About
the Play:
Winner of the 2001 Obie Award for Best Play
The Syringa Tree is a full-length drama by Pamela Gien.
The celebrated multi-generational play about two families in
apartheid South Africa – one black, one white – connected by love
but separated by racism. The Syringa Tree tells the dramatic,
heartbreaking and inspiring tale of a young woman's journey into
adulthood.
The Syringa Tree is a personal, deeply evocative story of
an abiding love between two families, one white, one black, and the
two children that are born into their shared household in the white
suburbs Johannesburg during the turbulent 1960s in South Africa. The story is told
from the point of view of Elizabeth Grace, or Lizzie, a privileged
six-year-old white girl who doesn't yet understand the tensions and
conflicts in the household shared with her parents, her brother and her beloved black nanny Salamina. Lizzie likes to sit on the swing hanging from the safe haven of a giant syringa tree in her backyard; the same tree in which those
without "special paper" hide from the police and around
which black activists hold secret meetings at night. After
Salamina gives birth to a daughter, Lizzie and her family are
responsible for keeping the newborn baby hidden. Lizzie tries with
humour and palpable fear to make sense of the chaos and comes to
learn about the harsh realities of the rigid system of racism and
segregation known as apartheid. The story of these families'
destinies spans four generations, from the early apartheid in the
1940s to the present-day free South Africa. As originally written and
often performed by
Pamela Gien, and directed by
Larry Moss,
one actress plays all twenty-four characters, black and white, male
and female, young and old.
The Syringa Tree may also be
performed by a company of actors, playing several roles or not as
desired.
The Syringa Tree began as an acting exercise by Pamela
Gien in the Los Angeles acting studio run by Larry Moss,
the well-known acting coach. It premiered in 1999 at A Contemporary
Theatre (ACT) in Seattle, and opened in New York at Playhouse 91 in
2000, winning the Obie Award for Best Play while breaking
off-Broadway box-office records. It has been produced by countless
major theatre companies to enthusiastic audiences across North
America and Europe.
Cast: 1 female (or flexible casting)
What people say:
"Instantly engaging, exotic,
complex, deeply shocking…a thoroughly persuasive transport to a
time and a place…stun[s] with the power of a gut punch…."
— The New York Times
"A tour-de-force solo
drama…emotionally powerful without being overtly political;
audiences regularly emerge from the theater crying." — The
New Yorker
"…The Syringa Tree
is a powerful play." — Wall Street Journal
"Astonishing…affecting…[with]
a dramatic and heartbreaking conclusion…A deceptive sweet
simplicity haunts The Syringa Tree…." —
Associated Press
"The work is a virtuoso
piece…." — New York Daily News
"Tragic and funny, it is much more than a riveting exposé of South Africa in its darkest hour. It is a play full of humanity, with an emotional punch that leaves the audience awakened and changed." — Backstage
About the Playwright:
Pamela Gien is an American playwright and actress who was
born and raised in South Africa. Her acting credits include roles
ranging from soaps to Shakespeare. She is the recipient of the Obie
Award for Best Play 2001.