Cast Announced for American Premiere of A KID LIKE RISHI
The Dutch-born director, Erwin Maas, leads the production, which features Sung Yun Cho, Atandwa Kani, and Kaili Vernoff – all New York-based.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Apr. 18, 2022
Origin Theatre Company has announced the cast and design team for the American premiere of "A Kid Like Rishi," Kees Roorda's critically acclaimed Dutch play about a notorious racial profiling police killing in The Hague. The Dutch-born director, Erwin Maas, leads the production, which features Sung Yun Cho, Atandwa Kani, and Kaili Vernoff - all New York-based.
The production design team includes Guy de Lancey (Design & Lighting); Fang Zhang (sound); and Claire Fleury (costumes). The show's producer is Michael "Mick" Mellamphy, in his first full season as artistic director of Origin Theatre Company. The New York-based Origin, which launches its 20th season in the fall, introduces impactful plays from Europe to New York audiences.
"A Kid Like Rishi" runs for four weeks at the cell, 338 West 23rd Street (between 8th and 9th Avenues) in Chelsea, from Friday May 27 to Sunday June 19, with the Off-Broadway opening on Wed June 1, at 7pm. Tickets, which are $45, are now sale on sale at www.orgintheatre.org The performance schedule is Wed to Sat at 7pm, and Sun at 3pm. Special Talk-Backs exploring racial profiling from a European perspective will follow the 3pm Sunday performances on May 29, June 5, and June 12.
Widely praised for its gripping and even-handed use of courtroom testimony surrounding the 2012 shooting of Rishi Chandrikasing, "A Kid Like Rishi" was hailed as "genius" by the national newspapers NRC and Volkskrant, and "thrilling and exceptionally moving" by the Dutch theatre magazine Theaterkrant.
As he waited for a train at The Hague Holland Spoor Station, the unarmed, 17-year-old Rishi was shot while in retreat by a police officer who suspected him of assaulting a homeless person (who was never questioned or identified). Rishi died immediately of a gunshot to the head. The killing Drew Little attention in the Dutch media at first, but coverage increased when the police officer was acquitted.
After premiering in The Hague in 2017, the play was picked as a top-three Best New Play finalist by the Germany Youth Theatre. A planned 2021 production in Germany was subsequently suspended.
Roorda's play has been endorsed by controlealtdelete.nl (a Dutch racial equity organization fighting ethnic profiling and disproportionate violence in law enforcement), and Rishi's family and best friend have attested to its fairness. This is the play's first production outside The Netherlands. The English translation is by Tom Johnston
Founded in 2002, Origin Theatre Company, whose overall mission is to present impactful new works by writers from across Europe to New York audiences, has introduced plays by over 300 playwrights from such countries as the Netherlands, Sweden, Romania, Macedonia, Norway, Italy, Greece, Ireland and the United Kingdom. The company produces the annual Origin 1st Irish Theatre Festival (this past January was the 14th edition), and has previously produced the 1st and 2nd European Month of Culture in partnership with the Delegation of the European Union to the United States in 2018 and 2019. Details about Origin's "Mondays in May" new play reading series and its annual Bloomsday Breakfast, now the "Bloomsday Revel," are to be announced soon.
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