Discussion and Autobiographical Play: "Pieces of Me," with Bo Petersen
Tuesday, October 1, 2024 4:00–5:30 PM
- Location
- Description"Pieces of Me" is an autobiographical play that exposes the devastating emotional cost of living secretly as a mixed-race family under the vicious racist apartheid regime and the legacy it bore.
Bo Petersen's father, Benjamin “Benny” Johannes Petersen, made a fateful decision in 1944 that would change his life forever. After meeting and falling in love with Bo's mother, who was white, he decided to pass as white. Until then, he had been classified by the South African Government as "Colored." A Colored person was a person of mixed European ("white") and African ("black") or Asian ancestry, as officially defined by the South African government from 1950 to 1991.
Petersen’s parents had five children and were happily married for 62 years. They lived as a white family. Benny never told his wife or any of his children about his true identity. It was a secret that, if uncovered, would have had dire consequences for all of them. Benny could have faced 10 years' imprisonment, his marriage would have been annulled and his children taken away, reclassified and made wards of the State.
"Pieces of Me" explores how Bo's father's torturous decision to pass as white has shaped her life. The play captures universal themes of exclusion, threat, and silences experienced by marginalized people throughout the world.
"Pieces of Me" is Bo's renegotiation.
Speakers:
Welcome: Josefina Echavarría Alvarez, Professor of the Practice, Director of the Peace Accords Matrix (PAM)
Actor: Bo Petersen, South African actor, writer, director
Q&A: moderated by Laurie Nathan, Professor of the Practice of Mediation, Mediation Program Director
Originally published at kroc.nd.edu. - Websitehttps://events.nd.edu/events/2024/10/01/pieces-of-me-with-bo-petersen/