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Speaker 1: This is breakfast with on seven O two. Let's walk,

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Speaker 1: let's talk, let's talk theater now traveling theater and a

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Speaker 1: conversation very much needed. How often do we talk honestly

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Speaker 1: about race, identity and the skin we're in? Well, that's

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Speaker 1: exactly what this next production is going to be about.

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Speaker 1: And the idea, of course is to also take it

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Speaker 1: to schools where young people will be invited not just

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Speaker 1: to watch, but to think, to question and to engage.

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Speaker 1: We're joined now by Gerard besta is a Gerard or Harrod?

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Speaker 1: I wasn't I wasn't quite.

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Speaker 2: Sure, Gerard.

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Speaker 1: Gerard. Pardon pardon Gerard from the Windy Brow. You, of

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Speaker 1: course are head of the Window Brow Arts Center. Gerard,

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Speaker 1: talk to me about the skin we're in and the

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Speaker 1: school tour.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you very much for this opportunity. We very

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Speaker 2: very excited to be bringing this production back. First created

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Speaker 2: in twenty twenty three, and it's really a play based

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Speaker 2: on a book authored by doctor Cindwa Mahonna and professor

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Speaker 2: Nina Jablonski, and it's based on Nina's lifetime research around

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Speaker 2: misuse of science to justified discrimination. So it's really looking

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Speaker 2: at evolution and skin color and claiming that we all

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Speaker 2: came from Africa and my white ancestors were originally black.

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Speaker 2: That's the premise of the play and it's yeah, a

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Speaker 2: play that ignites conversation. And for me, what's exciting is

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Speaker 2: the intergenerational conversation that hopefully will happen back at the home,

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Speaker 2: back in the classroom.

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Speaker 1: It's a complex discussion because on the one hand, you

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Speaker 1: could argue that skin color is only what zero points,

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Speaker 1: zeroz are a one percent of our biological difference. And

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Speaker 1: yet there is an inherent danger in people who don't

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Speaker 1: see color because that often does not acknowledge the differences

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Speaker 1: in our lived experiences.

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Speaker 2: Well, I've always referred to the quote that US Whities

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Speaker 2: are recovering racists, and I think it was Peter dook

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Speaker 2: Ace that that said that about US Whities, And I

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Speaker 2: think it's true that we we always need to be

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Speaker 2: working and conscious of our prejudices and what passed down

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Speaker 2: through generations of prejudice and discrimination. And so yeah, I

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Speaker 2: think that this conversation remains important and vital, and yeah

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Speaker 2: for young people.

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Speaker 1: I mean in a country like South Africa, where is

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Speaker 1: the conversation as far as race is concerned. Because there's

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Speaker 1: been perhaps you might say, a disregard of the rainbow

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Speaker 1: moment in many senses, people saying it just can't be

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Speaker 1: Kumbaya without structural changes in our society. Where do you

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Speaker 1: place those conversations in terms of what young people must

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Speaker 1: grapple with thirty odd years into democracy.

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Speaker 2: Well, I think you're right. I think within the institutions

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Speaker 2: it's vital that we find you know, that we have

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Speaker 2: the courage to have the conversations. What has surprised me

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Speaker 2: about the play is that we thought we had created

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Speaker 2: a play for grade sevens to grade nine tens, but

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Speaker 2: adults respond brilliantly to the work. We did the play

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Speaker 2: three years ago at the Human Rights Festival at Constitution Hill,

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Speaker 2: and we had a teacher's night last week at the

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Speaker 2: Barney Simon Theater at the Market Theater, and there was

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Speaker 2: one elderly gentleman who said, please, can we bring the

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Speaker 2: play to his lounge, to have it in his home

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Speaker 2: with his family, with his children, because he feels that

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Speaker 2: maybe he's passed down a history that or a sense

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Speaker 2: of his own anger, discrimination, prejudice, and he would love

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Speaker 2: the play to be performed in his home. So that

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Speaker 2: for me was quite significant. And again you know this

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Speaker 2: intergenerational conversation I think is so important.

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Speaker 1: You want to take it to different schools. Tell me

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Speaker 1: how all of that is going to work and how

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Speaker 1: can people get involved.

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Speaker 2: Well, all the information, the booking information is on the

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Speaker 2: Market Theater website, so we really welcome schools to contact

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Speaker 2: us to book the play. Last week we had the

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Speaker 2: Amakatrada Foundation bring schools from the Vall to the Market Theater.

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Speaker 2: We had Asite South Africa as part of their campaign

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Speaker 2: of take a Child to the Theater. The Amacritrada Foundation

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Speaker 2: was the Anti Racism Week last week, so we really yeah,

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Speaker 2: we really want to take the production on the road

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Speaker 2: and reach as many schools as possible across scouting and

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Speaker 2: it's really thanks to the Turquoise Harmony Institute, a City,

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Speaker 2: South Africa and the South African Human Rights Commission that

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Speaker 2: have all partnered with us to make sure that this

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Speaker 2: play travels and reaches the wide audience.

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Speaker 1: It sounds very thought provoking, Jerard, So people can go

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Speaker 1: to the Market Theater website to get more information. It's

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Speaker 1: targeted at twelve to fifteen year olds. Are there about

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Speaker 1: six to grade nine ten and of course. If you

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Speaker 1: want your school to get involved and you want the

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Speaker 1: player to visit your neck of the woods, go to

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Speaker 1: the Market Theater website and that's where you'll get the information.

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Speaker 1: Jared Besta there the head of the Windybrow Arts Center

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Speaker 1: seven podcast around seven and two do