Building a Monument to the “Truth about War”: ISÔKO’s Monument in Rwanda and in Toronto

Abstract

This thesis tests the limits of applied theatre production by examining performances of Colleen Wagner’s play The Monument by ISÔKO: The Theatre Source, an intercultural Canadian-Rwandan theatre company. I detail how ISÔKO challenged discourses that normalize the notion of forgiveness when they performed at makeshift theatres in Rwanda (2008-2011) and at the 2011 World Stage Festival in Toronto, Canada. I illustrate the radical potential of a Canadian play to provoke important discussions about citizenship and justice through the production of a utopian performative, but I expose the problem of voyeurism when an applied theatre company from a place of war performs a play about a post-genocide community at an international festival. ISÔKO’s Monument enabled productive social work on the World Stage, but only by refusing to produce utopia in performance. I conclude that a performance does not fit within the applied theatre rubric when it cannot gesture towards hope.