STAGE

A rare chance for Johannesburg audiences to see a black actor in a play (John Kani as the Moor inShakespeare’s “Othello”) bore unexpected results. The New York Times reports that the play’s recent five-week run at the Market Theater fostered the lively debate on political and racial issues expected by the downtown theater’s customarily white audiences--and also brought blacks into the theater in record numbers, with audiences averaging 40% black. “Had we known how successful it was going to be we would have let it run for three months,” a theater spokeswoman said.