Rubicon Theatre Company Presents MASTER HAROLD AND THE BOYS, 2/12

Rubicon Theatre Company continues its 2010-2011 Season with MASTER HAROLD...AND THE BOYS, a powerful and compelling drama by Athol Fugard which begins previews February 9 at Rubicon's intimate 195-seat home in Ventura's Downtown Cultural District. Set in the 1950s, MASTER HAROLD is the story of an adolescent white South African torn between his relationship with the black waiters who have befriended and cared for him, and the principles instilled in him by his father, an injured war veteran who is alternately absent and abusive. Recipient of the New York Drama Desk Award and London's Evening Standard for Best Play, this gripping drama has much to say about how racism can be passed from one generation to the next. Directed by Rubicon Associate Producer BRIan McDonald, the production features Daniel Stewart, ANTHONY (TONY) HANEY and CHRIS MADDOX.

MASTER HAROLD... previews Wednesday, February 9, 2012 and continues through March 6 at Rubicon Theatre, located at 1006 E. Main Street, Ventura, CA 93001.The opening night gala is Saturday, February 12 at 7:00 p.m. Ticket prices and performance schedules are below. For tickets, call (805) 667-2900, or go to www.rubicontheatre.org.

Says Director McDonald, "I believe audiences will find MASTER HAROLD... affecting in a deeply personal way. If it were simply a polemic against the policies of apartheid, it would be outdated now that sweeping change has transformed South Africa. Instead, Fugard wrote a very human play about individuals whose characters are put to the test by societal and personal forces."

"Hally has grown up in a society where privilege is doled out based on race," continues McDonald. "In the play, he makes decisions -- sometimes out of love, sometimes out of fear and need -- that will determine his future relationship not only to Sam and Willie, but to his parents, his community and to himself. The choice he ultimately faces is one that most of us face at one time or another - whether to accept the world as we find it or to reject intolerance and bigotry and try to make the world a better place."

"MASTER HAROLD...," says McDonald, "is a poetic hero's journey in which the struggle between two world views - one that insists on repeating the mistakes of the past and another that seeks to heal and move beyond them - leaves audiences not with a triumphant victory of good over evil, but with the knowledge that we have a choice."

About the Cast

Daniel Stewart makes his Rubicon Theatre debut as Hally in MASTER HAROLD...AND THE BOYS. A senior at Academy of the Canyons High School in Santa Clarita, Stewart was last seen as Leamy in the West Coast Premiere of The Field at Theatre Banshee ("Critic's Choice" and "Critic's Pick" from the Los Angeles Times and BackStage West, respectively; also "Ovation Recommended.") Other roles include Matt in The Fantasticks, Jack in Into the Woods, Cat-in-the-Hat in Seussical and Michel in Moliere Impromptu. Stewart was recently featured in ANMT's staged reading of Beautiful, a contemporary musical rethinking of Hedda Gabler, and in College of the Canyons' production of Georgia Stitt and David Kirshenbaum's Sing Me a Happy Song. Additionally, Stewart played the title role in Pinocchio and Ryan in High School Musical at CSUN through TADW productions. While attending Saugus High School, he played The Cheshire Cat in the first-ever high school production of Alice...Tales of a Curious Girl, and Richard in the U.S. high school premiere production of the British play DNA. Stewart is a founding member of the Horse and Saddle Jubilation Good Times Improv Brigade.

Award-winning actor and stage director ANTHONY J. HANEY returns to the Southern California stage to play Sam. Previous L.A. credits include King Billy in Daisy in the Dreamtime at Inside the Ford for the Fountain Theatre and acclaimed extended runs of Central Avenue and Oyamo's I Am a Man, which he also directed. Haney worked for more than two decades with TheatreWorks in Palo Alto as an actor, and served as Associate Artistic Director for seven years. He co-hosted the company's 40th Anniversary Gala in 2010 with David Henry Hwang. Favorite roles at TheatreWorks include the post-Broadway premiere of Grey Gardens, John Merrick in The Elephant Man, Troy Maxson in Fences, Levee in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing. He has also appeared at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, The Magic Theatre, San Jose Repertory Theatre, the Edinburgh Festival, and with the San Francisco Mime Troupe's National Tour. Most recently, Haney directed Intimate Apparel and Crowns for TheatreWorks and a commercial revival of Crowns at San Francisco's historic Marines Memorial Theatre; L.A. musical tributes to Ben Vereen, Della Reese and Ruby Dee at the Nate Holden Theatre; and Snatched, a musical adaptation of the horror film classic "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" at The Tribeca Performing Arts Center. In the spring, Haney directs the World Premiere of Jeannie Barrogas Gerbode's award-winning play Buffalo'ed for San Jose Stage Company. Haney has also appeared in episodic television, films and commercials.

