The Guthrie Presents 'After A Hundred Years'

The Guthrie is proud to present the world premiere of AFTER A HUNDRED YEARS by Naomi Iizuka. Chosen as one of 11 playwrights commissioned as part of the Guthrie's Bush Foundation-funded New Play Program, Iizuka's haunting drama thrusts together an arrogant American journalist and a top Khmer Rouge general accused of war crimes, as both look to expose the real truths in the records of the country's horrific past. AFTER A HUNDRED YEARS, directed by Lisa Portes, begins previews June 7 and runs through June 29 in the Dowling Studio. Tickets are priced from $18 to $34 and are on sale through the Guthrie Box Office at 612.377.2224, toll-free 877.44.STAGE and online at www.guthrietheater.org.

 
Journalist Luke Newhall (Peter Christian Hansen) travels to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, for a rare, career-making interview with Phan Mok (James Saito), a Khmer Rouge general accused of heinous war crimes. On the eve of his United Nations tribunal, the general sits determined to defend his actions and rehabilitate his legacy of the era, as Narin Rath (Sun Mee Chomet), a young survivor of the Killing Fields, tells the gruesome tale of her survival, helping to illustrate the history of guilt while suggesting a possibility for healing.

 
In grappling with the lies and truths of his interview subject, Newhall finds himself enmeshed in the life of photographer Sarah Whiting (Stacia Rice) and her husband Tim Hedstrom (Robert O. Berdahl), a prominent American doctor. Helene Chea (Mia Katigbak), a mysterious woman with surprising information about everyone's lives, moves through the shadows of these events. Though Tim Hedstrom appears devoted to the treatment of HIV/AIDS in this Third World country, a shocking truth reveals that it has been at the cost of betraying the ethical vows of his profession. As the characters' quests for truth intersect, they are drawn deeper into Cambodia's history and their own complicity in crimes past and present.

 
The artistic team includes Brian Sidney Bembridge (Set Designer), Mathew J. LeFebvre (Costume Designer), Marcus Dilliard (Lighting Designer), C. Andrew Mayer (Sound Designer), Michael Kinghorn (Dramaturg), Elisa Carlson (Voice and Speech Consultant), Justin Hossle (Stage Manager), William M. Collins (Assistant Director) and Christopher Flores (Assistant Stage Manager).

 

In 1975, the Cambodian government began the systematic and brutal extermination of more than two million Cambodians, resulting in the deaths of a third of the nation's populations. The aftermath of this genocide provides the framework for Naomi Iizuka's After a Hundred Years. In partnership with The Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, the Guthrie will present four programs in connection with the play that examine the complex issues of genocide, violence and justice. For more information on these programs, visit www.guthrietheater.org.

 

The Guthrie Theater, founded in 1963, is an American center for theater performance, production, education and professional training. The Guthrie is dedicated to producing the great works of dramatic literature, developing the work of contemporary playwrights and cultivating the next generation of theater artists. Led by Director Joe Dowling since 1995, the Guthrie opened their new three-theater home on the banks of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis in June 2006.

 

The Guthrie is located at 818 South 2nd Street (at Chicago Avenue), in downtown Minneapolis. To purchase tickets or season subscriptions call the Guthrie Box Office between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. daily at 612.377.2224 or toll-free 877.44.STAGE. For more information, or to purchase tickets online, visit www.guthrietheater.org.