Recipient of a Drama Desk Award and a Tony Award nomination for Best Play in 1982, 'Master Harold' ... and the Boys is considered Athol Fugard's masterpiece, valued for both its universal themes of humanity and its skilled theater craft. Set in South Africa during the 1950s era of apartheid, it depicts how institutionalized racism can become absorbed by those who live under it. A white 17-year-old spends time with two African workers he has known all his life, and through their conversations on one rainy day we see what unites and divides them. The play's beautiful and haunting dialogue and message of hope also inspire the recognition that there is much work to be done to bring people of different races together.