LEMKIN’S HOUSE TO HOLD TALKBACKS IN SEPT. AND OCT.

Broadway World, NY
Aug 5 2006

Tuesday, September 5, 2006; Posted: 12:55 PM – by BWW News Desk A
series of talkbacks will follow select performances of Catherine
Filloux’s award-winning play Lemkin’s House. Jean Randich directs
the return engagement of the show, which will play through September
13-October 8 at the McGinn-Cazale Theatre (2162 Broadway)

Presented by Body Politic Theater and Vital Theatre Company, the
show’s official press opening is set for September 17.

Talkback participants will include former Manhattan Borough President
Ruth Messinger; Human Rights activist Dr. William Korey; film-maker
Kavery Kaul (The Long Way from Home); and others.

Lemkin’s House is billed as "a thought-provoking drama about the
horrors of genocide," according to press notes. "Winner of the 2006
Peace Writing Award from the OMNI Center for Peace, the play centers
on Raphael Lemkin, the Polish lawyer who invented the word "genocide"
and dedicated his life to having it declared an international crime.

In Ms. Filloux’s play, Lemkin is bombarded by people bursting into
his home with complaints of more recent genocides in Rwanda and
Bosnia. Lemkin must recognize that even his law is not enough to
change the world. He weighs his ethical accomplishments against his
guilt for deserting his own doomed family, ultimately seeking not only
justice but also forgiveness. In Lemkin’s House it is the living who
haunt the dead."

Lemkin’s House had its U.S. premiere at the 78th Street Theatre Lab
in February, 2006, opening to strong critical and audience response.

John Daggett returns as Raphael Lemkin. He is joined by original cast
members Christopher Edwards, Laura Flanagan, Christopher McHale, and
Connie Winston. The production also reunites its original design team:
Sue Rees (set design); Matthew Adelson (lighting design); Camille Assaf
(costume design); Robert Murphy (sound design).

The talkbacks are as follows (additional talkbacks and panelists TBA):

Wednesday, September 13: Panel on Darfur Former Manhattan Borough
President, Ruth Messinger, President of American Jewish World Service
which is currently involved in seeking justice for the Darfur genocide;
John Prendergast, Senior Advisor of International Crisis Group;
and Jayne E. Fleming, California Lawyer of the Year for Pro Bono
Representation of Women victimized through violence.

Thursday, September 14: A Peaceful Tomorrow Panel: Genocide and
Reconciliation H.E Widhya Chem, Ambassador, Permanent Representative
of the Kingdom of Cambodia to the United Nations; Jean Baptiste
Ntakirutimana, Country Director of Orphans of Rwanda, Inc.; Father
Michael Lapsley, Institute for Healing of Memories, South Africa;
and moderator Adele Welty, Steering Committee, Peaceful Tomorrows.

Friday, September 15: Panel in conjunction with 9/17 "Save
Darfur" Rally Jim Fussell, Executive Director of Prevent Genocide
International; and Mohamed Adam Yahya, Chairman, Damanga: Coalition
for Freedom and Democracy.

Saturday, September 16: Women’s Commission on Refugees and Children:
Darfur Megan McKenna, Senior Coordinator, Media and Communications
(Education in Emergencies); Sarah Chynoweth, Program Manager in
the Reproductive Health Program; and moderator Carolyn Makinson,
Executive Director of Women’s Commission.

Wednesday, September 20: Understanding the Perpetrator: Genocidal
Mania — The Psychology of Mass Hatred and Treating the Victims Gerald
Martone, Director of Humanitarian Affairs at the International Rescue
Committee; and Ruth Rogers, "Easing the Impact of Trauma through
Integrative Medicine."

Thursday, September 21: What Have We Learned?

David Scheffer, Former US Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues;
Juan E. Mendez, President, ICTJ. Special Advisor to the Secretary
General (UN) on the Prevention of Genocide; Justice Richard Goldstone
Chancellor, University of the Witwatersrand and Former Justice,
Constitutional Court of South Africa; Dr. William A. Korey, Human
Rights scholar and activist; Roger S. Clark, Board of Governors
Professor, Rutgers School of Law; Moderated by Dr. Yael Danieli,
Co-President, International Network of Holocaust and Genocide Survivors
and Their Friends.

Sunday, September 24: Detering Future Genocides: The Importance of
International Criminal Court to Raphael Lemkin’s Legacy Dr. Roy
S. Lee, Special Senior Fellow, the United Nations Institute for
Training and Research, and former Executive Secretary to the
International Criminal Court Conference; John Washburn, Convenor,
American NGO Coalition for the International Criminal Court (AMICC);
Richard Nsanzabaganwa. Outreach Liasion for Africa, Coalition for
the International Criminal Court (CICC).

Wednesday, September 27: Professor Sheri Rosenberg and Dr. Jack Saul
Professor Sheri Rosenberg, Director, Human Rights and Genocide Clinic
and Program in Holocaust and Human Rights Studies, Cardozo School of
Law; Dr. Jack Saul, Director, International Trauma Studies Program,
Columbia University; Moderated by Kenneth Jacobson, Senior Associate
National Director, Anti-Defamation League.

Thursday, September 28: Religious Perspectives on Genocide Rabbi
Daniel S. Brenner, Director, Center for Multifaith Education, Auburn
Theological Seminary; Other panelists TBA.

Friday, September 29: For the Prevention of Genocide and Crimes
against Humanity: A United Nations Emergency Peace Service Panelists:
TBA; moderated by Waverly de Bruijn; Coordinator, Global Action to
Prevent War; Sponsoring Organizations: Global Action to Prevent War,
Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, World Federalist Movement.

Saturday, September 30: Audience Conversation with Dr. Yael Danieli and
Lemkin’s House artists Dr. Yael Danieli, Co-President, International
Network of Holocaust and Genocide Survivors and Their Friends, the
cast and creators of Lemkin’s House

Sunday, October 1: Hidden Genocide in Uganda Presentation by Daniella
Boston, co-founder and executive director of uNight: for the Children
of Uganda; Panelists: TBA.

Wednesday, October 4: Violence or Empowerment Arn Chorn-Pond and John
Burt, Cambodian Living Arts; Kavery Kaul, Filmmaker and Producer,
The Long Way From Home; and Michele Tayler, Women Against Violence
Everywhere.

Saturday,October 7: The Armenian Genocide Professor Henry Theriault,
Professor of Philosophy at Worcester State College, Armenian National
Committee.

Filloux’s other plays include The Beauty Inside, Eyes of the Heart,
Silence of God and Mary and Myra.

The show runs: Wednesdays-Saturdays at 8pm; Sundays at 7pm. Talkbacks
directly follow select performances. Tickets are $25 (group
discounts are available). For reservations, call 212-352-3101 or
visit

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