Nonviolent protest or armed resistance?
In My Children! My Africa!, acclaimed South African playwright — and anti-apartheid activist — Athol Fugard illustrates the choice with an arresting image. Mr. M, a beloved teacher in a poor black township, lifts a dictionary in one hand. The other grips a rock someone has thrown through his window.
The two objects weigh about the same, Mr. M explains, but the rock represents just one word. The dictionary contains the whole of the English language.
“Mr. M is a man of peace,” said William Whitaker, senior lecturer in the Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences, who will direct the show Thursday through Sunday, Nov. 21-24, in the A.E. Hotchner Studio Theatre.
“He believes in language and ideas,” Whitaker said. “He resists apartheid, but he will not do so with violence.”
Yet Mr. M’s principles are put to the test as a prize student, Thami Mbikwana, grows increasingly militant.
“Thami is a brilliant young man, someone who could take the torch and carry it on,” Whitaker said. “But he’s tired of suppression. He’s tired of waiting.
“He falls in with a group that wants to set fires and pull down statues.”
My Children! My Africa!
Set in 1984 in a small, semi-desert town in Easter Cape, the story opens with a high school debate. Thami, the best student in his impoverished school, proposes that young women should follow different curricula from young men.
Opposing the motion is Isabel Dyson, one of three visitors from a posh, all-white girls’ school. Rejecting Thami’s appeals to tradition, Isabel argues that discrimination based on “alleged differences between the sexes” easily can be redeployed against any “different” group.
“Isabel is very earnest, a good kid, but sheltered,” Whitaker said. “Coming to this school, having this debate — and winning — she feels alive.”
Afterward, Thami and Isabel strike up a friendship, and Mr. M decides to pair them for a national competition. Yet outside the classroom, tensions rise. Black students battle government mandates designed to reinforce educational segregation. Thami, impatient for change, joins an aggressive faction and becomes suspicious of his mentor’s commitment.
“For awhile, the three are very close — you see the warmth and the promise between them — but everything gets checkmated by apartheid,” Whitaker said. “Fugard shows you the human cost, the heartbreaks and the lives that could have been.
“This is a great play, but not necessarily an easy one,” Whitaker added. “It’s a night at the theater that forces you to face hard facts.”
Cast and crew
Leading the cast of three is Ron Himes, the Henry E. Hampton Jr. artist-in-residence, as Mr. M. Junior Kiki Milner is Isabel, with graduate student Daniel Hodges as Thami.
The production represents a rare return to the college stage for Himes, an actor, director and WUSTL alumnus best known as founder and artistic director of The Black Rep.
“Ron is a remarkable actor, and this is a terrific ensemble,” Whitaker said. “It’s a wonderful opportunity for both students,” he adds, noting that the small cast lends rehearsals a particular intensity. “It’s just four people talking about how to get this play, which is full of big ideas, right.”
Set design is by senior Kristen Nowotarski. Costumes are by Sallie Durbin, costume shop supervisor. Lighting and sound are by sophomore Alexander Booth and senior Simeng Zhu, respectively.
Senior Rachel Blumer is assistant director. Junior Megan Yeh is stage manager. Junior Chelsea Whitaker is dramaturg.
Tickets
My Children! My Africa! begins at 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, Nov. 21 and 22; at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 23; and at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 24. The A.E. Hotchner Studio Theatre is located in the Mallinckrodt Center, 6445 Forsyth Blvd.
Tickets are $15, or $10 for students, seniors and Washington University faculty and staff, and are available through the Edison Theatre Box Office and all MetroTix outlets.
For more information, call (314) 935-6543.
