Play "Our Class" with an All-Star Cast in New York

STAGED READING OF TADEUSZ SLOBODZIANEK'S OUR CLASS.

Following tremendous successes at London's National Theater, Philadelphia's Wilma Theater, and praise in Israel and all over Europe, the play Our Class comes to The Temple Emanu-El Skirball Center for a one-night-only staged reading featuring a stellar cast of well-known Broadway, film and television actors. Making its New York City debut during Holocaust Remembrance Week, this Nike award-winning play unveils the long-hidden truth behind the pogrom in Jedwabne, Poland in 1941.

Our Class doesn't try to teach anyone. This story is told to provoke questions. The drama, referring to the events in eastern Poland, is a universal story understood in places where deep ethnical conflicts arise and private life must conform to politics. -- Ondrej Spisak, director of the Polish production of Our Class.

Telling the story of Polish and Jewish classmates in the town of Jedwabne, Tadeusz Slobodzianek's gripping play exposes the effects of war, betrayal, cruelty and repression. The staged reading will be directed by Cosmin Chivu, Assistant Professor and Director of the BA in International Performance Ensemble at the Pace School of Performing Arts. Chivu is an accomplished director, with over 50 productions in teh United States, Austria, the United Kingdom, Germany, Greece, Italy, Romania, and Thailand, including over 30 in the US.

The cast includes Tony-winner Nina Arianda; Emmy, Oscar and Tony-winner Ellen Burstyn; Golden Globe winner Kim Cattrall; Obie winner Alvin Epstein; Obie winner Brian Murray; Hunter Parrish; Obie winner Austin Pendleton and John Pankow.
The staged reading is accompanied with original music by Jesse Selengut.

Following the performance, the award winning author Tadeusz Slobodzianek will speak about his creative process and will answer questions from the audience.

Playwright, director and theater critic Tadeusz Slobodzianek has received many international awards including the Nike Literary Award for Our Class (2010), the Fringe First Award won with the Wierszalin Society at the Edinburgh International Festival (1993 and 1995), the paszport Polityki Award (1993), Stanislaw Pitak Prize (1993) and the Koscielski Foundation Prize for lifetime achievements in drama and theater arts. In 2010 he became the artistic director of the Teatr na Woli in Warsaw and in May 2012 he was appointed the artistic director of the Gustaw Holoubek Dramatic Theater in Warsaw.

To contextualize the play and guide the audience through the history of Jedwabne, a preshow seminar will be conducted by Dr. Irena Grudzinska-Gross, Princeton University professor and celebrated scholar of Jewish studies specializing in war, violence, and nation-state ideologies in East-Central Europe in 20th century.

Monday, April 13, 2015, 7:00 pm

The Temple Emanu-El Skirball Center
10 East 66th Street, Manhattan

Tickets: $35 general admission; $18 students
$100 includes reception with artists
PURCHASE ONLINE or via phone: 212-507-9580