Playwright

Athol
Fugard

Athol Fugard (June 11, 1932 – March 8, 2025) started working in the theatre as a playwright, director, and actor in the late 1950s in apartheid era South Africa. He is the author of over thirty plays that have been staged in South Africa, United States (regionally and on Broadway), and across the globe. Notable works include Blood Knot; Hello and Goodbye; People Are Living There; Boesman and Lena; Statements After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act; Sizwe Banzi is Dead;Dimetos; The Island; A Lesson from Aloes; “Master Harold”...and the Boys; The Road to Mecca; A Place with the Pigs; My Children! My Africa!; Playland; Valley Song; The Captain’s Tiger; Sorrows and Rejoicings; Exits and Entrances; and The Train Driver. As an actor he was seen on stage in South Africa, London, Broadway, and Off-Broadway. Film appearances include The Road to Mecca, Ghandi, The Killing Fields, Meetings with Remarkable Men, Marigolds in August, Boesman and Lena, and The Guest. He wrote the novel Tsotsi, which was adapted for the screen and won the 2005 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. A collection of his notebooks has been published along with his autobiographical memoir Cousins. In 2011 he received a Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre.