MASTER HAROLD...AND THE BOYS Hits Portland Stage, 3/2-3/21

MASTER HAROLD...AND THE BOYS, a play by Athol Fugard, will play at the Portland Stage beginning March 2nd and run through the 21st.

A sometimes comic, frequently searing, and ultimately hopeful coming of age story set during a rain-soaked afternoon in South Africa. Fugard's masterpiece is a powerful examination of the impact of apartheid on the close friendship between young Hally, a teenager from a fractured family trying to find his place, and two black servants.

The leading professional theater in Northern New England, PORTLAND STAGE entertains, educates and engages its audiences by producing a wide range of artistic works and programs that explore basic human issues and concerns relevant to the communities served by the theater. Our guiding principle is to promote creativity and dialogue among artists, staff, board and audience.

Athol Fugard is a South African playwright, novelist, actor, and director, best known for his political plays opposing the South African system of apartheid. In 1962 he publicly supported the Anti-Apartheid Movement (1959-1994), and an international boycott of South African theatres due to their segregated audiences, which led to government restrictions on Fugard and his theater. Despite the censorship, Fugard continued to go into the slums of South Africa to create theater with and for the poor black population, including Hello and Goodbye (1965) and People are Living There (1968). While it would be naïve to claim that the work of a single playwright toppled an entire regime, it is undeniable that Fugard's work exerted an influence-educating the world about the ills of Apartheid and eventually helping to bring the collective pressure of many nations to bear on the South African government. Fugard now lives in San Diego, CA where he teaches at UC San Diego. Of his 31 plays to date, Portland Stage has previously produced seven: A Lesson from Aloes (1983), Master Harold...and the boys (1986), Sizwe Banzi is Dead & The Island (1990), My Children, My Africa (1991), Valley Song (1997), and The Road to Mecca (2000).

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Visit www.portlandstage.org for more information.