John Kani and Winston Ntshona
John Bonisile Kani was born on August 30, 1943 in Port Elizabeth and raised with nine siblings. Kani served as a janitor and an engine assembly line worker at the Ford car plant in South Africa, and a welfare assistant with the Bantu Administration in New Brighton. Kani joined Athol Fugard and the Serpent Players in 1965. He originated roles in the productions of Sizwe Banzi is Dead, The Island, “Master Harold” … and the Boys, and My Children! My Africa! for which he received an Olivier nomination. Kani has also received the Avanti Hall of Fame Award from the South African film, television and advertising industries, the 2000 Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation Award, a special Obie award in 2003 for his extraordinary contribution to theatre in the United States, he was voted 51st in the Top 100 Great South Africans in 2004, the Olive Schreiner Prize in 2005, and in 2006 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Cape Town. Kani is now the executive trustee of the Market Theatre Foundation, founder and director of the Market Theatre Laboratory, and chairman of the National Arts Council of South Africa.
Winston Zola Ntshona was born on October 6, 1941 in King William’s Town and then moved with his uncle to a Johannesburg township with his mother and siblings. Later he moved to a larger township house in New Brighton. Ntshona was brought into the Serpent Players in 1971 by John Kani. He originated roles in Sizwe Bansi is Dead and The Island. Ntshona has notably performed in the 1989 film A Dry White Season, the London theatre run of Edward Albee’s The Death of Bessie Smith and Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. Ntshona continues to live in South Africa as an actor and as chairman of the Eastern Cape Cultural Units Arts Agency. He was honored with a Living Treasures Award from South Africa’s National Arts Council. He is the recipient of an honorary doctorate from the University of Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Kani and Ntshona both received the 1975 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for The Island and Sizwe Bansi is Dead.
–Kelli Marino, Production Dramaturg
