<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><!--StartFragment--> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:36.0pt;font-family:MarkerFelt-Wide; color:#0019FF">Theater Voices</span><span style="font-size:20.0pt;font-family: MarkerFelt-Wide;color:#0019FF"> will present a staged reading of THE</span><span style="font-size:24.0pt;font-family:MarkerFelt-Wide;color:#0011FF"> ROAD TO MECCA by Athol Fugard, </span><span style="font-size:20.0pt;font-family:MarkerFelt-Wide; color:#0011FF"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>directed by Eileen Schuyler. </span><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span> <o:p></o:p></span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span></span><span style="font-family:"Arial Rounded MT Bold""><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;"> </span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;">Performances of THE ROAD TO MECCA, a penetrating study of the role of the artist in any society, will be given at Steamer No. 10 Theatre, 500 Western Avenue in Albany, on Friday, April 3 at 8:00 PM; Saturday, April 4 at 3:00PM and 8:00 PM; and Sunday, April 5 at 3:00 PM. Admission is free.</span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;"><o:p></o:p></span></font></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-family:"Arial Rounded MT Bold""><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;"> </span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;"><o:p></o:p></span></font></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-family:"Arial Rounded MT Bold""><span style="mso-tab-count:1"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;"> </span></font></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;"> </span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;">In this elegant drama, set in South Africa, an elderly Boer woman faces repression by a narrow-minded minister who despises the eccentric collection of sculptures she has created, and which she refers to as her own “Mecca.” The resulting conflict raises questions not only about the poignancy of age, but also about the role of the artist, in particular how creativity is inextricably tied to moral and political liberty. Artists, Fugard suggests, are frightening to those who would suppress freedom because to be an artist is to embody the very nature of freedom.</span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;"><o:p></o:p></span></font></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%"><span style="font-family:"Arial Rounded MT Bold""><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;"> </span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;"><o:p></o:p></span></font></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%"><span style="font-family:"Arial Rounded MT Bold""><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;">Athol Fugard of South Africa is one of the world’s most acclaimed playwrights, who has written many powerful dramas about the tragedy of apartheid in his native country. His works include such masterpieces as </span></font><u><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;">Master Harold … and the Boys</span></font></u><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;"> and </span></font><u><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;">Blood Knot.</span></font></u><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;"> </span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;"><o:p></o:p></span></font></span></p> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial Rounded MT Bold""><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;">More information at </span></font></span><a href="http://www.theatervoices.org/"><span style="font-family:"Arial Rounded MT Bold""><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;">http://www.theatervoices.org/</span></font></span></a><span style="font-family:"Arial Rounded MT Bold""><o:p></o:p></span></div> <!--EndFragment-->
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