Hate Radio, directed by internationally renowned Swiss theatre-maker Milo Rau, stands as one of the most searing and critically acclaimed works exploring the relationship between media, ideology, and mass violence. After touring more than 25 countries and receiving widespread praise for its audacity and precision, the production makes its highly anticipated U.S. premiere at St. Ann’s Warehouse, Brooklyn, from February 12 to 28, 2026.  

At the center of Hate Radio lies a rigorous, unsettling reconstruction of Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM), the Rwandan radio station whose broadcasts played a pivotal and deadly role in mobilizing the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. Inside a meticulously crafted, glasswalled studio, the production recreates a full radio show in real time. What begins as an energetic blend of music, pop culture chatter, news, jokes, and sports gradually reveals its darker purpose: the normalization of hate speech and the transformation of words into tools of persecution and violence.  

Performed in French and Kinyarwanda with English subtitles, the show immerses audiences through the use of headphones, simulating how listeners at the time experienced RTLM’s broadcasts. This intimacy amplifies the chilling effect of the performance: the realization that genocidal language does not begin with overt brutality but with small, repeated gestures that slowly shift the boundaries of what a society sees as acceptable. Hate Radio invites its audience to confront this process not as history confined to Rwanda but as a universal warning about media manipulation, radicalization, and the fragility of democratic discourse.  

The production features an exceptional ensemble, including Sébastien Foucault, Eric Ngangare, Diogène Ntarindwa, and Bwanga Pilipili, some of whom are survivors of the genocide themselves. Their presence lends the performance an extraordinary emotional immediacy and ethical urgency. Critics have celebrated the show for its precision, courage, and emotional weight, calling it “powerful,” “devastating,” and “a vivid and urgent retelling” of the events surrounding RTLM.  

Though rooted in a specific historical moment, Hate Radio resonates far beyond Rwanda. By meticulously reconstructing the banality and charisma of RTLM’s presenters, Rau exposes how media platforms, whether traditional or digital, can be weaponized to spread fear, dehumanization, and violence. The production ultimately asks audiences to reflect on their own media landscapes: When does entertainment become indoctrination? How do everyday phrases, jokes, or exaggerations evolve into calls for action? And crucially, what responsibility do individuals and societies have when confronted with the steady rise of dehumanizing rhetoric? 

With its blend of documentary rigor, theatrical innovation, and ethical clarity, Hate Radio is not simply a theatrical event but a profoundly important cultural intervention. Its arrival in the United States offers audiences a rare opportunity to engage with a work that challenges, unsettles, and moves, while reminding us of the enduring necessity of vigilance against the normalization of hate. 

https://stannswarehouse.org/show/hate-radio/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid...