King of Hearts is Off Again at La MaMa in New York

November 26th, 28th, 29th at 7:30pm & November 30th at 2:00pm

Piotr Borowski, a student and collaborator of Jerzy Grotowski and co-founder of Gardzienice Theatre, has created a stage adaptation of “Chasing the King of Hearts” by Hanna Krall. The book is a 2007 bestseller of spiritual survival in the fateless universe of the Holocaust. Borowski’s play, “The King of Hearts is Off Again,” is a memory piece with physical theater that has been presented in California and the Midwest. It will be presented by La MaMa E.T.C. for its East Coast debut November 26 to 30, 2014.

The play is based on the true story of the life of Izolda Regenberg, a young Jewish woman trapped in the Warsaw ghetto with her husband and their families during World War II. Izolda escapes from the ghetto, lives disguised as an Aryan Polish woman named Maria Pawlicka, and ultimately succeeds in her obsessive mission to rescue her husband from a concentration camp. Having faced unimaginable situations, the couple re-establishes itself in Poland, only to be forced to emigrate in the Polish deportation of most of its remaining Jews in 1968.

Studium Teatralne is an ensemble theatre in the tradition of Jerzy Grotowski. The play is directed by the company’s artistic director Piotr Borowski–himself a longtime student of Grotowski and the four actors employ Grotowski method acting techniques to collectively play 22 different characters on a stage with a minimalist set.

“Thrilling physical theater… The work is beautiful.”
LA Weekly – Steven Leigh Morris, Thursday, Oct 11, 2012

“remarkable intensity of the performance”
The San Francisco Chronicle – Robert Hurwitt, October 4, 2013

“a wonderfully intricate story in both form and content.”
KCRW -Los Angeles, Peter Byrne, October 2012

more info at:
http://www.lamama.org/king-of-hearts-is-off-again/
http://www.studiumteatralne.pl/menu/spektakle/krol-kier-znow-na-wylocie

After Sunday matinee there will be a free screening of a documentary filmed by Piotr Borowski:
KONIEC PIEŚNI (The song is over)

“In the winter of 1980/81 I had set off with three of my actor friends on what we called “Winter Expedition.” For three months we had toured with our performance in the Bialystok region, in the area between great forests of Augustów and Knyszyn on the north-eastern border of Poland. We walked from village to village, pulling the sleigh loaded with our belongings. We reached remote hamlets where we met people of different nationalities and creeds. These people, showing their gratitude, sang for us their songs. I recorded their singing on tape. In 2007 I returned there in order either to give them these recordings back or to hand them over to the families of those who had already passed away.” – Piotr Borowski 

Financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Poland.
Special thanks to Joanna Klass from the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.

La MaMa E.T.C.
First Floor Theater
74 East 4th Street, New York (bet. Bowery & 2nd Ave.)
tel. 646.430.5374
http://lamama.org/king-of-hearts-is-off-again/

Tickets: First 10 tickets for each show: $10,
students/seniors: $13, adults: $18
ONLINE, or by PHONE 212.475.7710

SPECIAL EVENT:
Sunday, November 30th, 3:30pm right after the matinee – free screening of the documentary “The Song is Over” filmed by Piotr Borowski (60 min)