre, a

rehearsal studio and a public café, bar and bookstore. Through

the Signature Ticket Initiative: A Generation of Access, Signa-

ture has also made an unprecedented commitment to making

its productions accessible by underwriting the cost of the initial

run tickets, currently priced at $30, through 2031. Signature

has presented entire seasons of the work of Edward Albee, Lee

Blessing, Horton Foote, María Irene Fornés, Athol Fugard, John

Guare, A. R. Gurney, David Henry Hwang, Bill Irwin, Adrienne

Kennedy, Tony Kushner, Romulus Linney, Charles Mee, Arthur

Miller, Sam Shepard, Paula Vogel, Naomi Wallace, August Wil-

son, Lanford Wilson and a season celebrating the historic Negro

Ensemble Company. Signature’s current Residency One play-

wright is Suzan-Lori Parks; current Residency Five playwrights

are Annie Baker, Martha Clarke, Will Eno, Katori Hall, Quiara

Alegría Hudes, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Kenneth Lonergan and

Regina Taylor; and current Legacy Playwright is Athol Fugard.

Signature was the recipient of the 2014 Regional Theatre Tony

Award®, and its productions and resident writers have been

recognized with the Pulitzer Prize, Lucille Lortel Awards, Obie

Awards, Drama Desk Awards, AUDELCO Awards, among many

other distinctions. For more information, please visit

signaturetheatre.org.

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