After last year’s highly successful play The March, director and Dal law student Alayna Kolodziechuk returns with another powerful production, this time about the 1994 Rwandan Genocide.
Titled The Men Who Killed Me, the play is Ms. Kolodziechuk’s own creation, featuring the authentic experiences of both genocide survivors and perpetrators. The script is composed of first-hand eyewitness accounts that weave the story of Rwanda’s horrific civil war and massacre.
“There are a lot of weight to the words,” says Ms. Kolodziechuk.
A collective story
Actors Taylor Olson and Micha Cromwell jumped at another chance to learn something new while sharing an important message. Because The Men Who Killed Me is a compilation of survivor testimonies, each actor must play multiple roles.
“There is a full spectrum of emotion for each actor to go through,” says Mr. Olson.
The play is based on material from two printed collections of testimonials—The Men Who Killed Me and Machete Season—as well as transcripts of court proceedings, news footage, and interviews that Ms. Kolodziechuk conducted with two survivors who are living in Canada.
With so many stories to choose from, Ms. Kolodziechuk looked for common experiences and recurring themes such as sexual violence, women in conflict, international responsibility, survival and recovery, the cycle of violence, the spread of HIV/AIDS and the estrangement of neighbours.
HÂţ» first-year Deves Matwawana feels that acting in the play is “as close as you can get to walking in [the survivors’] shoes.”
A learning experience
First-year student Katerina Bakolias became interested in the production because she felt like she had “lived in a bubble” and wanted to experience something out of her comfort zone.
“Nothing I ever learned in high school was like what Alayna has taught me,” she says.
The stage will be very bare, placing the focus on the stories. However, there will be songs performed by actors Chelsea Arseneault and Jacob Sampson, with live music provided by local musicians.
The play is a departure for Ms. Arseneault, a second-year acting student who has usually done musical theatre in the past. “It’s hard to read the words,” she says, “but I don’t want to become too comfortable with the words so that they don’t mean anything.”
The production team includes Michelle Squires, Daniel Pink, Jalana Lewis and Chelsea Roy, all of who are law students at HÂţ».
A chance to help
Everyone involved in the production agrees that the most touching aspect is the fact that the survivors are grateful “to know that people on the other side of the world care about their stories.”
“They’ve been so brave to share what they’ve shared,” says Mr. Olson. “Now we have to do it justice.”
There will be a guestbook at the performances so that audience members can pass on messages to survivors.
All proceeds from ticket sales will go to the , which works in Africa to fight HIV/AIDS—a disease that affects many Rwandan Genocide survivors. In order to donate 100 per cent of profits to this worthy cause, the play has depended on local support for production costs - from businesses to the university.
Ms. Roy finds the community’s interest in the play rewarding. “It would be nice to do something happy, but I’m proud of the fact that we’re telling different stories that are hard for people to hear.”
The Men Who Killed Me runs at The Bus Stop Theatre, 203 Gottingen Street, March 12-14 at 8pm. Tickets are still available for March 12 and 13 at $12 for students and $15 for general admission. Tickets can be purchased at Venus Envy or from Chelsey Roy (chelseyroy@gmail.com; [902] 223-5748). For more information visit .