The Syringa Tree

By Pamela Gien
Directed by Michael Evan Haney

January 28 – February 27, 2010

Winner of the 2001 Obie Award for BEST PLAY OF THE YEAR, hailed by the New York Times as "instantly engaging…a thoroughly persuasive transport to an exotic place and time," and lauded by critics and audiences around the world, The Syringa Tree is an unforgettable night in the theatre.

The Syringa Tree is a personal, deeply evocative story of an abiding love between two families, one black, one white, and the two children that are born into their shared household in the early 1960's South Africa. Seen first through the eyes of a child, six-year old Elizabeth Grace, as she tries with humor and sometimes palpable fear, to make sense of the chaos, magic and darkness of Africa, we follow their destinies in a story that spans four generations, from early apartheid to the first democratic elections in 1994. In what the New Yorker called a tour de force performance, all 28 roles are played by one actress, the remarkable Shannon Koob.