South African Actors Join Reading of Post-Apartheid Play BONGANI

Several of South Africa's finest actors join a multi-national cast in a staged reading of "BONGANI," a new play about post-apartheid South Africa, set for Monday, Oct 17, at the Bernie Wohl Center at 7pm.

Nonhlanhla Kheswa (THE LION KING), from Johannesburg, recently starred in BAM's acclaimed THE SUIT. Maggie Benedict, from Pretoria, is familiar to South African and BBC World viewers as Akhona on hit South African soap GENERATIONS, and now calls New York City her home. Denise Mosiana was recently picked to star in the New York production of DUELING VOICES. More of the African continent is represented by Adrian Baidoo, born in Ghana, playing the title role of Bongani, and Tomike Ogugua, of Nigerian parents, who can be seen as US Marshall on the hit STARZ Network series POWER, produced and starring 50 Cent.

In the play, set in 1990's South Africa, Bongani (Adrian Baidoo) hurtles toward destruction. Corinne (Michelle Ghatan), from an activist Jewish family, thinks she can rescue him...and her struggling country. Bongani thinks she should rescue herself. This mesmerizing tale of a love that could never be is a call to action for the America of 2016.

Rounding out the multi-national cast are Rob Benson of the U.K. (writer of DEADSHOT MARY), Michelle Ghatan of the U.K. (PLAYGROUND PLACENTA/29th Street Playwrights Collective) Judylee Vivier (ORANGES LIKE THE SUN), originally from South Africa, and Blake Williams (THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST/The Instigators). Kate Holland directs, and Chuk Obasi is dramaturg.

Bongani was first performed as a one-woman show at the NY Fringe Festival in 2011 and has been reimagined with a full cast. Set in the turbulent and heady time of the transition from apartheid to democracy, the show deals with the thorny and persistent issues of race, identity, and home.

Playwright Gabrielle Maisels is the granddaughter of Israel Aaron Maisels, leader of the defense team that secured the acquittal of Nelson Mandela and the 29 others accused of treason by the apartheid government in the "Treason Trial" of 1956-61. Gabrielle studied Political Theory at Harvard and Columbia Universities, graduated cum laude and authored two books. BONGANI and her previous play, TWO GIRLS, are inspired by her family's experiences in South Africa.

The reading is part of the 29TH STREET PLAYWRIGHTS COLLECTIVE NEW WORKS SERIES, made possible in part with public funds from Creative Engagement, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

BONGANI is free and open to the public at The Bernie Wohl Center at Goddard Riverside Center, 647 Columbus Ave @92nd St.

Please RSVP at EventBrite: Bongani

For more information, email: 29thStPlaywrightsCollective@gmail.com