Dogs of Rwanda at the Englert

Iowa City - In the Raw returns to the Englert stage this Friday with Dogs of Rwanda.

Dogs of Rwanda is the story of David, a Midwestern teenager who travels to Uganda on a Christian missionary trip and finds himself on the border of Rwanda at the moment the country explodes in the 1994 Rwandan Civil War. Twenty years later when David releases a book about what happened on that trip, he gets a note from a friend that says, "You didn't tell them everything."

Dogs of Rwanda Both Personally and Universally Compelling

Sean Christopher Lewis

Cedar Rapids - The people of Rwanda have a very homespun way of dealing with crime and punishment, despite the many brutal atrocities that occurred during the 1994 genocide. They meet, in a large open space, victim and accused, for the Gacaca, literally: "the short grass where we all gather as a village." And then they tell the story. The accused air their misdeeds before the public, who they are, and who they killed, and how. The simple, bold act of speaking the truth out aloud, more than jail sentences or reparations, becomes an important step towards giving closure to this war-torn community. David (Sean Christopher Lewis, who also wrote the piece) knows about this custom, just as he knows first hand about some of the terrible things that happened that spring. He's even written a book about them. But his book hasn't given him the closure he desperately needs, because it doesn't tell the truth, not the real, messy truth about what happened, and he knows it. So he has a story to tell us. His own short grass is a small black box theatre, his court a video camera and a few rows of strangers in chairs. Dogs of Rwanda is a story of guilt, forgiveness, and the healing power of owning your own past. It plays this weekend at CSPS.

Dogs of Rwanda Opens January 17

Cedar Rapids - Working Group Theatre would like to invite you to Dogs of Rwanda, the newest solo piece from Artistic Director Sean Christopher Lewis. Originally developed at the Ojai Playwrights Conference (with Conan O'Brien and Mad Men Star Aaron Staton) it now comes to CSPS/Legion Arts in Cedar Rapids.

Dogs of Rwanda tells the story of David, an American writer who can not forget what he saw as a young missionary in Rwanda 20 years ago. He writes a book on his experiences and he’s thrust back into the spring of 1994 and his fateful meeting with a young boy on the run from genocide. That boy’s name was God’s Blessing. In 2013, David now sits in a hotel room in Rwanda, traversing time, literature, memory and regret to make sense of what he’s seen and done. Hopefully he can forgive himself for what he could and could not do for God’s Blessing.

Dogs of Rwanda plays January 17th and 18th at 8pm at CSPS. Tickets available here.


Source: WGT press release