A WRETCH LIKE ME MY COUNTRY! MY AFRICA!

WRETCH LIKE ME
Written and performed by David Templeton
Directed by David Yen
January 20, 27 and February 3, 2010
8:00 PM
142 Throckmorton Theater

Beware of the man whose god is in the skies
George Bernard Shaw

This fast paced, creatively directed one man show is the true story of David Templeton’s experience as a teenage fundamentalist Christian. But it is far, far more than that. It is the story of what extreme measures we feel driven to do as human beings when we don’t fit into the accepted mold. Man is a social animal and wants to belong to a society. It is basic to our nature. Yet, in this present world, society puts so many limitations on what is acceptable and what is not, that almost everyone with a brain has periods of time when he feel ousted from where he wants to be, when he misses the comfort of belonging. As Templeton stood on that stage and described his childhood, the smart remarks and clever word twists that were supposed to make me laugh brought tears to my eyes. I saw the bright, innovative and creative child he once was squelched at every turn because he didn’t embrace what was “cool”. As a child, he tried to use reason to deal with his parents divorce, their conflicting realities and his own struggle to live harmoniously in a world that diverged from his pictures of right, wrong and good.

“This is the story of a man’s coming of age,” said director, David Yen. “It is a story about the joy of finding one’s people, the struggle of feeling inadequate and the value of questioning authority.”

Templeton has been writing in the North Bay for over fifteen years and we have all read many of his revues and thoughtful features in publications such as Theatre Bay Area Magazine and The Pacific, where you can enjoy his column Talking Pictures. He is often seen on stage and not just at his annual hit production, A TWISTED CHRISTMAS at the Unitarian Glaser Center in Santa Rosa but also in The Wizard of Oz, and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare(Abridged), among other productions here in the bay area. .

His experiences as told on stage are mesmerizing because they are not just HIS stories. They are the conflicts of every caring human being, seeking to be accepted. How many of us mistake belonging to a group as our valid participation in the human race. Templeton tells us that he was very taken with the hymn “Amazing Grace” and he says, “I had no idea where Grace was leading me.”

She led him to Jesus. When he discovered the groups devoted to this acclaimed son of God, he was swept into a world of dogma and a cult of ritual that Welcomed him with open arms and enveloped him in the love and acceptance he ached to have. Eventually, as with all doctrines that limit behavior, The Jesus Club’s demands made no sense to him. “I was good at God,” he said. “I identified with being a wretch. I thought that if Jesus lived in my heart, I would never be sad or lonely again. I prayed hours every day to feel the presence of God.”

And then he put on a puppet show about God and Jesus at a church picnic. He was a huge hit. He was accepted. He was praised and wanted and his conclusion was that he had finally found the direct road straight to God. He was convinced that he had to find “the way” if he wanted to be truly human. “If you don’t have Jesus living inside you, you’re just a bunch of junk,” he was told and he bought it all because it made him part of something he could count on.

It didn’t take long to become disillusioned with dogma that made no sense. If God loves us all, why doesn’t he love gay people? It was this question that turned the tide for him. Suddenly, he realized he had surrounded himself with delusional people who were not HIS people at all. “I walked away from my church thirty years ago,” he said. “And now I believe in a world where everyone knows they are loved by someone and no one ever has to feel like a wretch.”

It is said that those who realize that all life is one are at home everywhere and see themselves in all beings. Would we all could be that comfortable with our innermost selves. What a comfortable world that would be for us all.

I loved this show. It was real. It was human. It was a joy to see. I believed every minute of David Templeton’s journey and when the show ended, I knew that his search for real meaning did not.

