The Road to Mecca

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More About

• Helen Martin
• Mecca
• Athol Fugard
• Dee Maaske
• Racial Issues

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The plays of Athol Fugard, also a noted South African poet and unwavering foe of apartheid, are tempered by the wisdom of having been one of the few sane and moral voices in an immoral society. He was—at least until the apartheid era ended—an artist of outrage. Yet what’s surprising about his best work are the recurring themes of peace and a yearning for reconciliation. The Road to Mecca, written in 1985, is definitely some of his best work. The play is based upon the real-life story of Helen Martin, a woman who transformed her modest, small-town home into a showcase for her astonishing outsider art—this despite the distrust and disinterest of her neighbors. In Mecca, the world of the elderly Miss Helen is threatened by a recent accident. Then her friendship with a visiting young schoolteacher forces a decision about what her home, and her art, mean to her. Featuring Dee Maaske (as Miss Martin) and Marya Sea Kaminski, voted Seattle Weekly’s Best Actress of 2008; play runs through Feb. 14. JOHN LONGENBAUGH
Tuesdays-Saturdays, 7:30 p.m.; Saturdays, Sundays, 2 p.m. Starts: Jan. 15. Continues through Feb. 14, 2009