On a peaceful night at Katina's Kafé, on Friday, Might 8, a room filled with younger artists, writers, performers, and professionals sat quietly as a fictional radio discuss present unfolded earlier than them.
Actors moved between humour, pressure and philosophy whereas viewers members interrupted with reside “call-ins,” providing opinions and interpretations because the story progressed.
The efficiency was not a traditional stage play. As an alternative, it was an interactive retelling of the Greek delusion of Icarus, the boy from historic Greek lore who customary wings of feathers and wax, soared too near the solar, and plummeted into the ocean, introduced throughout the newest version of “The Rebirth,” an engagement gathering organised by Unagi Society in collaboration with Le Kartier.
The night featured performances from famend comic Michael Sengazi, Weya Viatora and Jules César, who reworked the traditional Greek story into a contemporary dialogue centred on ambition, ego, freedom and human limitation.
Quite than merely watching the play unfold, viewers members grew to become a part of it.
At completely different moments, the actors paused the efficiency and invited contributions from the group, who responded with reflections, questions and opinions as if they had been callers taking part in a reside radio programme.
After the efficiency, the room shifted into an open dialog the place attendees mentioned how the story of Icarus mirrors fashionable life, notably amongst younger folks navigating ambition, stress and identification.
For a lot of in attendance, the occasion represented greater than leisure. It mirrored a rising urge for food amongst Kigali’s youth for areas the place dialog, artwork and social reflection can coexist.
Based by younger creatives Acsa Sifa and Chelsea Sangwa, Unagi Society has steadily constructed a group round dialogue-driven gatherings that mix reside artwork, efficiency and dialogue.
The initiative began in October 2025 and has since hosted 14 editions, every exploring themes starting from politics and leisure to gender equality and present affairs.
Talking to The New Occasions, Sangwa mentioned the thought was impressed by peculiar conversations shared amongst buddies throughout informal outings.
“We realised a few of our most significant conversations occurred throughout nights out, when folks had been relaxed, sharing concepts over drinks and discussing life, tradition and society,” Sangwa mentioned.
“In some unspecified time in the future we thought, why not create a much bigger house the place extra folks can have those self same conversations collectively? That’s how Unagi Society was born.”
In keeping with Sangwa, the primary gathering was initially meant to be a small experiment amongst shut buddies.
“The primary occasion was truthfully simply us attempting issues out,” she mentioned. “We solely invited buddies as a result of we needed to see whether or not folks would even be enthusiastic about this type of expertise. However the response stunned us. The conversations had been real, folks stayed longer than we anticipated, and everybody needed one other version. From there, we knew this might change into one thing larger.”
Since then, the group has continued to develop organically, attracting folks from completely different inventive {and professional} backgrounds, together with artists, journalists, designers, filmmakers, entrepreneurs and college students.
For Sifa, probably the most vital elements of the initiative is the atmosphere it creates for interplay between individuals who may not ordinarily meet.
“We needed to create extra than simply an occasion,” Sifa mentioned. “We needed to create a protected and open atmosphere the place folks can specific themselves, problem concepts, take heed to completely different views and join with others they might by no means have interacted with earlier than.”
She added that the mix of artwork and dialogue permits contributors to interact with troublesome or delicate subjects in a extra accessible approach.
“Generally conversations round politics, gender or society can really feel intimidating in formal areas,” she mentioned. “However whenever you introduce storytelling, theatre, music or efficiency into it, folks open up otherwise. Artwork helps folks mirror on themselves and on the world round them.”
That environment was seen all through the night as viewers members brazenly debated the which means behind Icarus’ fall.
In Greek mythology, Icarus is understood for flying too near the solar regardless of warnings from his father, inflicting the wax on his wings to soften earlier than he falls into the ocean. In the course of the dialogue, attendees related the story to fashionable themes reminiscent of ambition with out stability, social stress, pleasure and the pursuit of validation.
Others seen the story as a mirrored image of the dangers younger folks take whereas attempting to chase desires in extremely aggressive societies.
By selecting to stage the efficiency as a radio discuss present quite than a conventional play, the organisers created an expertise that blurred the road between viewers and performer.
The format additionally bolstered the occasion’s central philosophy: participation issues as a lot as efficiency itself.
Past the discussions, the gathering additionally served as a networking house, with attendees spending hours after the programme exchanging contacts, discussing inventive tasks and constructing new collaborations.
Lately, Kigali has witnessed a rising variety of youth-led inventive communities in search of to redefine how folks work together with artwork and public dialogue.
