Sister Africa at Athenaeum Theatre

Stephanie Liss’ world premiere drama about efforts to aid female and child victims of the Congo's ongoing civil war, will be performed by a cast of actors from the worlds of feature films, opera and the Chicago theater scene. Liss’s play draws from the playwright’s own experiences travelling to the Democratic Republic of the Congo with members of Jewish World Watch, an activist organization dedicated to ending genocide and mass atrocities worldwide and to providing support and building resilience to those living in conflict-affected communities. The play is based on hundreds of hours of interviews - not only with the victims of rape and torture, but with child soldiers, the staff of Jewish World Watch, and its co-founder and president, Janice Kamenir Reznik. It is a play about two peoples, Jews and Congolese, who have lived through unspeakable horrors and how they can help to heal each other. SISTER AFRICA will include an original incidental score by composer and recording artist RebbeSoul, known as a pioneer of contemporary Jewish music.