The Wilma Theatre Hosts "Tough Reality: Perspectives On Post-apartheid South Africa 11/8

The Wilma Theater will open the dialogue concerning the political, economic, and health challenges overwhelming modern South Africa through a symposium series event dedicated to tribulations facing the nation, Tough Reality: Perspectives on post-apartheid South Africa (Sunday, November 8, 4:30 pm). The event will feature a knowledgeable panel of experts who will offer insight into the controversial topic. The symposium series runs in conjunction with the Wilma's production of Coming Home, the latest work by internationally acclaimed South African playwright Athol Fugard, running now through November 15.

For the event, Tough Reality: Perspectives on post-apartheid South Africa, the Wilma Theater will welcome a number of esteemed panelists including independent consultant and writer Helen Epstein, Haverford College professor Zolani Ngwane, Ph.D., Financial Times World News Editor and acclaimed author Alec Russell, and South African writer and scholar Jonny Steinberg. The discussion will be moderated by the Wilma's Dramaturg and Literary Manager, Walter Bilderback.

In Coming Home, playwright Athol Fugard crafts a moving tale of a young South African woman's never-ending hope for a better future. As a teenager, Veronica left her cherished grandfather's farm with aspirations of becoming a cabaret singer in Cape Town. Years later, she returns to her hometown with broken dreams, a painful secret, and the unflinching hope of building a new life for her young son. The Wilma's production of Coming Home is directed by the Wilma's co-Artistic Director Blanka Zizka.

Symposia tickets are free for all Coming Home ticket-holders, or $10. Seating is limited. For tickets, call the Wilma Box Office at (215) 546-7824 or email tickets@wilmatheater.org. The Wilma Theater is located at 265 S. Broad Street, Philadelphia. For more information, visit www.wilmatheater.org.

ABOUT THE PANELISTS

Tough Reality: Perspectives on post-apartheid South Africa (Sunday, November 8, 4:30 pm)

Helen Epstein is an independent consultant and writer specializing in public health in developing countries. She has conducted research on reproductive health and AIDS in Africa for such organizations as the Rockefeller Foundation, the Population Council and Human Rights Watch, and her articles have appeared in The New York Review of Books, Granta Magazine and many other publications. Although Epstein's efforts to find a vaccine failed, she witnessed firsthand the suffering caused by the HIV virus, which became the subject of her book The Invisible Cure: Why We Are Losing the Fight Against AIDS in Africa.

Zolani Ngwane is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Haverford College. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. His research interests include the anthropology of education, with particular interest on issues of social reproduction; intergenerational politics, social rituals, social theory; South Africa. For more information about Zolani Ngwane please visit http://www.haverford.edu/faculty/zngwane.

Alec Russell is World News Editor of the Financial Times. He has done two postings as a foreign correspondent in South Africa, from 1993 - 1998 covering the end of apartheid and the early years of Mandela's presidency, and then from 2006 - 2008 covering the rise of Jacob Zuma, the country's controversial new president. He has won several acclaimed press awards and has written three books. The latest, Bring Me My Machine Gun: The Battle for the Soul of South Africa, from Mandela to Zuma was published by Public Affairs in April 2009 to widespread acclaim.

Jonny Steinberg is a South African writer and scholar. His first acclaimed book, Midlands, explores racial conflict in the post-apartheid countryside through an account of an unsolved murder. In 2003, Midlands received South Africa's most prestigious literary prize, the Sunday Times Alan Paton Award for non-fiction. Two years later Steinberg repeated this feat when his second book, The Number, a social history of crime and punishment in Cape Town written in the form of a biography of a prison gangster, received the same award. His most recent book, Sizwe's Test: A Young Man's Journey Through Africa's AIDS Epidemic, is an intimate and eye-opening account of South Africa's recent history and hurdles to curbing the epidemic.

The Wilma Theater's Symposium Series is supported by The Wallace Foundation Excellence Award grant. The Wallace Foundation Excellence Awards were created to support exemplary arts organizations to pioneer effective practices to engage more people in high-value arts activities.