At the turn of July and August, New York was visited by a famous Polish film, television and theatre actor, an actor of the Bagatela Theatre in Kraków, Patryk Szwichtenberg. He performed in such productions as: “The Century of the Winny”, “People and Gods”, “Chyłka”, “Osiecka”, “Znachor”, “WojenneDziewczyny”, “M jak miłość”.
It was a great opportunity to organize theatre workshops. They took place in two places: in the Parish of Our Lady of Consolation at 184 Metropolitan Ave where they were called “Gramy” and in the Polish-Slavic Centre at 176 Java Str, entitled “The Stage is Yours”, both in Brooklyn.
It turned out that there were many people willing to try their hand at the stage.
There were several meetings in the Parish. Patryk prepared scenes from the famous film “Coffee and Cigarettes”, completed after many years in 2003, starring famous actors, including Bill Murray and Roberto Begnini. This black and white film consists of 11 short scenes that focus on interpersonal interactions that occur while drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes. It highlights the nuances and subtle hostility that can be part of seemingly normal conversations. Each scene features two people who completely disagree with each other, yet manage to amicably sit at the same table. The second film whose dialogue we read was the film “Maestro”. “Maestro” is a 2023 American biographical romantic drama that focuses on the relationship between American composer Leonard Bernstein and his wife Felicia Montealegre. The film was directed and stars Bradley Cooper. Although Leonard had homosexual tendencies that Felicia knew about, they eventually married and had three children: Throughout their marriage, they supported each other in their careers. However, over the years, Leonard’s flirtations with men and his alcoholism took a deep toll on their marriage. We acted out a scene of an argument between the spouses.
We had great satisfaction when Patryk played along with us, taking on one of the characters.
We also acted out surreal scenes given to us by Patryk, where we had to come up with an unusual plot, and each of us came up with his own lines. So there was a delivery in the subway, where the mother wanted to hear Bach’s music, there was a drum, a midwife, a doctor with a bag full of medical equipment, and pole dancing.
The second scene takes place in an elevator that suddenly stopped between floors. There was: an elevator operator, a child, a homeless man, people rushing to appointments, a dissatisfied lady, and, at the end, a robbery.
The third task, after dividing us into small groups of two or three, was to come up with a scene, having at our disposal to say only a few words: good morning, goodbye, yes, no, sorry, please.
These workshops were a great opportunity to work on body awareness, voice and imagination, they stimulated a creative way of thinking, we tried our hand on the stage, where together in an atmosphere of fun we created a performance.
For the workshops at the Polish Slavic Center, Patryk Szwichtenberg prepared his favorite poetry. It was mainly read by seniors. These were poems by Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński, many with his famous absurd humor: “Deszcz”, “Po Bruśle czę pijany”, Wisława Szymborska: “Nic dwa razy”, “Kot w pustym mieszkanie”, some known as songs.
The reciters overcame shyness, worked on their voices and bodies. During the workshops, under the supervision of Patryk, the participants learned the basics of acting,
After the poetry part, a conversation with the actor started. The visitors were curious about the details of work on individual series, filming locations, especially the famous “Centuleci Winnych” based on the book by Ałbena Grabowska.
After the last workshop, Patryk Szwichtenberg already has a group of his admirers here. We are glad that he promised to continue them in the fall.
Text and photos: Zosia Zeleska-Bobrowski
