OUR HOUSE A Production of Ishyo Arts Centre and Helios Theater (2016) � “I was born I was born in I was born in a room I was born in a room in a house I was born in a room in a house in a neighbourhood I was born in a room in a house in a neighbourhood in a city I was born in a room in a house in a neighbourhood in a city in a country I was born in a room in a house in a neighbourhood in a city in a country in the world.”
SYNOPSIS � � Our house is a theatre play exploring the questions of home and house in a time where people are sometimes forced to leave theirs, building new lives and new rela- tionships in different countries, with different cultures. The play is a sharing of memories between the comedians and the audience. Memories of houses morph into thoughts of home, of home country, identity and community. Our house is also the stories about houses, where people lived, that were abandoned and lost. The play is performed by three Rwandans and four Germans actors and musicians. The play is in mainly in English and French, with some texts in German, Russian, and Kinyarwanda. Our house is for everyone aged 12 years +, Length: 1hour Our house premiered in Germany on 17 th September 2016 and toured in Rwanda in November 2016.
BACKGROUND The first encounter between ISHYO Arts Centre and HELIOS took place in Bologna in 2012. HELIOS was invites to performed WOODBEAT and ISHYO Arts Centre director, Carole Karemera were invited to participate in conference about Theatre for Youth Au- dience and lead workshops for teachers and professional European artists. Impressed by the quality of the HELIOS show, a conversation about arts and countries’ realities started. Meanwhile, HELIOS invited “My little hill”, a production of ISHYO at HELLWACH festival 2014 (Internal performing arts festival for young audience - pro- duced by HELIOS in Hamm/Germany) and the following year, HELIOS has also been invited to participate in KINA festival (International Performing Arts Festival for Young Audiences - produced by ISHYO Arts Centre, in Kigali/Rwanda). At this point it became clearer and clearer that they would like to create something to- gether and it gave birth to the idea of memory, particularly in the context of the Rwan- dan and German genocides and the issue of migrations. � CUSTODIANS OF MEMORY At the moment, the group was playing around and the idea of “The House” as the name of the project was born. Rwandan artists talked about the reality of post-conflict countries such as urban plan- ning, migratory flux between hills and cities, between neighbouring countries, expro- priation, refugees camp, dismantled families, ruined or abandoned areas, etc. and or- ganised fields visit and meetings with survivors, historians, psychotherapists, urban planners, architects, etc. “We thought a lot about the project’s name – The House, and it all started from a pic- tures of people standing in an empty house or in the ruines of their house that have been taken in Rwanda by some ISHYO’artists, and we could see that they try to re- member how the house once looked like, how the people were living in, and this was the image that became the basis of the project,” explains Anna Zimniak, HELIOS PR and project manager.
A journey of research started in both countries to learn more about each other’s past and present, realities and challenges and also to get to know each other better as people, as artists; to see where lie our commonalities and differences and what could be the role of the arts locally, regionally or globally. “The theme of a house is a very good one because with this theme of a house you can deal with a lot of questions; what kind of material do you need to make a good house? There are a lot of questions that are not going directly to the subject of genocide, yet at the same time it’s like a symbol of family. Here in Rwanda you are still lucky that the two -house and family- always go together. When you speak about houses you are speaking of family. It’s a little different in Germany where family only comes to mind during Christmas time, so it’s also interesting to compare this or to bring it together.” said Barbara Kölling, HELIOS artistic director. � For Steffen Moor, the most glaring difference between the Rwandan and German expe- rience is the people’s attitude towards speaking about themes like genocide: “Here in Rwanda people try understanding and keep talking about what happened to them but in Germany people kept quiet after the genocide. Also people in Rwanda (namely survivors and killers and their families) are still living next to each other and meet every day, but in Germany the people that survived fled to some other places, so there were not so many people in Germany who could talk about what had happened to them.” � Between June 2014 and September 2016, the team moved back and forth between Germany and Rwanda to conduct research, develop the script of the play, do re- hearsals, and Our House eventually premiere in 17th of September 2016 in Germany and in Rwanda the 3rd of November 2016. � � �
ARTISTIC TEAM � � � � � � � � � � � Directed by Carole Karemera and Barbara Kölling Music composition: Roman Metzner and Hervé Twahirwa Actors: Hervé Kimenyi, Helena Kühn, Michael Lurse, Eliane Umuhire, Marko Werner Live music performance: Roman Metzner and/or Hervé Twahirwa Assistance lines: Steffen Moor Technicians: Jan Leschinski or Roman Kanobana Production & PR: Didacienne Nibagwire/Anna-Sophia Zimniak
PRODUCTION PARTNERS � Ishyo Arts Centre in Kigali/Rwanda is an arts & culture centre active in the fields of literatu- re, music and theatre for children, young adults and adults. Founded in 2007 by a group of 8 women, it was the first and only arts centre in Rwanda’s capital city Kigali. The Ishyo Arts Center has always been cont- ributing in a plethora of ways to establishing an audience and to fostering a multitude of arts. It focuses, among other things, on the relationship between arts & memory, arts & public spaces, arts & the concept of truth and humanity in order to generate a new cultural and human beginning in Rwanda. Today, the Ishyo Arts Center has acquired national and regional fame and collabora- tes with partners in the fields of arts and culture, researchers and educational instituti- ons throughout Africa and Europe. Carole Karemera, co-founder assumes the role of general coordinator and artistic director at the Ishyo Arts Center . � HELIOS Theater was founded in 1989 in Cologne by a group of professional artists from different art forms and moved in 1997 to the City of Hamm. HELIOS productions are regularly invited to all important theatre festivals in Germany as well as Europe and have been awarded several times. In addi- tion to performances the HELIOS Theater tries to foster the theatre for the very young through research and exchange, e.g. within the “small size”-network since 2007. The HELIOS Theater also organises the biennale festival for young audience “hell- wach” and regularly hosts conferences and symposia dealing with current questions in theatre for children and young people. In 2009 the HELIOS Theater received the German ASSITEJ Award for its artistic and con- ceptual approach. The HELIOS Theater is headed by Barbara Kölling and Michael Lur- se as artistic directors.
CONTACT DETAILS � Ishyo Arts Centre Helios Theater Carole U. Karemera Barbara Kölling, Michael Lurse KG 28 AV. Willy-Brandt-Platz 1d, B.P . 4786 Kigali- Rwanda 59065 Hamm, Germany Telephone: (+250) 788309706 Phone: +49 2381 926837 Email: carole.karemera@ishyoartscentre.org E-mail: post@helios-theater.de Website: www.ishyoartscentre.org Website:www.helios-theater.de � � � OUR HOUSE is a production of ISHYO Arts Centre and Helios Theater funded by the TURN Fund of the German Federal Cultural Foundation and with the support of Africalia, Goethe Institute and Positive productions. Video link : https://vimeo.com/186242934 � � � � �
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