CHRIS ERRIC MADDOX (Willie) has been a company member at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Utah Shakespearean Festival, and the North Carolinian Shakespeare Festival. In L.A., he played Habu in Tracers (2008 Ovation Nomination), Mercutio in Romeo & Juliet, and Teodoro in The Dog in the Manger. Television credits include "Modern Family," "24," "$#*! My Dad Says," "Law & Order: Los Angeles," "Accidently on Purpose" and "Mad Love." Maddox received his MFA from Columbia University and BA from Tufts University.

Ventura local JOE SARTEE, a senior at Ventura High School, understudies Hally and will play the role for two performances (the 10:00 a.m. student matinee on Thursday, February 17 and 8:00 p.m. evening performance on Friday, February 18). Sartee made his acting debut in The Man Who Came to Dinner, and has since performed in Ventura High productions of The Tangled Snarl, The Rimers of Eldritch, Sorry... Wrong Number, Alice in Wonderland, and as a member of the What? Improv Troupe. He has participated in the 2009 and 2010 Rubicon Summer Youth Acting Intensives, and this past summer played the title role in Macbeth directed by Joseph Fuqua.

About the Director

BRIan McDonald has helmed Rubicon productions of Bus Stop (Ovation nominated for Best Play - Larger Theatre), A Rubicon Family Christmas and Forever Plaid. Other directing credits include Tennessee Williams's Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen, Hooters, Our Town, Little Women, Bye Bye Birdie, HONK!, Babes in Arms, Once on this Island, Schoolhouse Rock LIVE! and Seussical the Musical. Last year, McDonald received Ventura's Mayor's Arts Award for Emerging Artist. Not only a talented director but a seasoned performer in his own right, McDonald appeared in The Importance of Being Earnest and Man of La Mancha at Rubicon and in the National Tour of Miss Saigon. Regionally, he has performed at Denver Center, Theatre Virginia, Lyric Stage, La Mirada Performing Arts Center, the Ahmanson and Circle X, where he received the L.A. Weekly Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Gaveston in Edward II.

McDonald joined the Rubicon staff in 2002 as Production Manager and Director of Education. He has since served as Associate Producer, supporting the company in many areas including casting, marketing and development. He is the founder and program director of Rubicon's Summer Youth Programs, which offer theatre training intensives in Musical Theatre, Drama and Technical Theatre. As a producer, he has helped raise funds for AIDS organizations around the country by presenting Cabaret Concerts with some of Broadways brightest stars. McDonald is a B.F.A. graduate of the Boston Conservatory of Music, Dance and Theatre.

About the Designers

The design team for MASTER HAROLD...AND THE BOYS are all returning Rubicon veterans: Set and Lighting Designer Thomas Giamario, who received an Ovation Award for his prior Rubicon collaboration with McDonald (Bus Stop), Costume Designer Stacie Logue (Fascinating Rhythms), Sound Designer Kenny Hobbs (Doubt), T. Theresa Scarano (Tea at Five, Props and Set Dressing); and Rod Menzies (Dialect Coach), who worked with Rubicon on The Tempest: Phase I.

Dates, Prices and Special Performances

MASTER HAROLD...AND THE BOYS begins previews at Rubicon Theatre on Wednesday, February 9 at 7:00 p.m. Performances continue through March 6, Wednesdays at 2:00 and 7:00 p.m., Thursdays and Fridays at 8:00 p.m., Saturdays at 2:00 and 8:00 p.m., and Sundays at 2:00 p.m. Ticket prices are $39 to $59, depending on the day of the week. Talkback performances are on Wednesday, February 16 and 23 following the 7:00pm performance. Tickets for students for regular performances are $25. Group discounts are also available for 12 or more.

A limited number of student matinee tickets still remain for daytime 10:00 a.m. performances priced at $10. Free study guides are available to teachers, and talkbacks with the artists about the themes and issues of the play take place after each student matinee.

Tickets for MASTER HAROLD...AND THE BOYS may be purchased in person through the Rubicon Theatre Company BOX OFFICE, located at 1006 E. Main Street at Laurel and Main (use Laurel entrance). To charge by phone, call (805) 667-2900. Or visit Rubicon online at www.rubicontheatre.org. Twenty-four-hour-a-day ticketing is available online, thanks to a generous grant from The JAMES IRVINE FOUNDATION's Arts Regional Initiative program to strengthen the capacity of arts organizations on the Central Coast.

MASTER HAROLD opens in a tea shop in Port Elizabeth, where Willie and Sam are discussing Willie's upcoming ballroom dance competition when they are joined by Hally, a seventeen-year old whose parents own the shop. The three regard each other with familiarity and affection born of long and warm acquaintance. Over the years, Sam, especially, has become a mentor to Hally, teaching him to fly a kite, and helping him take pride in his achievements and overcome embarrassments related to his father. Through the course of the play, circumstances set the three characters on a collision course in which the nature of friendship and the bounds of human dignity are tested.