By William R. Wineke
Special to Channel 3000

SPRING GREEN, Wis. -- Anyone who has spent any of the past 10 years attending American Players Theatre productions knows that cast member Colleen Madden is Spring Green's version of actress Meryl Streep.

Madden makes any role she plays, from star to obscure walk-on, alive and has long been a major asset in the Madison area's artistic scene. But she outdoes herself in her current role as star of a one-woman play, "The Syringa Tree," which tells the story of four generations of two South African families. Madden plays all the roles, more than two-dozen of them, alternating from six-year-old Lizzie Grace, to her black nannie, Salamina, to her aged grandfather, George, sometimes within the same sentence.

She is on stage for approximately 95 minutes without a break, moving constantly, switching voices and physical mannerisms with each character. It is an absolutely astounding performance.

And a moving one.

The play begins in the South Africa of 1963 and is based, loosely, on the true story of its author, Pamela Green. We follow the Grace Family and Salamina's family as they try to hide Salamina's baby, Moliseng, who doesn't have papers to be in the Johannesburg suburbs and who will be taken from her mother if she is discovered.

We follow the families as Lizzie's father, a physician, searches area hospitals after Moliseng is taken to one and disappears. We follow the families as Lizzie's grandfather, a kindly farmer with good relations with black South Africans, is murdered in his home and as Salamina leaves the family because she feels shame for what her "people" have done (actually, the suspicion is that the murder is carried out by a Rhodesian terrorist as was the suspicion of the suspect who murdered Green's own grandfather). His is not the only sacrifice, but the play ends in peace after South Africa overthrows Apartheid.

At any rate, what begins with the audience marveling at Madden's stamina and technical abilities, soon turns into a gripping drama and the audience forgets about Madden and concentrates on the story.

The APT's Touchstone Theatre -- an indoor, air-conditioned facility with a capacity of about 330 -- is a good venue for "The Syringa Tree." Playgoers are close enough to Madden to appreciate her facial expressions and the subtleties of her movement.

The set consists only of a patchwork backdrop and a swing that is, presumably, connected to a syringa tree, a fruit tree with berries that are, according to the encyclopedia, poisonous, though it is not obvious in the play that the same holds true for the berries of Lizzie Grace's tree. Trees aside, this is a play that you really should see. It will be performed on various dates through October.