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Mbongeni Ngema: A Theater of the Ancestors

Mbongeni Ngema, the South African writer, director, and actor, has created fewer than a dozen works for the theater, yet those works, including Woza Albert! (1982), co-written with Percy Mtwa and Barney Simon; Asinamali! (1986); and Sarafina! (1987) have all challenged and captivated traditional theater-goers and reached out to people who have never before set foot in the theater. With the adaptation of Sarafina! to film and its international distribution, Ngema's work has reached numbers of people unimaginable to even the most successful playwrights. In an era when the commercial theater is characteristically devoid of politics, why Ngema? Ngema's work is a consistent voice of criticism of the South African government, yet he brought a new audience to the American theater. His work contains an unyielding message of black liberation, yet it appeals to the non theater-goer and the critical establishment alike. Why?