<html><head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=windows-1250"><title>Polish Theatre Company Comes to Akron</title>
</head>
<body>
<font color="#222222"><font size="2"><font face="Arial Bold Italic"><span style="font-size:10pt"><br>
Akron Theatre hosts acclaimed Polish c</span></font><span style="font-size:10pt"><font face="Arial">o</font><font face="Arial Bold Italic">mpany<br>
<br>
and performances of Holocau</font><font face="Arial">s</font><font face="Arial Bold Italic">t play<br>
<br>
Direct fro</font><font face="Arial">m</font><font face="Arial Bold Italic"> Poland<br>
<br>
The Internationally-acclaimed Studium Teatralne stops in Akron en route to San Francisco with an extraordinary l</font><font face="Arial">o</font><font face="Arial Bold Italic">v</font><font face="Arial">e story<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Akron, OH--The Center for Applied Theatre and Active Culture (CATAC), New World Performance Laboratory (NWPL), and KulturePlus Productions are pleased to presen<b>t Warsaw’s Studiu</b>m Teatralne for four performances only of their e</font><font face="Arial Bold Italic">pic drama “The King Of Hearts is </font><font face="Arial">Off Again” on September 26, 27, 28 at 8pm and Septembe</font><font face="Arial Bold Italic">r</font><font face="Arial"> 29 at 2pm in the Balch Street Theatre (former Akron Jewish Center), 220 South Balch Street, Akron OH, 44302. The play, d<b>irected by Pio</b>tr Borowski, concerns the horrors of war and the power of human love and will be presented in Polish with English subtitles. Tickets are $15. Student tickets (with ID) are $10. Group discounts are available. Seating is limited and reservations can be made </font></span></font></font><font size="2"><span style="font-size:10pt"><font face="Arial"><font color="#1E55CD"><b><u>by calling (33</u></b></font><b><font color="#222222">0) 867</font><font color="#1E55CD"><u>-3299 or at www.brownpaper</u></font><font color="#222222">tickets.com<br>
</font></b><font color="#222222"><br>
<br>
<br>
“There was a family.” With these words an actor begins the harrowing story of Izolda, a woman separated from her husband by the nightmare of World War II. Based on a bestselling book by Polish writer Hanna Krall, four actors, playing twenty characters on a bare stage, transport the audience to WWII and into our heroine’s epic journey through the monstrosities of war. Victimized as a Jew, a Pole, and a woman, Izolda escapes the cruelties of the ghetto and disguises herself as an Aryan German citizen in order to save her husband from the concentration camps. Facing unimaginable situations, love becomes her sole means of survival as her own identity becomes obsolete.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Last year Studium Teatralne Art<b>istic Director</b> Piotr Borowski, who also adapte</font></font><font color="#222222"><font face="Arial Bold Italic">d and directed <b><i>The King of Hear</i></b></font><b><i><font face="Arial">ts Is Off Again</font></i></b><font face="Arial">, explained his fascination with the play: “During my childhood and youth, Polish Jews were rarely mentioned as part of our country’s history. Even now, for many Poles this remains an extraordinarily difficult topic to understand with any kind of rationality. I felt that by creating this theatre piece I could open up a dialog about this history.”<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Using only a table, chairs, and a few props, the actors deploy an inventive arsenal of extreme and precise physical performa<b>nce techn</b>iques. Borowski is a longtime friend and collaborator of Akron residents and NWPL co-ar<b>tistic direct</b>ors J<b>ames Slowiak</b> and Jairo Cuesta. They share a relationship and years of work with famed theatre directo<b>r and researcher Jerzy Grot</b>owski (1933-1999). When asked if his physical work with actors was influenced by <b>Jerzy Gr</b>otowski, Borowskireplies, “I met Grotowski in 1975 (<b>when h</b>e also met Cuesta) and later worked with him for seven years in Pontedera, Italy....It’s hard to define what profit I took from his work. In his speeches and texts Grotowski always encouraged everyone to go their own way, to find their own technique, and to do it with their whole existence. He was always trying to respond to the spirit of his time. Like Grotowski I ask questions about the meaning of what I am doing, about its techniques, about my needs and the ethic of it all. They’re th</font><font face="Arial Bold Italic">e same qu</font><font face="Arial">estions Grotowski asked, only the time is different, because my time is the present.”<br>
<br>
After working with Grotowski in Italy from 1987-<b>1994 (whe</b>re<b> he met S</b>lowiak), Borowski returned to Poland, converting an old factory building in the Praga Poludnie district of Warsaw into a theatre workspace. During the theatre’s eight<b>een-year</b> history, Borowski and his company have continued to explore different forms of theatre expression through such product<i>ions</i> as “Miasto” (City) <i>(1997), </i>“Północ” (Midnight) (1<i>999</i>), “Człowiek” (Man) (2001), “Parsifal” (2004), “Hamlet” (2005), “Henryk Hamlet Hospital (H. H. H.)” (2006),<i> “Linia Powrotu” (</i>The Line of Return) (2010), and the 2008 production of “Król kier <i>znów na wylocie” (King of H</i>earts Is Off Again). Studium Teatralne has toured extensively in Poland, Russia, Italy, Germany, France, and Colombia. After performances in Akron, the company will tour to San Francisco. Borowski is fe</font><font face="Arial Bold Italic">atured in the bookContemporary European Theatr</font><font face="Arial">e Directors (2011) along with such renowned figures as Ariane Mnouchkine, Declan Donnellan, Patrice Che<b>r</b>eau, and othe</font><font face="Arial Bold Italic">rs.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
