---

Media Relations

Renowned student Polish theatre group to make American debut at IU

A student theatre group once under the surveillance of the Polish secret police will perform at Indiana University Nov. 13-15.

Theatre of the 8th Day presented its new production, The Files, for the first time in New York City last week. The company will perform just once more in the United States during this tour: at the John Waldron Arts Center in Bloomington.

Theatre of the 8th Day was founded in 1964 during the student theatre movement and quickly became well-known among the underground, alternative theatre groups of the time. As a result of the group's willingness to speak out under a communist regime, members were subject to intense secret police scrutiny. Police searched the actors' homes, denied them film jobs and found any reason to charge them with common crimes.

The Files is based on actual secret police reports on the theatre's activity written during the period from 1975 to 1983 -- reports that also covered the actors' contacts, friendships and meetings. The play juxtaposes these reports with actors' private letters at the time, as well as excerpts from the performances to which the reports referred.

The company is composed of four of the group's original founders: Adam Borowski, Tadeusz Janiszewski, Marcin Keszycki and Ewa Wojciak. For more than 40 years, they have stayed committed to each other and to their art form, even after several were forced to leave Poland for a time. The four actors play themselves against a backdrop of their younger on-screen selves.

Bill Johnston, a noted translator of Polish literature and director of the Polish Studies Center at IU, translated The Files for the theatre group, one reason the company chose to make one of its U.S. performances at IU. Johnston said the Polish Studies Center and the College of Arts and Humanities Institute have built a strong support network for the large contingency of people in the Bloomington community and on campus who are in some way engaged with Polish studies.

Ticket Information

The Files will be performed at the John Waldron Arts Center in Bloomington on Nov. 13-15. Show times are at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 13-15, with a special 2:30 p.m., Polish-language version on Nov. 15. Tickets are $10 for the general public, $8 for students and seniors. They can be purchased by phone at 812-323-3020 (box office) or online at http://www.bloomingtonarts.info/Public/Calendar/performance.asp?PerfID=22121.

---

---