Tuesday, June 24, 2025

Ella Czajkowska presents Alchemy of Words at Monthly Reading of Village Poets in Tujunga

On June 22, 2025, Ella Czajkowska presented "Alchemy of Words" at Monthly Reading of Village Poets at the Bolton Hall Museum in Tujunga. In her introduction of the featured poet, Maja Trochimczyk cited the following about the poet and the book. 

"Her love of creative writing was born in high school, where she started writing poetry and short stories. In 2015, Ella started to write poetry in both Polish and English, and from 2017 she writes only in English. Her book of Polish language poetry, entitled “Tam, gdzie umierają marzenia”, was published in Rzeszów by Sowello in 2019. Her English-language poems appeared in the California Quarterly and the Crystal Fire anthology (Moonrise Press, 2022). She was nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2022 by the California State Poetry Society for her poem The Calling.

  

"Ella worked for many years as Public Relations (PR) Manager for the EWELINEB brand. She has produced music and PR materials for fashion shows at the Fashion Week in New York, London, and Amsterdam, among others. Ella’s other great passion and inspiration in life is music. Surrounded by it her whole life, with both her father and mother having graduated from prestigious music schools, there was always a great respect for art and culture in her family home. All throughout her childhood she would be taken to theaters and opera houses, where her love for opera, ballet, and classical music ever grew. A graduate of two music schools, Ella learned to play piano, clarinet, and percussion—piano remains her favorite instrument to this day. A true Renaissance person with a wide range of interests, talents, and knowledge, she was born in Warsaw, Poland and lives in Los Angeles, California."


Roza Yoder, Beata Czajkowska, E. Czajkowska, Maja Trochimczyk, June 22, 2025

The Alchemy of Words is the first English-language poetry book of Ella Czajkowska who previously published a book of poems in Polish. These 70 poems deal with themes of nature, divinity, human emotions, existential contemplation and the complexities of life. The poems explore the beauty and terror of natural world, the fleeting nature of joy, the struggles of existence, and the interplay of love and hate. Through vivid imagery and entrancing verse, the poems evoke a sense of wonder and introspection. They invite readers to an adventure of  exploring human experience, reflecting upon the intricacies of life and the power of language and art. 



"Elzbieta's poems electrify, like touching a spark to gunpowder, seeing a starless sky explode in a blaze of colors. Exciting. Original. Thought provoking. Inspiring." ~ Marek Probosz, actor, director, and writer. "Ella Czajkowska ushers a voice of sublime sincerity into our increasingly outlandish human realm." ~ Piotr D. Siemion, Ph.D., Author and Essayist.

The Sublime Senses 

               Until the heart stops it desires.

               Until the mind stills it aspires;

 

                Until the senses take 

                their leave they deceive—

                such dreams they weave...




The Calling

 

Take my hand, we shall drink golden starlight 


from the brass chalice of curiosity,


adorn our hair with stars’ glittering light. 


We shall clothe ourselves in silver moonlight 


and blush our faces with sunlight’s kiss,


and dance through the dust of time unmeasured, 


whirl till we are dizzy with awe 


and drunk on the songs of the universe.


 I have not truly known freedom until 

I have shaken off the chains of attachments

to this world, this low-land

—of biological, mechanical, electric—

of static, of moving, till I felt the seductive

beckoning of the ephemeral,

the limitless melody of cosmos.

 

I measure myself in dawns and twilights, 

in inhales and exhales, breathless moments, 

in dreams and daydreams and nightmares

as I unravel into blooming.

I am a flower floating eternally,

a soundless drifting in space on waves

of the darkly enchanting oceans, 

nebulae of purples and pinks.

 

And I dare you to not heed my calling, 

and I dare you to resist the pulling, 

the fire, the resonance in the bones

which leaves the traitorous flesh a-trembling.

And I hail to you: Come! We shall walk down, 

down to the center, down to the core,

down to the end of all, down till it’s up, 

until it becomes the beginning.


Joe DeCenzo, Ella Czajkowska, Susan Dobay, Maja Trochimczyk, Bory Thach at reading from "Crystal Fire" anthology at Scenic Drive Gallery, Monrovia, 2022.

All You

 Breathe in, breathe out. Let it go, let it flow.


Let it seep out like water through fingers,


Like sand—drop after drop, grain after grain. 


Empty out all the filth, discard the trash—

There is no use for useless and no worth to worthless,


No sense in senseless, no purpose to purposeless.


There is a song to be found in silence,


Peace—in motionlessness wrapped in chaos. 


Seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling, tasting


The moment—a breathless wealth of endlessness 


Hidden in a second, an age of blissful now.


Freedom is found in a mind unburdened from want,


From expectations, desires and needs, and thus from fear— 


Of losing, of needing more, and not receiving enough.

