SARAFINA!

good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the terrace theater for this evening's millennium stage presentation brought to you by target and the marriott foundation tonight's performance is presented in cooperation with the howard university department of theater arts and new works productions as a courtesy to this evening's artists and other audience members we ask that you turn off your mobile device at this time photography and recording of any kind during the performance is prohibited the millennium stage presents a free performance at 6 pm 365 days a year for schedule information please visit us at www.kennedydashcenter.org and now seraphina [Music] huh come on [Music] mandela was inaugurated as the first black president of a free non-racial and democratic south african [Music] is [Music] forgiveness kindness humility regardless of the color of one's skin he led south africa from the cloud of darkness to the bed of reconciliation he showed the world that it was possible to forgive one's enemy and live side by side in harmony nursing mandela is no longer with us but his spirit lives on his spirit will live on forever and our memories and even those still to be born i have cherished an ideal of a free and democratic south africa where all its people regardless of the color of their skin lives side by side in harmony eat is an idea i hope to live and see but if need be it is an ideal for which i am prepared to die africa [Music] [Music] [Music] this is [Music] where the people talking [Music] [Music] from [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] coming from [Music] [Applause] my name is pat a former student of morris isaacson high school of education in sweden but anyway a lot of people know me by my nickname colgate because of my white teeth i used to fight over that name but the more i thought the more popular it became in the meetings rallies wherever you go that was the name i was so surprised when members at the secret branch of police came and asked for colgate they even heard my photographs five of them all with that smile that is a killer for women colgate maurice isaacson is one of the most popular schools in the black townships because of his reputation with activities hey remember this is where the 1976 soweto uprisings were born the student leader masha nini was here and other leaders like kosovo it's all happened here in the school but i think 1976 was better in our times we don't have to fight to see the army tanks casper's thunder we live with them right here in our school the soldiers have become the inspectors who patrol our classrooms they even study our syllabus sometimes they even forget their own walkie-talkies inside our classrooms taigas has become our perfume what was most exciting about our school was the unity the characters i have with me here photographs of everybody and everything that took place and then there was mistress it's a pity she was different from any teacher i had ever known she was staring to her students she was excelling in history and english but at the time she would put her history book down and say and then there was this yeah everybody in our whole school lager for different reasons [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] me [Music] but when i seen you [Music] your sister did you [Music] for your window you break my heart in pieces you make i wanna cry you make my life [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] tell me [Music] good evening everybody good evening everybody time to come to school i love my bill very much and no one can take it you know i've been ringing this bell for eight years can you believe it my one day i fought crocodile for this bill and i lost the two ah crocodile you found me here you leave me here i am not going anywhere until i have become our father which art in heaven one two three our father which are in heaven halloween be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be the lord [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Applause] yes [Music] [Applause] [Music] land [Applause] [Music] me [Music] i will be [Music] i is [Music] be [Music] is thy kingdom the power and the glory [Music] our father must be so happy wherever he is you children are just beautiful jesus just come down and listen to these bosses [Applause] [Music] [Applause] good morning business how are you doing bye it was wonderful this morning wasn't it yes yes jesus yes you know i felt like i was on a cloud on my way to live even the soldiers on the other side of the fence were excited [Applause] you know that god gets right inside that army uniform english is the most spoken language in the world i gave you homework to read a poem did you do it yes yes [Music] composed upon west minister breach by william wordsworth it has not anything to show more fear [Music] morgan dal would it be your soul why do we have to learn about the beautiful cities in england that have nothing to do with us yes okay everyone what is 3a over 18 multiplied by 6b over 7a plus 10b over 2a multiplied by 25b over 12 a divided by 23a over 30 b squared equals 2. [Applause] i said 3x over 18 multiplied by 6b over 7a plus 10b over 2m multiplied by 25b over 12a divided by you take on the history class my mother works for this white man in johannesburg city his son is one year older than me it is so interesting he is also doing history at school yeah yeah every day when i visit my mother at work that's the topic well i tell him about the history we learn i also tell him about the history mistress teaches us the history that is not in books the history of our people the history of our heroes he says to me your mistress is crazy you black people were savages before the white people it's so stupid i said to him is this how you white people think