Censored
March 2019
The Latvian Society Theater
EgoPo partnered with Theatre in the X to create a repertory pairing of iconic South African productions.
Egoli: City of Gold
By Matsemela Manaka
A pivotal player in the grassroots black theatre movement and the anti-apartheid uprisings in 1970s South Africa, Matsemela Manaka unearths the stories of South Africa’s oft-forgotten miners. Hamilton and John forge a complex bond as they struggle under racial inequality and poverty. A bittersweet ode to the humans on whose backs a country was built.
“Master Harold”…and the boys
By Athol Fugard
Master Harold changed the face of 20th century global politics and helped lead the charge to end apartheid. In this heartbreaking story of a young white man and the two Black men who raised him, we see how a society built on inequality can infect even our most intimate relationships. Banned in South Africa, this famed classic play was developed here in Philadelphia before its Broadway premier.
Egoli Cast
Walter DeShields … Hamilton
Carlo Campbell … John
Master Harold Cast
Damien J. Wallace … Sam
Juspin Jones … Willie
Aidan McDonald … Hally
Creative Team
Katrina Shobe … Egoli Director
Lane Savadove … Master Harold Director
Dirk Durossette … Scenic Designer
Tiffany Bacon … Costume Designer
Amanda Jensen … Lighting Designer
AJ Klein … Sound Designer
Michelle Soto … Props Designer
Kirstie Floyd … Dramaturgy
Michael Dean Morgan … Voice & Dialect Coach
Jahzeer Terrell … Egoli Fight Choreographer
Anthony Mauriello … Master Harold Dance Consultant
Stephen Peterson … Technical Director
Eleanor Safer … Egoli Stage Manager
Melody Wong … Master Harold Stage Manager
Matt Basen … Production Assistant
Kylie Westerbeck … Production Photos
About Matsemela Manaka
Matsemela Manaka (1956–1998) was a South African playwright, poet, and artist.
He began his career in the mid-1970s and was influenced by the ideas of the Black Consciousness Movement.
Among his plays, the most distinguished are Egoli: City of Gold and Children of Asazi. He won the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award in 1987.
About Athol Fugard
Harold Athol Lanigan Fugard (11 June 1932 – 8 March 2025) was a South African playwright, novelist, actor and director.
He is best known for his political and penetrating plays opposing the system of apartheid, some of which have been adapted to film. Fugard received many awards, honours and honorary degrees, including the Order of Ikhamanga in Silver from the government of South Africa in 2005 "for his excellent contribution and achievements in the theatre". He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1986. Fugard was honoured in Cape Town with the 2010 opening of the Fugard Theatre in District Six. He received a Tony Award for lifetime achievement in 2011.