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MICHAEL LESSAC is founder and Artistic Director of the acclaimed Colonnades Theatre Lab in New York City, where he has produced and directed over thirty productions and maintained and trained a company of eighteen actors, three playwrights and four composers. Interspersed with his work at the Colonnades, Mr Lessac has directed at theatres of former Yugoslavia, the Guthrie Theatre in Minnesota, the Denver Theatre Centre, the Arena Stage and the Kennedy Centre in Washington D.C, and the Public Theatre in New York City. He wrote and directed the feature film House of Cords, starring Tommy Lee Jones and Kathleen Turner, and has directed over 200 television shows and sixteen pilots including Taxi, Newhart, Grace Under fire, The Drew

shoko. Masekela also played in the orchestra of the musical King Kong, and for a time was married to its star, Miriam Makeba. in 1960 Masekela left South Africa for the USA. He was assisted by Harry Belafonte and Dizzy Gillespie and studied at the Royal Academy of Music and at the Manhattan School of Music During the 60s he recorded for the MGM, Mercury & Verve labels, and set up his own label, Chisa, in California. In 1968 his song "Grazing in the Grass" topped the charts in the USA (it has sold over 4 million copies to date), and that same year he also sold out Carnegie Hall, a remarkable feat for a black South African musician in exile in the USA in the 60s. Since going into exile Masekela collaborated with a host of top musicians. These included Monk Montgomery & The Crusaders (early 70s), Fela Kuti & Africa '7O (in London), Herb Albert (late 70s), and homeboys Dudu Pukwana and Ntshoko (on his album "Home Is Where The Music Is"). He also featured on albums by artists as diverse as The Byrds (1967), Lamont Dozier (1977), Randy Crawford (1980), Eric Gale (1981), Aswad (1986) and Manu Dibango (1987). In the 70s he toured Guinea with the Ghanaian band Hedzollah Zoundz and recorded with them in California and Africa (with guests The Crusaders & Pattti Austen). In the 80s he spent time in Zimbabwe and Botswana, where he recorded with The Kalahari Band. In the mid 80s he played a prominent part in Paul Simon's Graceland Tour. Up until this point Masekela had always been closely aligned with the African National Congress (his sister, Barbara Masekela, headed the ANC's Department of Arts & Culture), but he broke ranks by publicly questioning the cultural boycott. Following the political changes in South Africa he returned to his home place of Alexandra Township, an act characteristic of'Bra Hugh', as he is affectionately known, as he could have easily settled in a prosperous community (at home or abroad). Masekela continues to produce excellent music, embracing new technologies whilst simultaneously retaining and radiating an indisputable authenticity bom out of his vast musical and life experience. His influence has been immense, and his songs have been recorded by some of South Africa's finest, including The African Jazz Pioneers and Miriam Makeba. That gesture from Father Huddleston changed the face of world music forever. ACTING OUT THE CHANGES Percy Zvomuya speaks to director Michael Lessac about theatre confronting pain All changed, changed utterly: A terrible beauty is born,"Wß Yeats wrote in the poem Easter 1916 about the Irish nationalist uprising. Those are the lines that came to mind as I watched the play Truth in Translation, a production that seamlessly captures the experiences of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission interpreters. It is a beautiful production, but a different kind of beauty that does not have anything at all to do with being pretty.

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