The first night we went to a world premier play at the Baxter Theater Centre at University of Cape Town. Before the play we heard a speaker talking about higher education in South Africa. There were two white Universities in the Capetown area -- one pro-apartheid, one anti-apartheid. The University of Capetown was the anti-apartheid university, and was the site of considerable demonstrations in the days, with the demonstrations sometimes spilling onto the nearby highway. Before the end of arpatheid, there were some black students studying at UCT under various "special circumstances"
The theater was absolutely world class -- on par with the renovated Arena Stage in DC and the renovated Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. Several levels of lobby space, various food and drink options, and it looked like there was more than one theater. We were given tickets that said $25.00 (in rand) on them. This is gold and diamond money from Rhodes.
The play, "Missing...", was written by John Kani who won the 1974/75 Tony Award on Broadway for Best Actor, and several other awards over the last 40 years. He was also the main actor in this depiction of a biracial family living in Stockholm for many years as the main character waited for a call to return to South Africa to be part of the new government. The title was ambiguous -- missing from the reconstruction efforts, missing his country, missing family.... After the play we had the chance to participate in a Q&A with John Kani. This was a great end to an exciting first day in Capetown.
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