Desmond Tutu on Broadway

Moving from the pulpit to the stage, Desmond Tutu is appearing off-Broadway in a drama blasting the U.S. government's handling of Guantanamo Bay detainees. The retired South African prelate and Nobel laureate appeared Saturday night at a tiny theatre in Lower Manhattan, playing a judge in Guantanamo: Honor Bound to Defend Freedom. The play portrays the plight of British detainees at the U.S. naval base in Cuba. Tutu's engagement is limited to two performances; the second is Sunday afternoon. Standing onstage before a scene resembling holding pens at the detention camp, Tutu said he chose to appear in the play to highlight concerns about the treatment of the prisoners. "I hope this will help to put this particular issue in the public arena unambiguously so (the American) people can say, 'Is this what we want to support?' " Tutu told reporters before the play began. Weeks before the U.S. presidential election, Tutu is drawing attention to the treatment of hundreds of suspected terrorists being held by the United States. Last week, a Briton at Guantanamo said he was tortured and held in solitary confinement for almost two years by the American military - a fate also alleged by other detainees. The Pentagon says its policy is to treat all prisoners humanely. Tutu, 73, retired from office as Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town in 1996 and was named archbishop emeritus shortly after. He is viewed as an authority on human rights, having spent decades challenging South Africa's apartheid regime - activism for which he won a Nobel Peace Prize. Tutu compared the Pentagon's treatment of the Guantanamo prisoners to that of blacks under the racist apartheid regime. "They are using the same kind of methods used under apartheid. For me, it's deja vu," he said. Tutu noted that former South African president and fellow Nobel Peace Prize winner Nelson Mandela was considered a terrorist by the ruling Afrikaners. "Human rights are of universal validity or they are nothing," he said. Earlier this year, Tutu signed a petition on behalf of the families of Guantanamo prisoners urging the British government to demand that the United States immediately release four Britons being held. "We are appalled that revered conventions are being blatantly flouted such as the dictum that someone is presumed innocent until proven guilty and that everyone is entitled to legal defence of his choice," he wrote. The play was commissioned by London's Tricycle Theatre after five other British detainees were released. The work also is playing in London's West End. -Veronika Dubnik

Conan O'Brien popularity is increasing

Photo: Conan O'Brien 41, was twice the editor of the Harvard Lampoon, worked as a writer on Saturday Night Live for three and a half years and was the supervising producer of The Simpsons.

Conan O'Brien said he was looking forward to "being on at a time when people can see me" when he replaces Jay Leno as host of the Tonight show in five years. NBC announced last week that O'Brien, whose show airs at 12:35 a.m. Eastern, will move up an hour earlier when he takes over for Leno in 2009. The move by NBC - and endorsed by Leno - was to keep O'Brien from jumping to another network when his contract expired. "My parents have no idea what I do for a living," O'Brien joked Saturday night about his late, late gig. "They think I'm still in law school." O'Brien, who spoke at the New Yorker Festival, said he would likely leave New York, where his Late Night show is based, to Los Angeles, home of Tonight. "We have time to figure it out," he said. O'Brien, 41, was twice the editor of the Harvard Lampoon, worked as a writer on Saturday Night Live for three and a half years and was the supervising producer of The Simpsons. He debuted on Late Night in September 1993 after David Letterman moved to CBS for an earlier time slot when he was passed up for the Tonight show job. After some initial struggling, O'Brien's show attained success and came to dominate his time slot. Among its well-known features are Triumph the Comic Dog and In the Year 2000. It reaches 2.5 million viewers a night. O'Brien will become the fifth host of the 50-year-old Tonight show, following Leno, Johnny Carson, Jack Paar and Steve Allen. Leno has been the show's host since 1992. CP