you see i just got mad yes i tell him about our king the great shakazulu unifying our black nation he knew the white people would come and divide us and how more than 60 people were shot in the back running running away from the guns i said to him your fathers killed our fathers because our fathers did not have the guts hey you know i tell him the truth i tell him this school is a parliament of black students in 1976 black students rejected the language of afrikaans is a medium of instruction to all subjects they said this is the language of the oppressors rich that white people they didn't care they were sitting on top of terrible mountain in cape town drinking wine and speaking afrikaans one morning our student leader tiatsi mashinini woke up in soweto and said i imani what kind of language is this huh huh or where with africans oh is [Applause] hello [Music] time to play games oh time to buy breadcakes i'm a duina they must form a line and pay here [Music] okay have you morning south africa here is the newsroom [Music] you think it's a joke [Music] what you mean arrested they took her friday afternoon who took her friday afternoon this special branch of police oh the informant they don't want to be called informers then why don't they want to be called the special branch of police what [Applause] her friday afternoon after school we were all seated around the table it was me teaspoon saratina and her mother suddenly i had a dog barking outside so i peeked through the window a police van with a german shepherd barking at the back and stopped in front of the house three white policemen were coming towards the gate in my state of panic i tried to unleash that athena of the three white policemen coming but they kicked the door open they were inside i wonder what they do to salafina oh i know what they would do to seraphina when we were at john foster square police headquarters things were happening one friend of mine who was a fighter a fighter like crocodile or he falls back one day he said they tied a rope around his way he was in a room next to mine in the sixth floor interrogation section oh fire i i heard griezmann he said they things boosted out the window and halfway down they were hoarded up and fool him back and he talked about infinite intention but once he gets to that story his face just changes his mind goes away yeah today my friend is a madman and you asked me what they would do to seraphina i've seen her standing in front of machine guns she believes in the spirits of our ancestors never stopped moving forward after two months seraphina came back from detention it was like a party in our school we didn't think salafina would come back we had seen people gone for good we had seen people changing after they had been detained but seraphina came back stronger others came to become government fighters but she came back with more commitments she came back stronger than ever [Applause] we can go back to class beautiful beautiful today we will learn about the oil producing company [Music] um [Applause] [Music] [Music] okay [Music] is [Music] [Music] good one is libya [Music] [Applause] me [Music] she's [Applause] [Music] [Applause] oh me don't you know it's against the law oh that she is about the all-producing conflict [Music] [Music] no tricks [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] three [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] wow [Music] oh [Music] [Music] children of god [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] nothing was said about the killing of our children in soweto nothing was said about the killing of children in the relations or the killing of children about bill [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Applause] oh [Applause] [Music] [Applause] when our brothers and sisters left this country in 1976 i was young i did not know i did not understand but now i know yes now i know children god may our children rest in people ashes to ashes and dust to dust there is no more hope for the peace hey man what is this army doing my is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] okay [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] okay [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] wow [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] freedom is coming always told me [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] hey um up [Music] this is gonna be a meeting tonight [Music] [Applause] [Music] me [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] mama [Music] those of you who might be working or who might have some private friendship with the guard can just get out of this meeting or otherwise sit up into journey we will not allow the soldiers and the police to continue to rape our mothers and sisters while conducting a roblox in soweto in this way [Applause] my father was stoked at the police roadblock in the middle of the night he was coming from the movies they asked him where he stole his car from and he showed them the papers but they were drunk they're beaten and they made him go down on his knees and bark like a dog real police dogs and the dogs dragged him all over the place for two hours he came home without his pants what happens to you when you see your father coming home without pets the blood running down his legs what happens to you when we walk down this road we want to set that fight [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] oh yes we belong right here [Music] this whole place is filthy it smells it smells of the burning bodies emergency instincts of their madness it stinks of their army this topless is amen [Music] sure [Music] [Music] yes [Music] my [Music] we are [Music] [Music] how are you doing this afternoon [Music] is [Applause] so who is going to be [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] because