‘Gangsters’ is set in late 1970’s South Africa during the tumultuous times of racial suppression and rebellion. Rasechaba, played by Common Ground’s Monique Gaffney, is an outspoken, poet/activist who is finally silenced by her “sell-out” fellow black South African, Jonathan, played by stage, film actor and comedian Mark Christopher Lawrence, and his white employer, her enemy, Major Whitebeard, performed by Blue Trunk Theatre’s own Joe Powers. The threat of Rasechaba’s ability to incite an uprising in the black people of South Africa is too much for Whitebeard to bear, so he makes several attempts to silence her, and he uses Jonathan, his muscle, to follow and enforce his orders on her, but Rasechaba knows that Jonathan came from the same place as she, so she uses her power of persuasion to try and inspire Jonathan to band with her and his people to overcome their society’s poverty and social degradation. Jonathon, a family man, is torn between the financial security that comes from “helping the white man preserve an ungodly status quo” and rebelling against a system that keeps his people endangered and impoverished.
GANGSTERS
written by , Directed by Rhys Green
June 6 - June 28, 2009
$15
Showtimes:
Thurs-Sat 8pm & Sun 2pm
Opening:
June 6th, 2009
Preview Nights June 4 & 5
Theatre Inc:
899 C Street, San Diego, CA
San Diego Black Ensemble Theatre is a 501c3 non-profit organization
Mark Christopher Lawrence "Jonathan"
Monique Gaffney
"Rasechaba"
"If you have something to say about injustice, say it! And say it in the best form you know how, be it poetry, music, dance, or straight up activism." - Rhys Green, Director
"Lost Boy" and author of the bestseller, They Poured Fire On Us From The Sky, Alephonsion Deng, attends Talk-Back after Friday's, (6/26) showing of 'Gangsters'.
