John and Winston are black political prisoners in South Africa, spending their days at hard labor and their evenings rehearsing Sophocles' Antigone. Though the two men are deeply bonded to one another, their friendship is tested when John discovers that his most recent appeal was successful, while Winston is still looking at years of brutal incarceration ahead. A profile on the depth of human resilience in the face of unspeakable injustice and racism.

Directed by Sarah May | Notre Dame College Performing Arts Center | Oct 27-Nov 12, 2023.
Content Advisory: Stong Language, themes, & staged violence.
Run Time: Approximately 85min. (No Intermission)

While “The Island” may have been fueled by the highly specific iniquities of a now-dismantled political system, the play speaks to any place, any culture, where liberties are at risk. -Variety.com

“The Island (Fugard)” is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of
Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com

Join us this Sunday November 5th for a post show talkback!
A heartfelt thank you to your guests who will be joining us!
Lehlabile Davhana, Jan Kious, Natasha Levison, and Charles Richie.

MEET THE CAST:

Robert Williams (John) is pleased to be returning to the Ensemble stage where his credits include ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ ‘The Iceman Cometh’ and ‘Steelbound’. Other credits include ‘The Spawn of the Petrosexuals’ and ‘The Boys in the Band’ for Convergence Continuum, ‘Twelfth Night’ and ‘As You Like It’ for Cleveland Shakespeare Festival, ‘The Hairy Ape’ and ‘Venus’ for Cleveland Public Theatre, ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’ for Beck Center, The Two Gentleman of Verona’ for Great Lakes Theatre, and ‘Ain’t Nothing But the Blues’ and ‘Zooman and the Sign’ for Karamu Theatre.

Nnamdi Okpala (Winston) is thrilled to be back storytelling at Ensemble for “The Island”! He has performed with Cleveland Public Theatre, Dobama Theatre, Cleveland State University, Cleveland Play House and other area theatres. Past performances at Ensemble Theatre include George Murchison in Lorraine Hansberry’s ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ and Kevin/Albert in ‘‘Clybourne Park’. Notable past roles also include Macduff in ‘Macbeth’, Eddie in ‘Shadow of the Run’s Railroaded’, and Popcorn Vendor in ‘Shadow of the Run’s Dreamwalkers’. Nnamdi received his BA in Acting at Cleveland State University. He is beyond grateful for the unconditional love and support from all his family!"

MEET THE CREW:

Sarah May (Director) is thrilled to return to Ensemble Theatre and revisit the work of the great South African playwright Athol Fugard. Sarah's earlier Fugard productions included A Lesson From Aloes at Karamu, My Children! My Africa! and Playland at Dobama, and Valley Song for Ensemble. Other favorite Ensemble shows include the critically acclaimed Intimate Apparel, the award-winning revival of The Normal Heart, and Thurgood starring Greg White, three mountings of St. Nicholas, Horton Foote's Dividing the Estate, Paul Robeson featuring Tony Sias, and Having Our Say, The Delaney Sisters':First One Hundred Years. Other area directing highlights include The Pitman Painters, Race, Wings (starring Dorothy Silver), The Diary of Anne Frank, and The History Boys all at Beck Center, The Dobama/Karamu collaborations of Caroline or Change, Fires in the Mirror, and The Grapes of Wrath, and Six Degrees of Separation for Charenton. Sarah spent 10 years in NYC performing, directing and developing educational theatre programs for Playwrights Horizons, Roundabout Theatre and The Henry Street Settlement. She returned to Cleveland in the 1980's to serve as Director of Education for Great Lakes Theatre and as Artistic Director of Karamu Theatre. She has taught acting at The Cleveland Play House and Cuyahoga Community College, and been a guest Director for Lakeland and Lorain Community Colleges and Baldwin Wallace University. Sarah dedicates her work to the memory of the artists we lost during the pandemic, and to the endurance of theatres like Ensemble! 

Becca Moselely (Production Stage Manager) is excited to be back for another season at Ensemble Theatre! In addition to serving as Ensemble's General Manager, she has served as the Resident Production Stage Manager/Assistant stage manager for many Ensemble shows, including ‘Describe the Night’, both parts of ‘Angels in America’, ‘A Raisin in the Sun’, ‘The Penelopiad’, ‘Intimate Apparel’, ‘The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail’, ‘Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo’, ‘The Iceman Cometh’, ‘Knock Me A Kiss’, ‘Anna Christie’, ‘Thurgood’, ‘Death of a Salesman’, and many more. She co-directed ‘Run, Kingsbury, Run’ and Assistant Directed ‘East of Eden’. She was onstage in past seasons at Ensemble as The Woman in ‘The River’, chorus leader/puppeteer in ‘Around the World in 80 Days’, Pea in ‘Jerusalem’, ‘The Phantom Tollbooth’ (Princess Rhyme/Ensemble,) and as Daisy Buchanan in ‘The Great Gatsby’. Other favorite credits not at Ensemble include Rosalind (As You Like It), Fabiana Cunningham (The Last Days of Judas Iscariot), Dorine (Tartuffe), Maggie (A Chorus Line), and Ophelia (The Horatio Project.) Most recently, Becca had the privilege to direct Ensemble's critically acclaimed season opener, ‘Lungs’. She thanks Ian and Celeste for building and nurturing a theatre that provides a constant supply of great scripts and people to bring them to life, her family for their love and support, and her husband Kyle for always believing in the magic. 

Jill Kenderes (Costumes) :: (she/her/hers) is happy to return to Ensemble Theatre after previously designing ‘Lungs’, ‘The River’, ‘Clybourne Park’, ‘Intimate Apparel’ and ‘Kindertransport’. She has been performing on stages in Northeast Ohio for seventeen years and is grateful for that journey leading to the costuming world. Her work has been seen at theatres around the area including Blank Canvas Theatre, Broadview Heights Spotlights, French Creek Theatre and Clague Playhouse. Thank you to Joe, Anthony and Samantha.

Ian Hinz (Set & Lighting Design) :: (he/him/his) is a graduate of Ohio University. Ian has worked professionally as a producer, award winning director, Light, Set, & Projection Designer, director of operations and theater educator for over twenty years in Ohio and New York. He is co-founder of the Ensemble StageWrights’ workshop, two-time winner of the Cleveland Critics’ Circle Best Director award and served as Artistic Director and Operations Manager for the city of Cleveland Heights’ historic Cain Park Amphitheater. He has worked in operations for The Ohio State University Jerome Schottenstein Center and the Cleveland State University Department of Music as a stage production specialist. He has produced off-off-broadway at the Gene Frankel Theater and worked in business development in the tech startup industry in New York City. He was the Executive Director of Raise the Roof for the Arts which operates The Historic Sidney Theatre in Sidney, Ohio from 2018 to 2023. He is excited for the next chapter as he steps into his new role as the General Manager of Cain Park for the City Cleveland Heights.