'Master Harold' brings his boys to IU

Discourse about racism is alive within the IU community and the theatre department wouldn't have it any other way. \n"'Master Harold' ... and the boys," written by South African Athol Fugard and directed by South African IU theater professor Murray McGibbon, opens at 8 p.m. tonight in the Ruth N. Halls Theatre. The play premiered in 1982 at the Yale Repertory Theatre and was banned from production in South Africa until 1994.\nMany of Fugard's papers are currently housed and cared for at IU's Lilly Library.\nThe production confronts 1950s apartheid in South Africa through the point of view of a white teenager, "Master Harold." Master Harold, often called "Hally" and played by first-year M.F.A student Tom Connor, struggles between the worldviews of two conflicting role models: a bigoted white father and a lifelong black mentor named Sam. \nRacial discrimination is the major theme throughout the play, although Sam's attempt at ballroom dancing symbolizes the personal dilemma of many black people wishing to participate in a white-ruled world. The character Willie, played by guest artist Andy Alphonse, works with Sam in St. George's Park Tea Room, a restaurant owned by Hally's father.\n"It's a very difficult play, in my mind, by the greatest living playwright." McGibbon said, who was recruited by IU theatre department personnel in 1996 to teach acting and directing. "It is the most beautiful one-act play written in the English language. If you close your eyes (during the play) you might think you're in Port Elizabeth, Africa."\nMcGibbon said American audiences often find it difficult to imagine the life of a grown man in 1950s South Africa, since the segregation experienced by many of South Africa's blacks was much worse than segregation issues in America at that time. Apartheid was an official South African government policy involving political, legal and economic discrimination against anyone who was nonwhite.\n"It's almost like (McGibbon) is a potter working a block of clay -- he molds a part, molds a part, adds and takes away detail, adds a gloss," said School of Music graduate student Carmund T. White, who portrays Sam in the play. "Literally, he let (the play) grow for itself, as opposed to applying his will on the actors or production. His very methodical directing process allowed us to get a feel for the play and grow into what we were doing." \nMcGibbon said he has been involved in theater since he was three years old. He said the entire cast and crew have demonstrated "unbelievable commitment," a rare 110 percent, to the work needed. \n"My goal as a director is to give audiences a truly theatrical experience," he said. "I get moved to tears in movie houses and bored to tears in play houses. I'm hoping you will stand up and say 'wow.'" \nScenic designer and theatre graduate student Christopher J. Sinnottsaid he drenched the set in tints of brown colors. "Master Harold's" scenic design is Sinnott's graduate thesis production and his sixth such work for an IU-produced play. \n"It was appropriate to keep the tone going to give it a certain atmospheric feel, almost like a staged memoir," he said. "There is a sense that the play happened on a rainy day afternoon to evening. Upstage there is a rain curtain to keep rain ever present throughout.\nHe added that it actually rains on stage.\nSinnott said he is especially proud of his "experimental piece" tree silhouettes hanging above the stage draped in fishnet-like netting. He said the audience will see "free-standing trees" when the prop piece is backlit.\n"This is by far my best work," Sinnott said. "I would like (the audience) to have gone and seen not so much a period piece but a representation of the author's life at that time. I hope my scenic design adds support and strength to the story; it is not supposed to upstage it. I wanted to create a 'brilliant' look but not focus attention from the points of the story." \nWhite said he believes the entire cast is prepared to put forth its best acting work, since he feels McGibbon has directed an extraordinary production. \n"We feel so invested in ("Master Harold"), like it is ours," White said. "(This production) has been a life-changing experience; the characters have become a part of our lives. The play is metaphor for life -- you see people differently and learn to see the world differently." \nSinnott said he hopes the IU theater community remembers his work as "this one." Examples of the production work from the entire "Master Harold" design team will be exhibited in the gallery next to the theater entrance throughout the entirety of the show's run. \nMcGibbon said community members attending the show should expect a "powerful emotional experience," and he feels they will ultimately benefit from having witnessed the spectacle of "Master Harold" in an otherwise discrimination-free university environment.\n"In about 100 minutes, you can experience in the theater what you won't have for a lifetime," McGibbon said. "Theater is an artistic medium enabling audiences to reconsider values; to reconsider their interactions with other people in society."\n-- Contact City & State Editor David A. Nosko at dnosko@indiana.edu.