The cast of The King of</font><font face="Arial"> Hearts Is Off Again includes Piotr Aleksandrowicz, Gianna Benvenuto, Waldemar Chachólski, and Martina Rampulla. Utilized throughout the performance is music based on the motifs of John Zorn. “Zorn’s music is old and contemporary, light and deep at t<b>he same </b>t<b>im</b>e,” says Borowski. “As Poland was, for centuries, home to the largest and most significant Jewish community in the world, I wanted the musical element to express this vast span of time. Consequently, numerous musical motifs are frequently repeated and intermixed with other melodies, rhythms and chants.”<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Besides the scheduled performances, Borowski and his actors will also engage with the Akron community through post-show talkback sessions, master classes, exchange meetings with NWPL members, and film screenings. Watch for more information on these concurrent events.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Studium Teatralne’s 2013 United States Tour is co-produced by Tomek Smolarski and KulturePlus Productions.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Special thanks to the Ohio Arts Council, the Arthur Kelly Fund of Akron Community Foundation, Center for Conflict Management at The University of Akron, and UA’s School of Dance, Theatre, and Arts Administration for making possible this visit of Studium Teatraline to Akron.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Studium Teatralne’s US tour is financed primarily by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Poland and the Consulate General of Poland in Los Angeles.<br>
<br>
</font></font><font face="Arial"><font color="#1E55CD"><u> <br>
<br>
For more </u></font><font color="#222222">informat</font><font color="#1E55CD"><u>ion, call 330-86</u></font><font color="#222222">7-3299, email <a href="nwplab@gmail.com">nwplab@gmail.com</a> or </font><font color="#1E55CD"><u>visit CATAC/NW</u></font><font color="#222222">PL’s website at www.nwplab.com<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Mor</font><font color="#1E55CD"><u>e about Kulture+ Productions at http</u></font><font color="#222222">s:<b>//www.facebook.com/KulturePlus<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Details for Calendar Listing</b>s<br>
“The King of Hearts Is Off <b>Again”<br>
</b>(with English subtitles)<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
WHAT:<br>
The critically acclaimed Polish <i>theatre company StudiumTeatraln</i>e in The King of Hearts Is Off Again, based on a bestseller by Polish writer Hanna Krall. Four actors, playing twenty characters on a bare stage, deploy an inventive arsenal of extreme physical performance techniques to transport the audience into the world of a young Jewish woman, who after escaping the ghetto, disguises herself as an Aryan German citizen in order to save her husband from the Nazi conc<b>entration camps. English subtitles. Balch Street Theatre, 220 South Balch Street, Akron OH 44302</b></font><b><font color="#1E55CD"><u>. Tickets $10</u></font><font color="#222222">-$15. </font><font color="#1E55CD"><u> Reservations: (330) 867</u></font></b><font color="#222222">-32<b>99 </b>or atwww.brownpapertickets.com<br>
<br>
<br>
<b><br>
WHO:<br>
Based</b> on a bestsel<b>ling book by Ha</b>nna Krall.<br>
<b><br>
Directed by Piotr B</b>or<b>owski<br>
<br>
<br>
Featurin</b>g <b>Piotr Aleksandrowic</b>z,<b> Gianna Benvenuto</b>, Waldemar Chachól<b>ski, Martina Ramp</b>ul<b>la<br>
<br>
<br>
Scenic design </b>by<b> Marta Białoborska, Krzysz</b>tof Olszowiec, Studi<b>um Teatralne E</b>nsemble<br>
<br>
<br>
Costume des<b>ign by Agata Nowi</b>cka <br>
<br>
<br>
Lightin<b>g Design by Studiu</b>m Teatralne<br>
<br>
<br>
Prod<b>uced by Studium Teatralne.<br>
Presented by the Center for Applied Theatre and Active Culture (CATAC) and New World Performance Laboratory (NWPL) James Slow</b>i<b>a</b>k<b> and J</b>airo Cuesta, Co-Artistic Directors.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
WHEN:<br>
S<b>eptembe</b>r 26-28 at 8pm; September 29 at 2pm<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
WHERE:<br>
Balch Street Theatre (former Akron Jewish C<b>ent</b>er</font><font color="#1E55CD"><u>), 220 South B</u></font><font color="#222222">alch</font><font color="#1E55CD"><u> Street, Akron OH 44302<br>
</u></font><font color="#222222"><i><br>
</i>H<b>OW:<br>
(33</b>0) 867-3299 or www.<b>brown</b>papertickets.com<br>
<b><br>
TIC</b>KETS: All performances $15. St</font><font color="#1E55CD"><u>udents with </u></font><font color="#222222">ID $10.<br>
</font><font color="#1E55CD"><u><br>
<br>
<br>
For more inf</u></font><font color="#222222">ormation, call 330-867-3299, email</font><font color="#1E55CD"><u> <a href="nwplab@gmail.com">nwplab@gmail.com</a> or visit CATAC/NWPL’s website at www.nwplab.com</u></font></font></span></font>
</body>
</html>