Telling and Showing: Witnesses Represent Sierra Leone’s War Atrocities in Court and Onstage

After a brutal civil war in Sierra Leone, a young prosecution witness in the war crimes trial of Charles Taylor at The Hague created, directed, and performed a drama that graphically portrays the trauma she and her fellow survivors experienced during the war. Stepakoff was the psychologist for the Special Court for Sierra Leone—working with victims of severe human rights violations—and an invited guest at the young woman’s performance.