i'm you never even attend meetings at the commemoration service of those who were killed last year in soweto where were you [Applause] where were you when women and young girls went to the minister of justice to complain about their children their [Applause] mr kruger himself and they said we want to know that you bury our children we want our children [Music] hello [Music] okay [Music] [Music] others never came out of those graves [Music] suddenly those big army machines came to cover the grapes so that no one could identify his relatives of our land before i went to morris isaacson high school victoria took me to devon to educate me i was saying she and my mother were very very good friends and they would always be talking about the people's movement and i i would be listening i enjoyed it you see victoria um listen to this one evening victoria was telling my mother a story about this woman she defeated in the court i loved her stories about the court's cases although i was never allowed to go into the court with her she said this woman was waiting for a bus one evening in the center of the city when this white policeman came and arrested her for a pace book he drove to the outskirts of the city in [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] the interesting part was how victoria won the case do you know what the court said is [Music] i watched her going away bye bye mama bye bye [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] that afternoon i opened the gates for her when she came back home from the court she parked the car you know i was at the doorstep when four men came jumping over the fence i heard one of them say hey what did you say in the court the next thing i had was the gunshot i went toward the car i saw two men carrying exes one getting a and suddenly there was screams the sounds of the baking on the do the sounds of the exit and the bushnell [Music] there was nobody but just my mom victoria lying there she she was still alive we rushed her to the hospital and when we got to the hospital 15 minutes later mama mama [Music] hello [Music] where to [Music] my way too [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] me [Music] [Music] mama [Music] [Music] don't let them bring you down [Music] [Music] [Music] mama [Music] oh [Music] my way to [Music] [Music] no [Music] don't let them bring you down [Music] [Applause] oh but i warned her she should not go to the funerals when she knows she said attraction my dear now your hannah your hand [Music] [Music] you know the one who's just gotten a certificate for detaining more than 200 school children they made him naked and made him walk down some of that road naked [Music] silence silence so it means silence is not going to be in the concept oh that's the very same question i asked him i said silence what about the concept you know what he said he just said the only time south africa will see me [Music] again what's next oh [Music] is is [Music] okay [Music] and i think we should get these people out of here this is too chaotic sick these children should be taught a lesson no sir can't you see these are little terrorists roaming around the streets sergeant you cannot arrest the whole school especially in front of the media ah yes yes sir but what if they are full of is what you are causing us sergeant the whole world is going to go crazy can't you see this is big trouble trouble yes no trouble with the state of emergency the proclamation by the state president of the republic of south africa section 3 subsection 1 number r121 column 1 says a member of a force may come without warrant of arrest comma arrest or cause to be arrested any person whose detention is in the opinion of such members coma necessary for the maintenance of public order section two okay section two integrity no civil order is [Music] is [Music] oh good afternoon good are you afternoon yes [Music] outside the world is waiting it's a pity that sometimes [Music] way down again [Music] [Applause] [Music] away too long come back and don't stay away [Music] is [Applause] a farewell concert for those who might be lucky to go to university our host colgate will give us their group and the mood ladies and gentlemen [Applause] and now for the concept [Music] [Music] take me to the mountains [Music] get down to the mountainside get down to the forest of zimbabwe [Music] [Music] take me to the mountains of somalia [Music] wow [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] bringing back i want to see them walking down the streets of south africa [Music] tomorrow [Music] i want to see them [Music] is [Music] people everybody will be shouting my people today i am free and the people we were released from prison because you never forgot us or to destroy but to build our future where all of us black and whites can come together and work to liberate our land we must remember that it is only we south africa is free that all of africa can be free and the people will go wild today i see all of my friends my brothers my sisters our heroes i feel the spirit of those that died for our liberation and the illegal liberation of the entire african community in all corners of the world with the spirit of steven becko robert superior [Music] thank you the spirit of them they are here with us to celebrate what they believed and lived forth and died for the day of liberation [Music] freedom is coming tomorrow freedom is coming tomorrow the freedom is coming tomorrow [Music] freedom is coming tomorrow [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you

Channel: HU Theatre Arts

Views: 12,730

Rating: 4.7647057 out of 5

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Id: VAiywdZj8sg

Length: 83min 38sec (5018 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 01 2021