New York University

New York University

The Office of Public Affairs

Thursday, Jan 29, 2009

N-264, 2008-09

Feb. 6 Event Opens a Celebration Honoring the Work and Legacy of The World-Renowned Polish Theatre Director

New York University’s Performance Studies Department in the Tisch School of the Arts and the Polish Cultural Institute in New York will co present a panel discussion and screening celebrating the work and legacy of the world-renowned Polish theatre director Jerzy Grotowski. The panel is the opening event in a six months-long celebration entitled Tracing Grotowski’s Path: Year of Grotowski in New York, curated by Richard Schechner, University Professor and professor of performance studies at the Tisch School. Dominika Bennacer, a Polish scholar and a PhD candidate in performance studies, is associate curator.

The panel, entitled The Theatre of Thirteen Rows (1959) and The Grotowski Institute in Wroclaw (2009), will take place Friday, February 6, 2009, from 7:30 - 11:00 P.M., at the Cantor Film Center, located at 36 East 8th Street, New York. The event is free and open to the public.

This event brings together former literary director and co-founder of the Theatre of Thirteen Rows (later the Polish Laboratory Theatre), Ludwik Flaszen and the current directors of the Grotowski Institute in Wroclaw, Poland: Jaroslaw Fret and Grzegorz Ziolkowski. What brought the Polish Laboratory Theatre into existence? What was the Polish theatre scene like in those days of the Cold War and the Iron Curtain? What is the current work of the Grotowski Institute? How is the Institute preserving, researching, and using Grotowski’s archives and his Polish heritage? The panel discussion, moderated by Richard Schechner, will be preceded by a screening of a film on Jerzy Grotowski.

The Year of Grotowski in New York, comprising panel discussions, lectures, conversations, demonstrations, workshops, screenings, and a photography exhibition, will take place at various venues throughout Manhattan from February 6 - July 13. Most of the events are free and open to the public. For a complete list of events, dates, and locations, visit: www.polishculture-nyc.org.