Origin Theatre Company to Present US Premiere of A KID LIKE RISHI
Origin plans on hosting weekly talk-backs after the Sunday 3pm matinees on May 29, June 5 and 12.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Mar. 17, 2022
"A Kid Like Rishi," a critically acclaimed Dutch play about a notorious racial profiling police killing in The Hague, will receive its American premiere this spring in a production by Origin Theatre Company, the New York-based company that introduces impactful plays from Europe to New York audiences. Written by Kees Roorda, one of The Netherlands' leading playwrights, "A Kid Like Rishi" runs for four weeks at the cell, 338 West 23rd Street in Chelsea, from Friday May 27 to Sunday June 19. The Dutch-born director, Erwin Maas, leads a diverse international, New York-based cast and production design team. Tickets are going on sale on April 5, when the cast and production design team will also be announced.
"A Kid Like Rishi" premiered in The Hague in 2017, and was widely praised for its gripping and even-handed use of courtroom testimony (from 21 unrelated witnesses) surrounding the 2012 shooting of Rishi Chandrikasing, who was waiting for a train at The Hague Holland Spoor Station. Killed in retreat, the unarmed, 17-year-old black youth was suspected of assaulting a homeless person, who was never questioned or identified. Rishi died immediately of a gunshot to the head.
The killing of an unarmed black man of Surinamese descent in a mostly empty train station was notorious, first in the eyes of Roorda, for its glancing coverage in the Dutch press. As attention to the case increased when the police officer was acquitted, the playwright's own experience with racial profiling involving his Black partner prompted him to write the play. While the play's premiere was hailed as "genius" in Volkskrant, and "thrilling and exceptionally moving" in NRC Theaterkrant, growing pressure from a variety of perspectives complicated its reception, leading to endorsements by controlealtdelete.nl (a Dutch racial equity organization fighting ethnic profiling and disproportionate violence in law enforcement), and Rishi's own best friend, who attested to its fairness.
The play was picked as a top-three Best New Play finalist by the Germany Youth Theatre, an organization that bases its choices on the text not the production. A planned 2021 production in Germany was subsequently suspended. Origin Theatre's American premiere is therefore the play's first production outside of The Netherlands. The English translation is by Tom Johnston.
"The play is not about the guilt or innocence of one person or two persons even," says Roorda, "but rather it is a profile of what we are coming to understand as a system of racism, something all of us are affected by, whether we know it or not, whether we believe it or not."
Origin Theatre has had "A Kid Like Rishi" in development since 2018, and was scheduling a production in November 2019, which was canceled prior to the pandemic. "It's been Origin's goal to offer a uniquely European view of a social justice crisis experienced not just in America but all over Europe and many countries worldwide," says Michael "Mick" Mellamphy, Origin's artistic director.
Origin plans on hosting weekly talk-backs after the Sunday 3pm matinees on May 29, June 5 and 12. Adds Mellamphy: "Theatre has always provided an opportunity for learning and discussion. It is incumbent upon us, as theatre makers, to honor that privilege by presenting "A Kid Like Rishi" to a diverse New York audience." Details about these talk-backs and the participants will be announced at the beginning of May. For details visit www.origintheatre.org
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