Rehearsal for Truth 2019: Truth (Poland)

PLAY, TALKBACK, AND AFTERPARTY. Join us to experience TRUTH, an intriguing play by Piotr Borowski. TRUTH exposes a lack thereof: an existence fraught with the absence of the sacred, devoid of any mystery, purpose or metaphysical worth. While the main character of TRUTH is not present, the scene is preoccupied with striving for knowledge and new creation, as well as by aggression, survival instinct and usurpation that claims a monopoly on truth. What are the sources of our cultural traditions? Haven’t we denied many established facts that guide us further towards answers on how to live—and why?

The performance draws from the original texts of the ecumenical councils, the narratives of the Gospels and the “Grand Inquisitor” poetry inside Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov.

TRUTH. Conceived and directed by: Piotr Borowski. Cast: Gianna Benvenuto, Magda Czarny, and Michal Lorent. Presented by: Studium Teatralne, Polish Cultural Institute New York.

The show will be performed in Polish with English supertitles, followed up by a talkback with the cast conducted by Krystyna Lipinska Illakowicz, lecturer at the Department of Slavic Languages & Literatures, Yale University, and an afterparty reception at Bohemian National Hall’s Ballroom Bar.

PIOTR BOROWSKI is an actor, theater director and founder of the independent theater company Studium Teatralne in Warsaw. In 1975, Borowski began his association with Laboratory Theatre of Jerzy Grotowski— an innovative Polish theater director and theorist—and participated in Special Project (1973) conducted within Grotowski’s Active Culture program. Borowski also assisted in organizing the University of Research of the Theatre of Nations in Wroclaw and co-founded the Centre for Theatre Practices Gardzienice. Upon Grotowski’s invitation, Borowski moved to Italy where the former was founding the Workcenter of Jerzy Grotowski. Between 1985 and 1993, Borowski co-created Grotowski’s last project, Action. He officially set up Studium Teatralne at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw, in September 1997, and went on to stage numerous performances, including City, Midnight, Man, Parsifal, Henryk Hamlet Hospital, and The Line of Return. In 2012, he directed Shakespeare’s The Tempest at Teatro Varasanta in Bogota, Colombia. Piotr Borowski has taught theater workshops in Brazil, England, Venezuela, Colombia, Italy and Poland.

For more information on the show, visit our website: https://www.vhlf.org/theater/rehearsal-for-truth-2019-truth-poland/.

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. Seats are limited, on first-come, first-served basis. Registration online through Eventbrite is required. Arrive earlier to secure best seating option.

Free tickets to all performances featured at the 2019 Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival are available at: www.rehearsalfortruth.eventbrite.com.

For the first time, two plays from the Rehearsal for Truth program will debut at the Jersey City Theater Center. The Slovak dance performance WATCH NOW will be featured on September 26, followed by the Polish play TRUTH on September 27.

REHEARSAL FOR TRUTH THEATER FESTIVAL is organized by The Václav Havel Library Foundation and Bohemian Benevolent & Literary Association, in partnership with Czech, Hungarian, Polish, Slovak and Romanian performing arts organizations and cultural institutes. The series of events highlight Vaclav Havel’s legacy as a playwright through live performances, panel discussions, exhibitions and a ceremony for the Disturbing the Peace Award to a Courageous Writer at Risk. A key objective is to establish exchanges between U.S. and Central European theater professionals. The festival reflects Havel’s contribution to 20th-century theater as well as his belief in the potential of Central European cultural traditions to enrich human existence in the modern age. The program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

TRUTH is presented by Studium Teatralne S/T and Polish Cultural Institute New York, and co-financed by the City of Warsaw.

From Bohemian National Hall.