Pieces of Me chat back

Now based in the USA, formidable actor, Bo Petersen is back in South Africa to present her play, Pieces of Me to local audiences and school children in particular.  Recently nominated in the Best Solo Performance category in the Naledi Theatre Awards (Gauteng), Bo invited me to facilitate a talk-back session with her audience at the show at the Avalon Theatre on Saturday afternoon, 28 February.  The true story is about Bo's father who she discovered in her late teens was actually 'coloured' in terms of apartheid's classifications, which discovery led her eventually to pursue her broader family.  Her cousin, Chris Petersen, is now an integral part of her show, providing musical interludes.  Bo's story resonated with my own as my dad's family was separated by the Population Registration Act with three siblings classified white, and three were classified coloured.  Bo was a few years ahead of me at UCT Drama School and while she could pursue her studies by choice, I had to apply for permit from the Department of Coloured Affairs to study at UCT, then a 'white' university.  My permit subject - the subject not offered at UWC which allowed me to attend UCT - was drama....