Friday, December 30, 2011

What's the trip all about?

I was one of 6 Theater students from Buffalo State College chosen to be a part of a cultural exchange and learning experience in Rwanda as a part of "The Anne Frank Project", directed by Drew Kahn. He is one of the theater professors here at Buffalo State and this will be his 2nd trip to Rwanda. Humanitarian Carl Wilkens, who was the only American that stayed in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide, will be joining us on our trip. We are all very excited that he, who is a hero to many, will be accompanying us. While we are there we will be sharing some excerpts of what we call good examples of "Classic American Theater", (scenes from "Romeo and Juliet" and "Rent") to Rwandans also studying theater. The Rwandans will be sharing some pieces with us as well. We then will be collaborating with them throughout our stay to make a piece of theater from what we experience there.We'll be meeting survivors of the genocide, visiting memorials, orphanages, National Parks, local schools, etc, so we will have a lot of opportunity to use our adventures to create a beautiful piece of theater that will hopefully impact people who see it.