Archive: Arts & Entertainment

The regional premiere of The Overwhelming will kick off the 34th season at the Hangar Theatre. This electrifying thriller by J.T. Rogers is a spell-binding exploration of one of the great human tragedies of our time. Set in Rwanda in 1994, The Overwhelming tells the chilling tale of an American professor who unwittingly takes his family on a trip to Rwanda in the weeks leading up to the genocide.

Intended as a reunion with an old college friend, the visit spirals quickly into chaos, duplicity, and tragedy as Rwanda descends into the maelstrom of a bloody civil war. Dramatic storytelling at its very best, this gripping play is directed by Robert Moss, who is back this season as the Hangar's Interim Artistic Director. "When I first read the play I was struck by its intimacy and engrossed by the mystery of the American not understanding the circumstances around him. It reminded me of Orson Wells' Third Man and I knew it was the type of storytelling Ithaca audiences expected from the Hangar," said Moss.

This provocative socio-political thriller is sure to inspire conversation, especially in an election year. Award wining playwright J.T. Rogers brilliantly-crafted this play that has been described by Time Out Magazine as a "smart, complacency-rattling drama." The Overwhelming premiered at the National Theatre in London in May 2006. An American production played in the fall of 2007 at the Roundabout, an off-Broadway venue in New York City.