West coast premiere of Athol Fugard's "Coming Home" at The Fountain Theatre

June 8, 12:46 PMLA Theater ExaminerCandyce Columbus

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Acclaimed South African playwright Athol Fugard has received much praise for his scripts and many awards including an Academy Award, Obie Award, and Tony Award.  One of the first white playwrights to collaborate with black actors and workers, Fugard writes of the frustrations of life in contemporary South Africa and of overcoming the psychological barriers created by apartheid. The Fountain Theatre which has a unique relationship with Fugard, will present the West Coast premiere of his latest work, Coming Home.  Directed by Stephen Sachs the show opens June 20 with a cast featuring Matthew Elam, Deidrie Henry, Noah Murtadha, Thomas Silcott, Timothy Taylor and Adolphus Ward. 

Ten years after she left to pursue a singing career in Cape Town, Veronica Jonkers comes home to her beloved grandfather's farm and the village of her youth.  Carrying a heart filled with disappointment, she returns determined to plant the seeds of a new life for her young son.

"It's a play that is full of the humanity and wisdom we've come to expect from Athol Fugard's work." says Sachs.  "It is achingly beautiful, exposing life in contemporary South Africa through the unforgettable love of a mother and her child, and the promise of a new world."

Coming Home is Fugard's first sequel.  It continues the story he began in his acclaimed 1995 Valley Song, in which Veronica left her Oupa's farm to follow her dreams in the big city.  That, in turn, was Fugard's first post-apartheid play. 

"The Fountain Theatre's special relationship with Athol Fugard began when co-founder/co-artistic director Stephen Sachs directed the Los Angeles premiere of Fugard's The Road to Mecca in 2000.  Fugard was so impressed with the stellar production that he offered the company world premiere rights to an as-yet-unwritten new work.  When Sachs directed that world premiere production for the Fountain in 2004, Exits and Entrances received recognition for Best Production and Best Director from both the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle (garnering a total of five awards) and the Ovations (receiving a total of three awards)."