Category Archive: 2012-2013 Readings

In Dialogue: Nothing But the Truth

Written by John Kani

Part of the inaugural year of our In Dialogue Series featuring contemporary plays “in dialogue” with the body of work, themes, or style of our featured playwright. 

Dates of run: February 13 – February 17, 2013
Directed by: 
Gemma Whelan
Featuring: 
Victor Mack*, Anya Pearson and Ashley Williams

Read the Oregonian preview here.

About the Play:
Nothing But the Truth is a story of two brothers, of sibling rivalry, of exile, of memory and reconciliation, and of the perplexities of freedom.  Sipho Makhaya stayed in South Africa during Apartheid while his brother fled to England.  Now at the time of his brother’s death, he must face the complex issues of political and social reconciliation with his South African-raised daughter and his English-born niece.

“The past will always be a powerful presence in the present… we must never forget, but this does not mean that we must cling to the past and wrap it around us, and live for it.  We only look back to the past in order to have a better understanding of our present.  This is one of the greatest lessons of Nothing But the Truth.” – From the introduction to the play by Zakes Mda

About the Playwright:
Dr. John Kani is an actor, managing trustee of the Market Theater, Johannesburg and chairman of the National Arts Council of South Africa.  Dr. Kani co-wrote Sizwe Bansi is Dead and The Island with Athol Fugard and fellow actor Winston Ntshona.  He and Mr. Ntshona were awarded a Tony Award in 1975 for these two plays.

*Member Actors’ Equity Association, the professional union of actors and stage managers.

Valley Song

Dates of run: November 28 – December 2, 2012
Directed by: Pat Patton
Featuring: Chantal DeGroat* and JP Phillips*
Stage Manager: Emily Gregory

Young Veronica Jonkers dreams. She will sing in Johannesburg and become famous like the women she watches on the TV through her neighbor’s window at night. But her Oupa fears for his granddaughter, unable to understand the longing to leave the dry land he has farmed since childhood. Here on the Karoo, Oupa’s seeds are watered with the tears of promises made and broken, and fed with the dreams of a child who has suddenly grown into a woman.

Part of our Staged Reading series.

Click here to view the Valley Song program and other press materials.

*Member Actors’ Equity Association, the professional union of actors and stage managers.

A Lesson From Aloes

Dates of run: November 7 – November 11, 2012
Directed by: Bruce Hostetler
Featuring: Julia Brandeberry, Jeff Gorham and Jasper Howard
Stage Manager: Corinne Gayle Lowenthal

A society caught in the grips of a police state leaves no one unscathed. As liberal Afrikaner Piet waits for his black comrade Steve, he contemplates survival tactics in the country that jailed his friend for political action. Piet’s wife Gladys struggles to play hostess after a nervous breakdown and troubled recovery incurred by a police raid on their home. As the warm blanket of day disappears, thorny suspicions are revealed in the darkness of the night.

Part of our Staged Reading series.

Click here to view the A Lesson From Aloes program and other press materials.