Blood Knot: Colman Domingo and Scott Shepherd to star

Tony Award-nominee Colman Domingo (The Scottsboro Boys) and Obie Award-winner Scott Shepherd (Gatz) are to star in the Signature Theatre's new production of Blood Knot, written and directed by Athol Fugard, opening on 16 Feb 2012, following previews from 31 Jan 2012, and closing on 11 Mar 2012.

Blood Knot is the inaugural production in the Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre at the new Signature Center.

Between patchwork walls in a one-room shack, two biracial South African brothers grapple with crippling poverty and lonely isolation. Morris (Scott Shepherd), the punctilious force that keeps their room tidy, is light-skinned enough to pass for white, but dark-skinned Zach (Colman Domingo) feels imprisoned by his job at a whites-only park. When they find themselves on some dangerous new ground, the brothers must come face to face with the Blood Knot between them.

Press notes describe the play as: "Athol Fugard's revolutionary breakthrough play is a searing indictment of apartheid and one of his most celebrated works."

Blood Knot will feature set design by Christopher H. Barreca, costume design by Susan Hilferty, lighting by Stephen Strawbridge and sound by Brett Jarvis.

Athol Fugard's Blood Knot is one of the South African playwright's early plays, and his first play produced in the USA. The play had it's American premiere Off-Broadway in 1964, directed by John Berry, it starred J.D. Cannon as 'Morris' and James Earl Jones as' Zachariah.'

It was then revived Off-Broadway in 1980 in a Roundabout Theatre production that was directed by Suzanne Shepherd, and starred Danny L. Glover as 'Zachariah' and Cotter Smith as 'Morris.'

The play had its Broadway premiere in 1985 at the John Golden Theatre, directed by Fugard. Fugard also starred as 'Morris,' alongside Zakes Mokae's 'Zachariah.' The production was nomoinated for the 1986 Tony Award for Best Play.