A series of talkbacks will follow select performances of Catherine Filloux’s award-winning play Lemkin’s House. Jean Randich directs the return engagement of the show, which will play through September 13-October 8 at the McGinn-Cazale Theatre (2162 Broadway)
Presented by Body Politic Theater and Vital Theatre Company, the show’s official press opening is set for September 17.
Talkback participants will include former Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger; Human Rights activist Dr. William Korey; film-maker Kavery Kaul (The Long Way from Home); and others.
Lemkin’s House is billed as "a thought-provoking drama about the horrors of genocide," according to press notes. "Winner of the 2006 Peace Writing Award from the OMNI Center for Peace, the play centers on Raphael Lemkin, the Polish lawyer who invented the word "genocide" and dedicated his life to having it declared an international crime. In Ms. Filloux’s play, Lemkin is bombarded by people bursting into his home with complaints of more recent genocides in Rwanda and Bosnia. Lemkin must recognize that even his law is not enough to change the world. He weighs his ethical accomplishments against his guilt for deserting his own doomed family, ultimately seeking not only justice but also forgiveness. In Lemkin’s House it is the living who haunt the dead."
Lemkin’s House had its U.S. premiere at the 78th Street Theatre Lab in February, 2006, opening to strong critical and audience response. John Daggett returns as Raphael Lemkin. He is joined by original cast members Christopher Edwards, Laura Flanagan, Christopher McHale, and Connie Winston. The production also reunites its original design team: Sue Rees (set design); Matthew Adelson (lighting design); Camille Assaf (costume design); Robert Murphy (sound design).
The talkbacks are as follows (additional talkbacks and panelists TBA):
Wednesday, September 13: Panel on Darfur
Former Manhattan Borough President, Ruth Messinger, President of American Jewish World Service which is currently involved in seeking justice for the Darfur genocide; John Prendergast, Senior Advisor of International Crisis Group; and Jayne E. Fleming, California Lawyer of the Year for Pro Bono Representation of Women victimized through violence.
Thursday, September 14: A Peaceful Tomorrow Panel: Genocide and Reconciliation
H.E Widhya Chem, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Cambodia to the United Nations; Jean Baptiste Ntakirutimana, Country Director of Orphans of Rwanda, Inc.; Father Michael Lapsley, Institute for Healing of Memories, South Africa; and moderator Adele Welty, Steering Committee, Peaceful Tomorrows.
Friday, September 15: Panel in conjunction with 9/17 "Save Darfur" Rally
Jim Fussell, Executive Director of Prevent Genocide International; and Mohamed Adam Yahya, Chairman, Damanga: Coalition for Freedom and Democracy.
Saturday, September 16: Women’s Commission on Refugees and Children: Darfur
Megan McKenna, Senior Coordinator, Media and Communications (Education in Emergencies); Sarah Chynoweth, Program Manager in the Reproductive Health Program; and moderator Carolyn Makinson, Executive Director of Women’s Commission.
Wednesday, September 20: Understanding the Perpetrator: Genocidal Mania — The Psychology of Mass Hatred and Treating the Victims Gerald Martone, Director of Humanitarian Affairs at the International Rescue Committee; and Ruth Rogers, "Easing the Impact of Trauma through Integrative Medicine."
Thursday, September 21: What Have We Learned?
David Scheffer, Former US Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues; Juan E. M
