PlayFest Plays On

Rather than collapsing in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, PlayFest Santa Barbara is instead pivoting to digital to co-host an encore stream of Angela J. Davis’ Agathe, which was selected from an international pool of new works. The highly praised digital rehearsed reading of the play, which was directed by Saundra McLain and produced by The Road Theatre Company in August as part of its 2020 Summer Playwrights Festival, streams November 20-23 for free on the websites and YouTube channels of both The Road Theatre Company and PlayFest Santa Barbara.

Agathe tells the story of Agathe Uwilingiyimana, who served as Rwanda’s president for just 14 hours and accomplished a quiet miracle during the Rwandan genocide, one of the darkest moments in history. The play received the 2020 New American Voices Award from The Landing Theatre and was named a Eugene O’Neill semi-finalist, among other honors.

On Sunday morning, the PlayFest weekend also features a live discussion with the playwright Angela J. Davis and two internationally recognized experts on war crimes: Patricia Viseur Sellers, currently a special advisor at the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and a visiting professor at Oxford, who previously developed the legal strategies leading to the International Criminal Court’s official recognition of rape as a crime of genocide; and Terree Bowers, who served as the United States Representative on the Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal as well as consultant to the Rwanda War Crimes Tribunal.