Sunday, September 26 @ 6pm (prior to the 7pm show)
Athol Fugard: the visionary storyteller of a changing South Africa—
with Dr. Marianne McDonald

Celebrated scholar, writer, and translator Dr. Marianne McDonald is one of the world’s experts on playwright Fugard’s work, having written books, articles, and many program notes on his plays. in a special conversation with director Todd Salovey, she will share personal reflections on how The Road To Mecca figures in the astonishing body of Fugard’s work, and how it reflects the politics and radically transforming history of society in South Africa.

 

Tuesday, September 28 @ 6pm (prior to the 7pm show)
Why do South Africans Choose to Live in San Diego?

Did you know there is a thriving community of South African ex-patriots in San Diego? Is it just because the La Jolla coast so closely resembles the coast of Cape Town? Enjoy stories, anecdotes, and reflections on South African life in America from three prominent South African San Diegans. The REP welcomes Graham Perkett, caterer and owner of Deli-SA in Kearny Mesa; Peter and Arlene Sacks, a trailblazing couple who were part of the first group of South Africans to come to San Diego; and Marlene Stanger, who is not only a South African immigrant, but also an immigration lawyer. Look forward to some fascinating stories! 

Thursday, September 30 @ 7pm (prior to the 8pm show)
Talkin’ Theatre with Todd

An up-close and personal discussion on the REP’s The Road to Mecca with the artists that made it come to life. Join REP favorite Armin Shimerman, prop mistress Angelica Ynfante, and lighting designer Ross Glanc. Armin has dazzled REP audiences as the Fool in King Lear and in last season’s San Diego Theatre Critics Circle Award-winning performance as Richard in The Seafarer. He is also known to audiences as Quark from “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.” Angelica has built props for REP productions, including A Weekend with Pablo Picasso, boom and Hairspray. Ross designed lights for last season’s popular A Weekend with Pablo Picasso and will be using light to create mood and magic in The Road to Mecca!

 

Sunday, October 3 @ 6pm (prior to the 7pm show)
Inside the World of the Outsider Artist

Artist Jean Dubuffet coined the term “Art Brut” (“raw art”) in the 1940s to label “fantastic, raw, visionary art created by individuals often maladjusted, with no art training, who work outside the mainstream of the art world.” The 1970s terms “outsider art” or “visionary art” are also used. This type of art includes such visionary environments as Helen Martins’ Owl House (the setting of The Road to Mecca) now a South African national monument. 

 

Join this fascinating conversation on the causes and implications of creating outsider art, with panelists: Christine Knoke, Director of Exhibitions at Mingei International Museum, which is dedicated to fostering understanding and appreciation of craft, folk art and design from all eras and cultures of the world; Robert L. Pincus, art critic of the San Diego Union-Tribune for 25 years and USD lecturer; Drew Snyder of The Andrews Gallery and Chanda L. Carey, both Ph.D. students in Art History, Theory and Criticism at UCSD; and outsider artists Anjela Piccard and Mary Lemke. 

Thursday, October 7 @ 7pm (prior to the 8pm show)
Sam’s Salon: Creativity and Apartheid

Does oppression and repression provoke a unique kind of creativity? Modern history offers many examples of artists and activists who pushed hard against injustice to create beacons of light in times of political darkness. Artistic Director Sam Woodhouse hosts a revealing conversation with three “experts” on the turbulent changes in African culture in the past 50 years. Sam’s guests are: Dr. Bennetta Jules-Rosette, a specialist on contemporary African art and literature and director of the African and African-American Studies Research Project at UCSD; Dr. Ivan Evans, a South African native who as a UCSD professor teaches courses on change in modern Africa, political sociology and violence and society; and 35-year African resident Dr. Peter Larlham, a SDSU theatre professor and stage director with decades of personal and cultural research experience on theatre in South Africa. Hear from those who know true stories of cultural change and transformation in modern Africa.

 

Saturday, October 9 @ 12:30pm (prior to the 2pm matinee)
Allied Artists Association of San Diego

Watch some of the many award-winning artists of Allied Artists Association of San Diego (AAASD) as they create art before your eyes. Watch and talk with artists while they paint, sculpt, and work in a variety of media.

 

 

 

 

Saturday, October 9 @ 7pm (prior to the 8pm show)
Write Out Loud

Write Out Loud is our region’s only theatre company dedicated to reading short stories, poetry, and other literature aloud. Some call it “storytime for grown-ups”! Write Out Loud’s Surround Event for The Road to Mecca features short stories by South African writers, particularly Nobel Laureate Nadine Gordimer. Actors include Veronica Murphy and Walter Ritter.

Wednesday, October 13 @ 6pm (prior to the 7pm show)
A Reading of Master Harold and the Boys

Directed by Patricia Elmore Costa, Artistic Director of San Diego Actors Theatre. (Celebrating 25 years.) Featuring Antonio Johnson and Morgan Hollingsworth. Music by Teresa Henning. This piece was created as a site-specific staged reading project at three uniquely different locations in June 2010. We are delighted to reprise it for San Diego REP’s Surround Event series.

 

Thursday, October 14 @ 7pm (prior to the 8pm show)
Sculpture Night: Live Sculpting @ the REP!