Under the Shade of a Tree I Sat and Wept draws on two significant social and historical events that have forgiveness as the core of social healing, cohesion, and liberation.
In 1990, as war loomed, a group of former political prisoners, students, and intellectuals from Kosovo initiated a historic movement to reconcile blood feuds. Until then, hundreds of families in Kosovo were in enmity and cycles of vengeance. The spiral of revenge had become a vicious circle, with feuds passed down through generations, and the death toll between opposing sides sometimes reaching thirty.
What started as a small reconciliation movement quickly grew into a national public forum. Mothers, fathers, and family members took to the stage before audiences to forgive the killing of their loved ones in front of the perpetrator’s family. Many public "sessions" were held, and hundreds of families were reconciled. A total of 1,275 blood feuds and conflicts were resolved. More than half a million people attended the final public reconciliation gathering.
On the other side of the globe, in 1995, the South African government initiated the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). Its aim was to heal the nation and bring people together by creating a space where they could confront the truth about crimes committed under apartheid. Victims and perpetrators faced one another in hearings that exposed harrowing truths from a period marked by violence, oppression, and persecution.
Through archival material and newly collected testimonies, a group of artists from Europe and Africa reflect on the lessons offered by these two reconciliation campaigns – lessons that may serve us in a world once again consumed by violence and conflict.
If truth was believed to set us free thirty years ago, what liberates us in today’s post-truth era? And when we forgive, do we forgive unconditionally?
Greg Homann, Artistic Director of the Market Theatre Foundation, Johannesburg: "As the Market Theatre, we are drawn to stories that confront uncomfortable truths with nuance and imagination. Under the Shade of a Tree I Sat and Wept resonates with our commitment to holding space for memory, justice, and healing. This collaboration provides a powerful opportunity to explore reconciliation, not as a fixed goal, but as a deeply human and often painful journey shaped by who gets to speak, who listens, and what is remembered."
Blerta Neziraj is a graduate of the Lincoln Center Theatre Directors Lab and has directed performances in Kosovo and internationally. Her productions for Qendra Multimedia have toured to venues such as Lausanne, Milan, Vienna, Florence, Hamburg, Lyon, Sarajevo, Bern, Paris, and New York. She has received several national and international awards and accolades. The Guardian has described her as "one of the country's leading directors."
Jeton Neziraj has written over 20 plays that have won numerous awards and been performed at theatre festivals across Europe and in the USA. He has been described by the German theatre magazine Theater der Zeit as 'the Balkan's Kafka'.
Greg Homann is the current Artistic Director of the iconic Market Theatre Foundation in Johannesburg, South Africa. He has been a leading figure in the South African theatre landscape for over a decade, and his influential work as a director, dramaturg, and playwright encompasses award-winning and imaginative theatre productions across a wide spectrum of forms.
Presented in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut
Assistant Director: Gezim Hasani. Art Director: Aurela Kadriu. Associate Stage Designer: Rients Dijkstra. Technical Manager: Bekim Korça. PR: Natasha Tripney. Artistic Advisers: Agron Demi, Julia Wissert, Tom Mustroph, Catherine Kennedy, Riza Krasniqi. Fundraising support: Sven Skoric. Lighting: Mursel Bekteshi. Sound: Bujar Bekteshi. Coordination: Flaka Rrustemi. Wardrobe Attendant: Arbresha Caka. Co-production: Goethe Institut. Supported by: Goethe Institut, Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports of the Republic of Kosovo, The Sigrid Rausing Trust, Rockefeller Brothers Fund. In cooperation with: Ruimtetijd – Amsterdam, La MaMa – New York, Gjilan City Theatre – Gjilan, Sens Interdits Festival – Lyon.
In collaboration with Heddadagene .
