Formerly exiled Polish troupe to perform

Fresh from the airport, the Polish theater group Theater of the Eighth Day hurried into the Polish Studies Center to escape the cold November rain. Stepping into the center’s living room, the group looked around and declared it to be a “little piece of Poland.”

The acting troupe spent three weeks performing “The Files” in New York. They performed the Bloomington premiere last night and have performances Friday and Saturday as well. The group has traveled the world, including South America, Mexico and Korea, but this is its first visit to the United States.

“It’s great for them to have an American debut, since their play is now in English,” said Magda Sokolowski, graduate assistant for the Polish Studies Center. Bill Johnston, professor and director of the Polish Studies Center, is a well-known Polish translator and translated “The Files” to English.

“It tells the simple story about how friendship can help survive this gray time of communism,” said  Ewa Wojciak, Theater of the Eighth Day member.

The play is based on communist secret service documents and the group’s personal files, poems, private letters and confessions from the time of communist rule.
The theater group started in 1964, and the actors who traveled to Bloomington have performed together since the early 1970s.

The group was a part of independent underground theater at a time when the Polish government monitored all culture and art. The group performed outside, in churches and anywhere not controlled by the government.

“They had to invent new ways of getting their art out to the people without government approval,” said Padraic Kenney, acting director of the Polish Studies Center.

Wojciak said communist secret service police wrote reports about their performances and constantly monitored the group.

“It’s awe-inspiring that they stood up in such a way,” Kenney said.

Theater of the Eighth Day was exiled from communist Poland but was later invited back to the country by Poland’s first democratic government. Wojciak said she decided when she was very young that theater was the main focus of her life, and she would fight for it. The group now has its own theater in Poland.

Fellow actor Marcin Keszycki said the play is one hour of their opinion.

Kenney said the play doesn’t say how much the Poles suffered under communist rule but instead shows how ridiculous communism was.

The members of Theater of the Eighth Day learned English to perform in the United States and spent time with an English coach to learn the correct pronunciations of English words. While in New York, they were surprised to see the American audience react in the same way as the Polish audiences and laugh in the same parts of play.

Sokolowski, who was born in Poland, plans to see both the English and Polish versions of the play to look for differences between the two languages. She said she doubts there will be many differences because Johnston is such an accurate translator.

Kenney said “The Files” is an opportunity to show the IU community the dynamic Polish culture. He added that IU is one of the two or three strongest places in the United States in terms of Polish culture and has strong ties with the University of Warsaw. Many Polish scholars have come to Bloomington on their first trip to the United States.

“This is the biggest event Polish Studies has had in many years,” Kenney said. “They are such legendary figures in Polish culture.”



‘The Files’ by Theater of the Eighth Day
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday, 2:30 p.m. (Polish language version) and 7:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: John Waldron Arts Center
More info: $8 students, $10 adults. Credit cards will not be accepted at the door. Advance tickets can be purchased online at the Polish Studies Center Web site, www.indiana.edu/~polishst/.