Northern Iraq: August of 2015. It is one year since ISIS massacred the Yazidi people in Sinjar and began sex-trafficking Yazidi women. The Unbelievers follows Sanaa, a Yazidi woman and Orli, a conflict journalist, after their capture by ISIS. Two women are alone on opposite sides of a crisis; together they must find a way to endure.
Keywords:Â Iraq, Yazidi, Iraq War, Enslavement, Kidnapping, Survival, Thriller, Hope, Healing
Produced by SummerWorks & Lace Productions, August 2015
Genre: Drama
Acts: 1
Run time: 70 minutes
Content note: Contains references to sexual violence, brutality, war
Cast size: 3 actors
Female roles: 3
Casting note:Â There is a chorus of Yazidi women at the end, this chorus is non-speaking and exclusively movement based. This chorus can range from 8-as large as the director sees fit.
"Hannah Rittner’s script dares you to give into the flinch instinct and look away." - Mike Anderson, Mooney on Theatre
"The play, along with Murad's and Yazda's work to raise awareness of the struggles of the Yazidi community, have built a momentum, Rittner says. And she hopes it will continue." - Andrew Pigott, The Globe and Mail
"Horror is abundant in Rittner’s script but kindness and faith make the strongest mark as the two women face the horror together." - My Entertainment World