Project Work
Umukino Umuganura, Mutabaruka
Rwanda
Mutabaruka was commissioned by the government at the beginning of the NURC to create a national theatre production to educate citizens about the Gacaca courts. In response, Mutabaruka created the production Umukino w'Umuganura (The performance of the First Harvest). Because the company specialises in the use of traditional dance, song and proverbs, Umukino w'Umuganura uses these to portray Gacaca as a 'pre-colonial' mediation system located in Rwanda's mythic, unified past. The performance includes a warrior dance, which reiterates a tradition of patriotic servitude to the Rwandan nation. This servitude to Rwanda also constructs a pre-colonial unity where the country's three ethnic groups would fight alongside one another. To make the performance as accessible as possible, the Director, Kalisa Rugano states, "We used language that is familiar, with comic expression. The style included poetic language, with proverbs in Kinyarwanda and had audience participation." The language in the performance was familiar, the performance sought to be entertaining and it invited audience members to participate in the action, thus inviting them to participate in Gacaca itself.
Mutabaruka was created in 1980 and was formed as 'a movement that struggled for Rwanda as Tutsi exiles - as a quest for identity, rights, and citizenship.'
Mashirika Performing and Creative Arts Company
Uganda and Rwanda
The company Mashirika was created by director Hope Azeda at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda in July 1997. After the genocide, Azeda brought Mashirika to her native Rwanda and staged the production Firestones of Sehutsitwa, which explicitly promoted reconciliation between the Hutu, Tutsi, and Twa ethnic groups. Mashirika's other projects include the film The Liberating Truth (commissioned by John Hopkins University) that sensitised Rwandans to the Gacaca process and mobilised the Gacaca project. A more contemporary play, Rwanda My Hope, was commissioned for the 10th commemoration of the genocide. It includes a huge cast of over 1000 performers, including 600 children, a 200 person choir and 200 dancers. Although the play was created as a dance of mourning that depicts the genocide, it ends with a message of hope and a vision of a united future for Rwanda. Rwanda My Hope has enjoyed international success, and recently, it was funded as an educational drama program in the UK to discuss genocide with schools and organizations.
In addition to plays about genocide, Mashirika also addresses other social problems including malaria, health awareness, HIV/AIDS, domestic violence, and human rights. The company's style of performance incorporates modern dance, traditional dance, and theatre.
Iryo Nabonye, National University of Rwanda
Kigali, Rwanda
Developed by the drama and arts department at the National University of Rwanda, Iryo Nabonye (What I Saw) was performed originally for the 10th commemoration of the genocide in April of 2004. The play was devised through a forum with 20 artists (musicians, playwrights, and dancers) that were brought together to better understand the genocide. According to the director Aimable Twahirwa, the participating artists were mixed in terms of their experiences related to the genocide, and their links to the former ethnic labels Hutu, Tutsi, and Twa. For six weeks the artists discussed the events that led to the genocide and tried to come to a consensus regarding how to represent Rwanda's history. The resultant performance provides an overview of the genocide, but also incorporates a school scene as a symbolic a representation of the Gacaca courts that encourages Rwandans to 'tell the truth' about the past. Iryo Nabonye has subsequently gone on two national tours.
