S. African actress stages extraordinary double life

Have You Seen Zandile? A play written and directed by Gcina Mhlope. With sets and lightingby Patrick Kerwin and costumes by Glenn Billings. Presented by theChicago Theatre Company, 500 E. 67 St., 493-1305. Through June 5.

Watching South African actress Gcina Mhlope in "Have You SeenZandile?" is like peeking into the bedroom of a young girl. You canhear her talking to herself in the most uninhibited and imaginativeway, as she studies her image in a mirror and puzzles out all thethings she has to know in order to grow up.

There is no literal mirror in this play, but with herbroad-boned doll-like face, the slightly gawky body of an adolescent,and the vitality and …