 Bringing “Truth” to Dallas
In August 2006, Lauren Embrey was in Kigali, Rwanda, on a human rights trip when she witnessed an extraordinarily impactful theatrical event: Truth in Translation. She was so inspired that she convinced the producer and artistic director, Michael Lessac, to bring the production to Dallas.
Truth in Translation tells the riveting story of how the people of South Africa made a small evolutionary leap to heal their country. In 1996, following the end of apartheid, South Africa launched its groundbreaking Truth and Reconciliation Commission. During the commission’s hearings, interpreters of 11 African languages translated testimony of both perpetrators and victims of genocide. This stage production captures that flash of time through the experiences of these translators. Its story is not just about one country, one context, one event, but about all of us.
On September 6-8, 2007, the Embrey Family Foundation treated Dallas audiences to four free performances of Truth in Translation, leaving a lasting imprint on the community while generating rave reviews and coast-to-coast media coverage. The show made its American debut at SMU’s Bob Hope Theatre before traveling to Flint, MI, Colorado Springs, CO, Jackson Hole, WY, and Washington, D.C. The foundation also invited the homeless, victims of domestic violence, minority leaders and faith groups to its performances.
“I totally believe in the transformative power of the arts,” Lauren Embrey said. “I believe it can be combined with education to make us more whole people.”
News stories appeared in media outlets as far as San Francisco, CA, Houston, TX, and Ontario, Canada. Here are a few examples of the reaction by audiences and media:
“Perhaps deliberately, Truth in Translation doesn’t pull its audience into the grip of the tragic stories it recounts. But as an advertisement for national reconciliation and mutual forgiveness, it couldn’t be better.”Read More
-Lawson Taitte, The Dallas Morning News
“My father, grandfather, my uncles were all soldiers who fought for that government and in that regime,” said Robert Koen, the cast’s only Afrikaner, a descendant of the Dutch settlers who dominated South Africa for almost half a century. “For me, it’s been something valuable and intense to deal with the guilt I never thought I had.”
-Robert Koen in an interview with Matt Curry of the Associated Press
“The special dual point of witness experienced by these interpreters makes them the ideal storytellers to convey our hope and confidence in the future with truth and understanding, compassion and humor...If our story has a message of hope for others beyond our borders, if what happened here can inspire others who are struggling with atrocities of the past to find their way peacefully into a future with hope, then it is of vital importance that our story be told.”
-Archbishop Desmond Tutu, TRC Chairman
“We live in a world that is increasingly driven by fear and vengeance. This is incompatible with the notion of forgiveness. Yet we cannot survive unless emotional and perceptual reconciliation can be made. This story is not just about one country, one context, one event, but about all of us, right now, everywhere we look.”
-Michael Lessac, Artistic Director, Truth in Translation |
