A short article I wrote about the Grotowski Institute is now in the Global Spotlight section of the March issue of American Theatre. The article won’t be posted online, but you can download a PDF of it by clicking here–or find it in the current issue of the magazine. The article’s title is “From Artists To Archives: A Grotowski Update.” It’s in a box at the bottom of the first page of the PDF.

Here’s the first paragraph:

“After 20 years in its headquarters in the historic center of Wrocław, Poland, the Grotowski Institute—devoted to continuing the practical and theoretical work of the late theatrical innovator Jerzy Grotowski—has expanded into a larger facility a few miles away on the banks of the Odra river, where rehearsals and performances alternate with workshops and programming for scholars.”

To quote the email I received from Equality California yesterday:

This morning, the federal Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled today 2-1 that Proposition 8, violates the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution.

It’s a historic ruling–the first time in the nation’s history that a federal appeals court has struck down a statewide ban on marriage for same-sex couples.

The court’s unequivocal opinion affirmed arguments made by Equality California’s friend-of-the-court brief: “Proposition 8 serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those of opposite-sex couples. The Constitution simply does not allow for laws of this sort.”

The habit of beginning to count everything you do–as if you were always writing a formal report on your activities–is instructive, but stifling.

Since I last posted on January 15, I’ve spent twelve days traveling (more time out of Warsaw than in), conducted four interviews, seen four shows and a lecture, participated in one translation session and one theatrical collaboration, and attended services at three different synagogues in three different cities, one of which was Kraków (my first time there!).

All of this is very exciting, especially the feeling that I’m beginning to make the transition from observer to participant. However, the increased activity, especially the increased theatrical activity, has made it harder, not easier, to blog, for these reasons:

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Salutations and good afternoon from gray Warsaw, where it’s getting colder–some snow is lingering on the ground. This is part of a picture of the city center I took a couple weeks ago, in December, when my brother and his girlfriend were in town for two weeks for the holidays. Palace of Arts and Culture to the left. It’s not today, but it’s what the sky looks like. Gray.

So I’ve been working on a mid-year report for the Fulbright grant, and in the process of doing so, I compiled some statistics on what, exactly, I’ve been doing with five months of funding to live in Poland. These statistics are for September through January. In that period of time, I have:

Recorded 14 interviews with 18 theater practitioners and scholars
Published or placed 5 articles about Polish theater in 3 venues
Observed 17 rehearsals with 5 different companies
Viewed 30 performances or work showings by 22 different companies
Directed 2 workshops: one for students at a local high school, and one with friends and adult performers (a Parallel Octave poem-recording session, on a Polish poem)

I’ve also collaborated with a local translator on the idioms / Americanisms of two Polish plays he was rendering into English, and we plan to do more work of this nature in 2012.

Those are the main achievements I can report to the Commission, in terms of my progress on the research I said I was coming here to do. However, they also ask you questions about how you acclimatized to the local culture. Those things are less quantifiable, but I know, without thinking about it much, what I’m most proud of: what proves, to me, that I have begun to be less of a tourist here and more of a local.

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The article/rehearsal diary I wrote for Biweekly.pl about Chorea Theatre‘s Oratorium Dance Project is now online. Here’s a sample:

…The project was, in part, inspired by Chorea’s work with ancient Greek music, in the Grotowski-derived, Gardzienice-cultivated Polish theatre tradition. However, Krzyżanowski and Maciaszek are attempting to create something more than an adaptation of existing sources; their Oratorium drew on jazz, polyrhythms, and the sustained repetitions of post-minimalism. It was unmistakably contemporary.

Oratorium had no over-arching plot; the texts, sung in Greek and in Polish, were a collection of ancient choruses. Krzyżanowski’s choruses were from Sophocles’ Antigone and Euripides’ Bacchae, Orestes, and Iphigenia at Aulis; Maciaszek’s were from Limenios’ paeans to the gods, including Apollo, Artemis, and Zeus. […]

[…] The cast ranged in age from 7 to 60. Many of them had never before performed professionally. Teenagers from local high schools and community organisations, including a reform school and an addiction treatment centre, young children, and adults, all took part.

You can read the whole thing here, at Biweekly, or check out some videos from the Oratorium project below:

“Allo Phoibe”:

For this next one, “Makar Hostis” and “Lythaneo”, fast-forward to about 1:30 to see one of the largest Greek choruses you’ve ever seen dancing on stage:

This project is the reason I’ve been spending so much time in Łódź.

I had to look this up recently for a friend, and BLOGGHOREA has answered the question far better than I could have. See below:

“…it is also the Brits who took it upon themselves to add a superfluous “e” to the end of “dramaturg,” thereby not only recuperating the term as British (or at least as less Teutonic), altering its very pronunciation whilst at it.”

– Mead Hunter, “Dramaturg vs. dramaturge,” Blogghorea

To summarize, dramaturg=American English, dramaturge=British.

from everyone in gray, foggy Warsaw. Z&P are here for a couple of weeks, for the holidays. Blogging will be…er…minimal.

(Bridge over ul. Solec, near the al. 3 Maja bus stop, in the fog. Christmas Eve morning.)

Here’s a wonderful interview with my wonderful friend, the journalist and editor Sara Inés Calderón, about the website she co-founded and works with, NewsTaco: The Latino Daily. Excerpt follows…

Interviewer: What has been the most rewarding part of creating your own media?

Calderón: What’s truly surprised me with regard to News Taco is that my favorite part of the entire enterprise has been to promote other Latino writers and artists across the country. I thought I would enjoy writing and generating my own content, but what I’ve truly appreciated was being able to meet and work with Latina and Latino writers from New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Arizona, Texas and everywhere in between.

There’s so much talent out there, and as I’ve begun working with all of these talented Latinos, I’ve realized that this is truly one of News Taco’s core values: to be a platform to promote Latinos across the country. Thus, the most rewarding part of generating my own media has been giving a voice to other Latinos who needed a platform and watching them grow as writers and in popularity.

In this past week, I’ve conducted more interviews than any previous week in Poland (or in my life, for that matter). I just wrote a report for my mentor and I was stunned by how many times I had to type the words “Conducted interview with…” I hadn’t realized how many there were. It’s been fantastic being able to speak to so many different collaborators from Oratorium Dance Project. It is a bit disconcerting to have no one to interview today, but I need the time to process the material and get it in shape.

Chorea is preparing to go to Moscow today, to present “Po Ptakach” (After The Birds, their adaptation of Aristophanes) at the Meyerhold center.

Yesterday was the last session of my Polish class at the University of Warsaw’s POLONICUM. It was a great class, and I hope I’m going to stay in contact with the other students. It’s always interesting to have an opportunity to meet other people who are, like you, learning a new language and culture. Some of them were in Poland for work, others for love (married to a Polish man or woman), some for both. They were from the US, Korea, England, Belarus, Israel, and more. We formed a good group, and ended up going out for dinner or drinks quite a few times after class. I feel fortunate to have had their friendship during this period of transition to a new city and new country. I told them all that they were going to have to come to Łódź for the next premiere in March.

Just one week till Z and P arrive for two weeks of Poland-for-the-holidays.