 


You are the grain of sand in a desert dune— 


A drop of water in infinite ocean—


You are the breath, the design, the universe.

 

Not everything is about you— Everything is about you—

 

‘I create myself’







Thursday, May 15, 2025

Moonrise Press Presents Piotr Kajetan Matczuk - European Love Songs, 17 May 2025

  

European Love Songs

Piotr Kajetan Matczuk

Polish Guitarist & Songwriter

 

Concert 1: Saturday, 17 May 2025, 3:15 pm

1207 E. Fruit St. Santa Ana CA 92701

 Concert 2: Saturday, 17 May 2025, 6:15 pm

503 Ocean Front Walk, Venice, CA 90291

European Love Songs

Since the time of the Troubadours in medieval France, in the 12th century, singing love songs for solo voice with accompaniment of a hand-held string instrument is a time-honored European tradition. In all popular music, “love” is the most frequently appearing theme!  In this concert, Polish guitarist and songwriter Piotr Kajetan Matczuk, during his fourth American tour, will present some of the most beautiful poetic ballads of the1960s and 1970s, performed to the accompaniment of the guitar. The program will feature songs by Polish poets and songwriters, such as Adam Mickiewicz, Wojciech Młynarski, Agnieszka Osiecka, as well as famous masters of the genre: the legendary Bułat Okudzhava and Włodzimierz Wysock representing Russia, or Georges Brassens and Jacques Brel representing France. The program will also feature Matczuk's own compositions. “Love” in these songs is not limited to lyrical imagery, or romantic affection, but also extends to care all humanity –  respected, accepted, and admired.


Piotr Kajetan Matczuk

A Polish pianist, guitarist, arranger, songwriter. The leader and founder of the PIRAMIDY band. Author of theatre and film music. Artistic director of the International Song Festival "Szlakiem Bardów" in Poland. Matczuk has given concerts in many countries, including Poland, Great Britain, the United States, Ukraine, Russia, Lithuania, France, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, the Czech Republic. He appeared in many prestigious concert halls around the world, such as Columbiahalle in Berlin or the Pyotr Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in the Moscow Philharmonic. He has recorded several albums, recorded not only with the Piramidy band, but also with Polish actors. He composed the album "Dopokąd" for Krzysztof Tyniec and was the musical director of his band at the Ateneum Theatre in Warsaw. The album "Rok wojny" with his own lyrics premiered at the NATO Allied Joint Force Command military base in Brunssum for Polish soldiers commanding the mission in Afghanistan. He performed at the official celebrations of the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in the Fontanehaus in Berlin with his own piece "Charlie Checkpoint" and also at the Permanent Representation of the Republic of Poland to the UN in Geneva. Matczuk composed music for several dozen documentaries and several theater performances. He is also a valued producer and audiobook maker. During his previous tours of the West Coast, he appeared in solo concerts in Los Angeles, Yorba Linda, San Diego, and Las Vegas. He also played his own music in a theatre play “Życiorys” (A Biography) about the life of poet Zbigniew Herbert written and staged by actor Wojciech Wysocki.

Moonrise Press of Dr. Maja Trochimczyk

Established in 2008 in Los Angeles, Moonrise Press is a small press dedicated to publishing books of poetry and music with a focus on California and Poland. So far, the press issued 􀏐ive anthologies of poetry (including We Are Here: Village Poets Anthology and Crystal Fire. Poems of Joy and Wisdom), fourteen volumes of poems by a single author, nine non-􀏐iction books on Polish culture and history, and three of four volumes of Collected Plays by Polish playwright Kazimierz Braun. In 2023, the publication of a 440-page, English-language book by dr. Maja Trochimczyk, Celebrating Modjeska in California: A History of Helena Modjeska Art & Culture Club was supported by a grant from the Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland. Books are distributed by lulu.com, and are available on Amazon, etc.




Saturday, May 10, 2025

A Brief Biography of Leonidas Dudarew-Ossetynski (1910-1989) in "Celebrating Modjeska in California"

 
Lost portrait by Lucy Dzierzkowska, photo from Valerie Dudarew-Ossetynska Hunken

The 2023 history of Modjeska Art & Culture Club, Celebrating Modjeska in California: History of Helena Modjeska Art & Culture Club (2023), featured a chapter dedicated to the biography of Leonidas Dudarew-Ossetynski (1910-1989). Founder and Honorary President of the Modjeska Art & Culture Club. fragments of paper, "Polish Émigrés in California: Leonidas Dudarew-Ossetyński's Modjeska Players and the Helena Modjeska Art & Culture Club," presented at the 6th World Congress of Polish Studies organized by PIASA in Warsaw, Poland June 2024.  

Presentation at PIASA Conference, June 2024.

