RACE RELATIONS: Gloucester Stage continues its season with “Master Harold” . . . and the boys, by Athol Fugard, through Aug. 12. 

Set in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, in 1950, “Master Harold” is a political and personal coming-of-age story in which racism poisons the relationship between a white teenager and his family’s black servants.

Benny Sato Ambush directs a cast featuring Johnny Lee Davenport as Sam, Anthony Willis Jr. as Willie, and Peter Mark Kendall as Hally, all in their Gloucester Stage debuts.

First produced at the Yale Repertory Theater in early 1982, “Master Harold” . . . and the boys opened on Broadway in May 1982.  Despite being officially banned by the government in Fugard’s native South Africa, the play ran for more than 300 performances on Broadway and went on to be produced in other major cities including London.

Fugard has been working in the theater as a playwright, director, and actor since the mid-1950s in South Africa, England, and the United States.

Performances are 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays; 3 p.m. Saturdays; and 4 p.m. Sundays. A discussion with the artists follows today’s performance.

Tickets are $40, $35 for students and senior citizens. The theater is air-conditioned.

Gloucester Stage holds its third annual Summer Soiree benefit next Sunday, which includes the 4 p.m. performance of “Master Harold” and a post-show reception. Pianist Brian J.Patton leads a Broadway cabaret sing-along. There are refreshments and an open bar. Tickets are $125 per person.

Call 978-281-4433 or visit gloucesterstage.org. 

LOVING SHAKESPEARE: Two local young women are participating in Commonwealth Shakespeare’s apprentice program, performing on Boston Common and in parks around the city.

Ashley Croce of Peabody (top right) and Anneke Reich (below right) of Medford are part of the cast of “Coriolanus,” Shakespeare on the Common, through Aug. 12.

They also have larger solo roles in “Shakespeare on Love,” a one-hour collection of scenes and music performed as part of the Tour of the Parks program.

Croce and Reich are among 20 young actors selected for the competitive apprentice program. Six days a week for eight weeks, they are engaged in a training program that has them working alongside theater professionals and participating in daily skill-building classes.

Croce, who plays Katherine in “Shakespeare on Love,” is pursuing a degree in the actor training program at The Hartt School at the University of Hartford.

Reich plays Julia in “Shakespeare on Love.” In the fall, she will be a senior at Brandeis University, majoring in theater and American studies.

Performances are 2 p.m. Saturday at the Parkman Bandstand, Boston Common; 2 p.m. next Sunday, Georges Island; 6 p.m. Aug 7, Christopher Columbus Park; noon to 4 p.m. Aug. 13, Family Day on Boston Common.  Admission is free. 

Visit commshakes.org. 

AUTHOR’S CORNER: Cecile Pineda of Berkeley, Calif., discusses her book “Devil’s Tango, How I Learned the Fukushima Step by Step,” at 7 p.m. on Aug. 8 at Jabberwocky Bookshop in Newburyport. The book chronicles the recent meltdowns of nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan

IN LOCAL GALLERIES: The Provident Bank’s Lobby for the Arts in Hampton, N.H., presents “New Hampshire Surf Scenes,” an exhibit by local photographers and avid surfers Ed O’Connell, Ralph Fatello, John Carden, Ryan Denning, Ryan Scura, and Dylan Ladds, through the end of August. A reception with the artists is 5:30-7 p.m.  Thursday. . . . The Newburyport Art Association celebrates the 10th anniversary of the Laura Coombs Hills gallery with a retrospective of the artist’s work. Hills was born in Newburyport in 1859 and was a successful artist of miniatures and floral pastels. Her work can be found in and private collections, including the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. She continued to paint and exhibit new works through 1947, when she was 88.  The works in the retrospective are mostly on loan from local collections and many have not been viewed since her death in 1952.  Sandy Lepore of Lepore Fine Arts in Newburyport gives a gallery talk at 6 p.m. Aug. 9, followed by a reception.