IF YOU GO:
142 Throckmorton
Mill Valley, CA
Wednesdays, Jan 20, 27, Feb 3
Tickets $15 in advance, $18 at the door
www.142throckmortontheatre.com

Marin Theatre Company presents:
MY COUNTRY MY AFRICA

I saw this play the day Barack Obama was inaugurated as president of the United States. I thought it appropriate that on this day so many felt was momentous for all people of color, Anthol Fugard's magnificent work opened our eyes to the real need of those among us who been victimized by racism. MY COUNTRY! MY AFRICA! takes place in 1985 South Africa, during a period of intense and often violent anti-Apartheid protests and boycotts. The plot line follows the friendship of two teenagers. Thami, (Lloyd Roberson II) a gifted and independent black student, and Isabel, (Laura Morache) a white prep school student who compete in a rare interracial debate at Thamis school. Their teacher, Mr. M (L. Peter Callender) struggles to lift his students above the strife and violence that is boiling in their black township. “I feed hope to young people,” he says. “Confucius tells us 'Follow your heart without fear of transgression.' “
Yet he knows the dangers of the lessons he is trying to teach his children. He knows how they can be twisted into an excuse to murder and destroy everything that education and understanding can build. He is determined to give his black students the tools they need to become themselves, and not force them to adopt white values and white methods to succeed in the lives that another culture values. He says to Thami, “You are a little boy with a good education. . . . My lessons were meant to teach you to live in this world. “
Thami replies, “There is no justice for black people in this country except that they make it for themselves.”
Mr. M, a dedicated realist in the midst of a revolution that can only mean slaughter of the people he loves, says, “If we aren't careful we might be remembered as a country where everyone arrived too late.”
In the end, when their teacher sacrifices himself because he is living the very values he has tried to instill in his pupils, Laura says, “The most terrible words are 'too late.' “for Mr. M and the teachers like him who gave everything so they could help their people rise above repression, it is heartening to know that here in the United States at least, we have taken that first step. We have ignored color and race to elect a man whom we believe can lead us out of the turmoil this country has suffered the past eight years.
The danger here is that we mistake Obama's political success with a new attitude toward black equality in this country. Our new president did exactly what Mr. M (and of course Anthol Fugard) warned against: he adopted the white man's values and is living the white man's life. He has had an education and intellectual and social advantages most white middle class children have not enjoyed. He has been trained in the same school created white leaders. Mr. M. was not speaking to men with the advantages Barack Obama had. He was trying to inspire children who lived in tin huts with no plumbing and who never knew such a thing as a book existed, much less the immense value that can be taken from reading one. He was showing them that there is a better, happier and easier way to live, but only they can achieve it with the tools education gives.
The acting, the writing, the entire production is superb theater. No intelligent person who seeks insight into the human condition should miss this magnificent play. Marin Theater is to be congratulated on bringing such thoughtful, intellectually challenging works to its stage. If you want to understand the world you live in, you need to see what Anton Fugard has to say about racial equality and the way to achieve it. We are not there yet; but we have begun.
My Children! My Africa! premiered at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1989 and has been performed since then worldwide. It speaks to us today in this century even louder and more forcefully that it possibly could have done in 1989 because we think we have come so far for so many when in reality, we have only bestowed equal opportunity on a very privileged few.

Athol Fugard is considered one of the worlds greatest playwrights. Best known for political plays opposing the South African system of apartheid, he has influenced international public opinion on the politics of South Africa and worldwide oppression. He has been working in the theater as a playwright, director, and actor since the mid-1950s.


IF YOU GO:
My Country! My Africa! Continues through February 15, 2009.
For tickets and information visit www.marintheatre.org or call 415.388.5208.
Marin Theatre Company is located at 397 Miller Ave, Mill Valley 94941.

Ticket Prices
Previews: Thu through Sun: $31
Regular Performances:
Tues: $31 in advance, or Pay-What-You-Can
Wed, Thu, & Sun Evenings: $34 & $41
Fri: $39 & $46
Sat Evenings: $44 & $51
Wed, Thu, Sat & Sun Matinées: $34 & $41

Discounts available:
Student tickets: $20, all performances
Senior discounts, varies by performance
RUSH tickets $10, available one-half hour prior to show, based on availability
Pay-What-You-Can Tuesdays