Performing Arts

"Dog and Wolf"

When Jasmina, a political refugee seeking asylum in the U.S., suddenly disappears, her wheelchair-bound lawyer must track her down. Who is the dog? Who is the wolf? A psychological and political play of intrigue, love and pursuit.

Written by Catherine Filloux
Read by Mo'olelo Performing Arts Company.
Post Show Discussion by Catherine Filloux, facilitated by Seema Sueko.

"Maria Kizito"

At the convent of Sovu in Rwanda in April 1994, a 29-year-old nun named Maria Kizito did the unthinkable. As Hutus fought to purge Tutsis from their devastated nation, thousands fled to Maria's convent in Sovu. She opened the doors to give them sanctuary.

And then she arranged for their slaughter.

Currently in prison in Belgium for these murders, Maria was a woman of faith, conviction and humor. For her, the line between devotion and dementia snapped. Based on shockingly true events, this explosive play resurrects the story of this woman and her nation. It is a story that touches the capacity for madness in us all.

Written by Eric Ehn
Performed by MOXIE Theatre

With support from STAND

Women Who Light the Dark

Around the world, local women are helping one another tackle the problems that darken their lives — domestic violence, sex trafficking, war, poverty, illiteracy, discrimination, inequality, malnutrition, disease. These women may lack material resources, but they possess a wealth of an even more precious resource: imagination. And their imaginations light the dark. They produce plays, compose and perform poetry, turn on the music and start line dances, perform puppet shows, design post cards, stage street skits. And they use creative strategies.

Listen as women in 15 countries on five continents tell their own stories in their own words. Discover a new kind of collective leadership as staff, donors and beneficiaries collaborate on - and solve - intractable problems that face women and their families.

Written and presented by Paola Gianturco

Silence of God and Other Plays

Catherine Filloux's plays explore social justice from a global perspective, with a focus on Western liberalism. Themes of "honor killing," the Khmer Rouge genocide, human responsibility in the face of lawlessness and women's rights are treated with a lyricism that is at once anguished, brutal and poetic. In her plays, Filloux places the personal in the political using imaginative and evocative theatricality. Her characters look through to other worlds, illuminating the complexity of different cultures and the difficulty of seeking justice.

A collection of five new plays by Filloux, with introductions for each play by the following leading scholars, who provide context and commentary on the range of Filloux's drama: Elizabeth Becker, an award-winning New York Times and Washington Post reporter, and senior foreign editor of NPR; David Scheffer, U.S. Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues from 1997 to 2001; Chivy Sok, educator, trainer and researcher on human rights. Chivy and her family members are survivors of the Khmer Rouge Killing Fields; Serap Erincin, journalist and scholar from Turkey; Carol Martin, Series Editor of Global Acts, Director of Theatre Studies, New York University.

"Lemkin's House" is a surreal portrait of Raphael Lemkin, the man who coined the word genocide. In "The Beauty Inside," Filloux places the audience in the midst of a culture war after an attempted 'honor killing'. In "Eyes of the Heart," a Cambodian refugee woman suffers from psychosomatic blindness. "Silence of God" depicts America's complicity through the eyes of a journalist, at the end of the Pol Pot leadership. "Mary and Myra" is a play about one woman (Mary Todd Lincoln) damned by her reputation, saved by one (Myra Badwell) who was damned into obscurity.

Followed by an open discussion with Catherine Filloux and Chivy Sok
With support from Voices of Women and STAND

Updated on 9/27/2009