Miracle in Rwanda
Marcus David
April 2019
photo credit: Mario Durane
The story of how Immaculée Ilibagiza survived the horror of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda as depicted in the play Miracle in Rwanda is nothing short of a true miracle. Amazingly, Ilibagiza, along with seven other Tutsi women, managed to survive by hiding out in a tiny bathroom located in the home of a Hutu neighbor for an unbelievable three months. The dimensions of this bathroom, 3 x 4 feet, are demonstrated on the floor of the stage with white masking tape and represent both the hardship and compassion of Ilibagiza’s harrowing ordeal.
Presented as a solo performance, Rwandan actress Malaika Uwamahoro is stunning in her portrayal of Immaculée Ilibagiza and every other character in the story. With absolute minimal staging, Uwamahoro artfully conveys the terror of the hunted and the madness of the killers with a seamless ease and spot on intensity that bears witness to one of the ugliest chapters of human history.
One of the central points put across in Miracle in Rwanda is that by praying the rosary and forgiving those who “trespass against us,” one can become shielded by God and protected from danger – a powerful claim that raises the question of why so many other victims in Rwanda, and other genocides, who pursued a similar route as Immaculée Ilibagiza of prayer and contemplation ended up murdered anyway. Perhaps there is no sense to be made when mankind embarks on such an evil endeavor as genocide.
Another theme expressed in the play is that forgiveness is the only path forward in the wake of unspeakable violence and murder committed by neighbor upon neighbor. This seems like a difficult if not impossible lesson in our present moment in history, where the recent Easter bombings in Sri Lanka are seen as retaliation for the mosque shootings in New Zealand. Our current trend seems to be that of escalation.
April 4 – May 11
Theatre Row
The Lion Theatre
410 W 42 St, NYC
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