Photo Flash: Mosaic Theater Co Continues South Africa: Then & Now Repertory with A HUMAN BEING DIED THAT NIGHT

Mosaic Theater Company of DC presents South Africa: Then & Now, a dynamic spring repertory that takes audience members back to the depths of Apartheid, before moving forward to the ongoing search for truth and reconciliation in a wounded country. Logan Vaughn returns to Mosaic for the second time this season to stage a companion South African drama, A HUMAN BEING DIED THAT NIGHT (April 6-30, 2017). Based on Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela's acclaimed memoir, and adapted for the stage by Nicholas Wright, this play recounts Gobodo-Madikizela's interrogations of one of Apartheid's most notorious agents, Eugene de Kock, known by many as 'Prime Evil.'

The repertory has been designed to highlight the dialogue in and between these plays-one dark-skinned and one light-skinned brother in Blood Knot; one black psychologist and one white prisoner in A Human Being Died That Night. In the former, South Africa's most iconic playwright, the now 84-year-old Athol Fugard, tells a deeply personal story about the lacerating behavioral and psychological effects of Apartheid on a family. In the latter, the black South African psychologist Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela uses an equally personal story to frame universal questions about the limits of forgiveness and the search for truth, which have defined post-Apartheid reconstruction.

Noteworthy to Mosaic, these dramas represent two different eras in South Africa's struggle for justice, brought out by the intergenerational artistic dialogue between the repertory's two directors-Joy Zinoman, one of America's most acclaimed and influential artists; and Logan Vaughn, a rising force in American theater who returns for the second time this season, following her workshop direction of Stacey Rose and Alexis Spiegel's new play about race and identity, The Black Jew Thing.

"As powerful and intimate as each of these chamber plays are," notes Mosaic Theater Founding Artistic Director, Ari Roth, "equally thrilling for us will be the epic sweep of history that staging them both together will allow us to behold. The South African transformation-from Apartheid state to still fledgling, new democracy-is one of the most inspiring advents of the last century, yet not without its complexities. We're inviting audiences to immerse themselves in the drama of South Africa and to experience life within the belly of oppression at a granular level, in intimate theatrical detail."

Roth continues, "Joy Zinoman is a precision genius who believes that truth lies within that detail; in the moment to moment; in the intimacy of behavior sharply observed. And she's chosen two master actors-one she's worked with for decades, and one she's searched the country to find-to bring the most truthful illustration of how people live together under the yoke of oppression. What strategies; what games; what personas do they adopt to resist; to exist; to not succumb? Logan Vaughn is an essentialist focusing on the power of a dramatic confrontation between a white male torturer and a black female psychologist. What unites them and keeps them talking to each other over a five-year period? These two radically different dramas help us appreciate how thoroughly South Africa has transformed over the course of a generation."

In A Human Being Died That Night, Erica Chamblee (Mosaic's The Gospel of Lovingkindness) plays Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, in conversation with Eugene de Kock, played by Chris Genebach (Everyman's Death of A Salesman and A Streetcar Named Desire Rep). Known by many as 'Prime Evil,' de Kock represents both the nadir of Apartheid, and the absolute depths of humanity. This probing drama offers up timeless questions from an unforgettable true story, and "tugs at our humanity, compassion, and integrity" (Archbishop Desmond Tutu).

"This play is not just about two people, Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela and Eugene de Kock, it is about Old South Africa and New South Africa," shares A Human Being Died That Night director Logan Vaughn. "It is about the test between both. And of the limits of empathy and forgiveness. I'm excited to share this timely play with Mosaic audiences during a period in which our country is in need of healing and walking through great uncertainty. And hope to reveal what Pumla knows, that there are no monsters in the world, only other human beings like us."

A Human Being Died That Night premiered at The Hampstead Theatre Downstairs in London in May 2013, starring Noma Dumezweni as Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, and Matthew Marsh as Eugene de Kock. The production later toured South Africa, before returning to the Hampstead in 2014, and later opening Off- Broadway at the Brooklyn Academy Of Music in 2015.

For additional production information visit mosaictheater.org/south-africa-rep

Tickets are $40-$60, plus applicable fees. For information on savings programs such as student discounts, neighborhood nights, military and first responder discounts, and others, visit mosaictheater.org/tickets. Tickets may be purchased online at mosaictheater.org, or by phone at 202-399- 7993 ext. 2, or in person at the Atlas Performing Arts Center Box Office at 1333 H Street NE, Washington, DC 20002.

Photo Credit: C. Stanley Photography

Erica Chamblee as Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela
Erica Chamblee as Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela
Erica Chamblee as Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela and Chris Genebach as Eugene de Kock
Erica Chamblee as Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela and Chris Genebach as Eugene de Kock
Erica Chamblee as Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela and Chris Genebach as Eugene de Kock
Erica Chamblee as Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela and Chris Genebach as Eugene de Kock
Erica Chamblee as Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela and Chris Genebach as Eugene de Kock
Erica Chamblee as Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela and Chris Genebach as Eugene de Kock
Erica Chamblee as Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela and Chris Genebach as Eugene de Kock
Chris Genebach as Eugene de Kock