The Play’s the Thing

“There’s a lot of mistrust lingering here,” reports education professor emeritus Andrew Garrod from Rwanda, where he just wrapped up two months staging a trilingual production of Romeo and Juliet.

Garrod met Rwanda minister of health Dr. Agnes Binagwaho in 2010, when she received an honorary degree from the College. “She asked me if I would consider coming to Kigali,” he says. “I remember distinctly that the choice of play was hers, and of course, given their recent history, it is exactly the right play.”

Nearly 1 million Rwandans were slaughtered during a 100-day period in 1994, following longstanding conflicts between the Hutus, a majority ethnic group, and the Tutsis, a minority. “The aim is to aid in the reconciliation process in this country,” he says. Working on the Shakespearean tragedy provided an education on how a country is still learning to heal. Garrod reports that the terms “Hutus” and “Tutsis” are no longer used; people are referred to as “perpetrators” or “victims.” He was also asked to modify the role of the priest, since many clerics were accused of complicity in the massacre.

Working with Garrod are three alums and professor James Rice of the theater department. For more information go to www.ybglobal.org