“Now is the right time, strike when the iron is red hot!”
(Following is my message to everyone who helped make this stage reading possible at The Africa Center.)
July 30, 2024
Good morning all,
To each and everyone of you I want to express how I’m sitting in deep gratitude this morning my heart full and at a loss for words that can fully express how I’m feeling now.
Each of you did an incredible job of bringing Survival back to life …from my first exchange with Michele in 2020, meeting Jo and the zoom call with Seth three years later, to the astounding message in April now in 2024 that you were going to produce the reading.
To have my daughter Sofia with me and her meeting Fana’s daughters where they exchanged how their fathers shared the same stories when they were growing up… priceless!
When this journey first started there was no real record of our west coast tour of Survival and how the actors were invited to the states in 1976 by Jim Bertholf, my friend and mentor.
For me I carried this all to honor Jim’s insights and tenacity that ensured the play was toured 47 years ago and has affected so many of us so deeply as was expressed in the aftertalk last night.
And now to have it all recorded for many more to discover such an incredible theater piece… again, priceless.
Please pass on my regards and gratitude to all involved at PlayCo, Jonathan’s gracious hosting of the aftertalk, the directors Keenan Tyler Oliphant and Joanna Ruth Evans… and of course the new Survival actors Namisa and David as well as Vuyo for adding their incredible energy and voices to the reading.
It goes without saying that I will always hold Seth and Fana dearly as I do Themba and Dan.
Bravo!
-Mark
Historical articles…
🌈 Hi friends… I’d like to share with you a project that changed my life back in 1976-77 and is coming back full circle.
It was a stage reading at The Africa Center of ‘Survival’ …a play about living in South Africa under apartheid. I got to meet again with two of the remaining actors after 48 years and engage in the after-talk.
Following are links to articles about the play before we brought it to the states and during our tour, as well as my perspectives and memories.
This was my first true experience of the “butterfly effect” through the efforts of touring the play in the US and the eventual dismantling of apartheid years later. Every little bit helps move humanity forward such as each of you do in your lives.
PlayCo invitation to Survival stage reading at The Africa Center in New York
Survival history by Joanna Evans:
Part one - before leaving South Africa
Part two - upon arriving in the US
Memories of Survival by Mark Smith:
Perspectives of tour manager from their arrival through the west coast tour together
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