Redfern Arts Center presents "Dogs of Rwanda"

One Man’s Riveting Story About Human Perseverance and Forgiveness

The Redfern Arts Center at Keene State College will present the riveting one-person play Dogs of Rwanda written and performed by Sean Christopher Lewis on Wednesday, February 11, at 7:30 p.m. in the Alumni Recital Hall. Musician Michael Finley on guitar, synthesizer, and percussion will perform his original compositions to accompany this intimate performance about human perseverance and forgiveness.

Tickets range from $20 to $15 depending on seating and $5 for KSC students. For tickets, contact the Redfern Box Office, which is open Monday to Friday, from noon to 6 p.m., call 603-358-2168 or order online at www.keene.edu/racbp. See a video clip and more information about Dogs of Rwanda and the free activities surrounding this performance at www.keene.edu/racbp.

While in residence at Keene State from February 9 to 11, Lewis will visit classes in theatre and various Arts and Humanities disciplines. The public is invited to attend a moderated post-show discussion with Lewis immediately following the performance on Wednesday, February 11, in the Redfern lobby.

Based on interviews Iowa City playwright and actor Sean Christopher Lewis did in Uganda, Dogs of Rwanda focuses on David, a man who cannot forget his heartrending experiences in that war-torn African country in the 1990s. At 16 years of age David found himself in Uganda as a church missionary. When he follows the girl of his dreams into the woods to help a Rwandan boy, he enters a horrible world from which he will never fully be able to escape. On the 20th anniversary of the genocide he witnessed firsthand, a book David wrote regarding his experiences arrives with a note from the Rwandan boy he once tried to save. “You didn’t tell them everything,” it says. This play completes the story as David tells of his experiences talking as if a friend in your living room following dinner.

The Cedar Rapids Gazette says “Lewis is a mesmerizing storyteller, and this is a story of forgiveness that needs to be seen …any place where people can gather to absorb this cautionary tale based on realities we can’t even fathom.”

Sean Christopher Lewis is the Artistic Director of Working Group Theatre the recent winner of the 2013 Rick Graf Award from the Human Rights Commission. His previous monologues and plays have won the Kennedy Center’s Rosa Parks Award, the National New Play Network Smith Prize, the NEA Voices in Community Award, the Barrymore Award, the Central Ohio Critic Circle Award, and more. His plays have been performed at major theaters, colleges, prisons, detention centers and living rooms in the United States, Canada, East Africa and Europe. He can be heard as a contributor to NPR’S This American Life and his work has appeared in The New York Times, Huffington Post, and numerous literary journals.

Michael Finley, a multi-instrumentalist, is self-trained and proficient in musical styles from jazz to hip hop and metal. In addition to Dogs of Rwanda, his composition work has been featured in the new play premiere of Jennifer Fawcett’s After Ana (Englert Theatre’s In The Raw Series). His scoring for film can be heard in the short film Sad Dad from WG Pictures and the upcoming horror feature The Janitor.

This performance of Dogs of Rwanda is sponsored by C&S Wholesale Grocers and is a collaboration with the Keene State College Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies and the KSC Diversity and Multiculturalism Office.

About Redfern Arts Center at Keene State College

The Arts Center is named in honor of Dr. Leo F. Redfern, Keene State College President from 1969 to 1979 for his vision, commitment, and eloquence on behalf of the arts that made funding and construction of the facility a reality. In 1981, KSC inaugurated this new performing arts center, with the goal of providing unforgettable artistic encounters for the campus and community. Now in its 33rd year, the Redfern Arts Center presents and fosters dynamic, multifaceted arts experiences through performances, residencies, and related programs that deepen the connection between the arts and audiences, both from the campus and the greater Monadnock region.