Born on 22 October 1910, in the Niebajki family estate in the Grodno district near Wilno (now Vilnius in Lithuania, then part of Russian Empire), Leonidas Dudarew-Ossetyński was raised in Poland; he was, among others, a graduate of the Drama Academy of Wilno and student at the Stefan Batory University in Wilno. Not all information about Ossetyński’s early years is confirmed. Some biographers claim that he was a graduate of the National Academy of Theater in Warsaw. His typed-in “Vitae” from about 1980, mentions studies in literature at the Sorbonne and at the Dullin Experimental School of Drama, both of which are located in Paris. According to his biography published in the Almanac 1988-1989, in the years 1936-1937 Dudarew was an actor at the Municipal Theater in Toruń. As “Leonid Dudarew”, he appeared in a variety of roles, as romantic lead, ruler, or villain. 

Ossetynski as Kosciuszko in Valley Forge film.

The outbreak of WWII found him in Paris so he joined the Polish Army in France, but was soon arrested and placed in POW camp in Morocco. In 1943 thanks to efforts of friends, he was able to leave for America. Upon arriving in the U.S. he changed his name from Leonid Dudarew to Leonidas Dudarew-Ossetynski. After arriving in New York, Ossetyński joined a group of Polish actors in exile, cinema, and theater stars of the Second Polish Republic, who established the Polish Theater of Artists on 22 November 1942. He was a managing director there, appeared in several plays and directed as well. Soon he joined the American Army, working as a translator. He also wrote various short stories, and newspaper features for Polish American press. 

Ossetynski's portrait by Szukalski, ca. 1955.

In 1946, the actor-journalist married Elizabeth Huguley (1920-2002) who was his witness at the U.S. citizenship ceremony; they had one daughter together, Valerie Dudarew-Ossetyńska Hunken.  To support his family, Ossetyński established a restaurant called Wilno in Agoura, Los Angeles County, t hat served as a meeting point for actors and Polish émigrés, and had a small performance stage. The Wilno Restaurant was frequented by the creative elite of Polonia, including artist Stanisław Szukalski (1893-1987), Maria Werten (1888-1949), actor-director Romuald Gantkowski, actress Pola Negri (1897-1987), and dancer Loda Halama (1911-1996).

Opening of Wilno Restaurant, with wife Elizabeth Hughley and Mikhail Chekhov, 1947.

 In 1947, Ossetyński started working for the Actors Studio of the famous acting teacher, Michael Chekhov (Mikhail Aleksandrovich; 1891–1955), a nephew of the Russian playwright, Anton Chekhov. This creative relationship continued until Chekhov’s death in 1955 and provided the Polish émigré with experience and relationships to open his own Ossetynski Actors Laboratory.

Modjeska Players logo by Szukalski on the cover of 1955 
Modjeska Memorial Program. Modejska Club Archives.

Ossetyński’s theatrical passion and reverence for the great star of Polish and American stages was apparent already when he chose Modjeska as the patron of his first Californian theater troupe. The actor founded his own theater group the Modjeska Players / Teatr im. Heleny Modrzejewskiej in 1954, with a Polish actress Lidia Próchnicka (1920-1994), whom he recruited from South America; she came to California from Chile upon his invitation and with his support. They staged plays in English and Polish and toured the U.S. and Canada for more than three years, giving several hundreds of performances with a program entitled From Fredro to the Uprising. It was a theatrical evening consisting of poems and three one-act plays – Fraszkopis, Visits at Dusk, The Candle Went Out – and Zbigniew Jasiński’s poem “Song of the Uprising.”  

Cover of "White Eagle with drawing of OSsetynski and Prochnicka on a Pegasus, 1957.

The logo for the Modjeska Players was designed by Stanisław Szukalski  who also made plans for the monument to Helena Modjeska, which Ossetyński proposed to erect in Hollywood; the actor was an active member of the Helena Modjeska Commemoration Committee of 1949, later becoming the initiator and Executive Secretary of its successor, the Helena Modjeska Memorial Committee  established in 1954. This project did not come to fruition.

Pola Negri after the premiere of first play by Modjeska Players 1955.

A collage of news items about Ossetynski and Prochnicka's tours with Modjeska Players.

Aleksander Janta-Polczynski, Lidia Prochnicka, Leonidas Dudarew-Ossetynski, 1958.

The departure of Próchnicka for New York in 1957 put an end to the Modjeska Players’ tours but not to their collaboration, and certainly not to Lidia’s stage and film career. In New York, Próchnicka became the Polish announcer for the Voice of America where she worked for 18 years; she also played many comic roles on off-Broadway stages and appeared in numerous films and TV series.  Ossetyński traveled between California and the East Coast to direct several Polish plays in English translations on the off-Broadway scene. Throughout this period, he conducted extensive correspondence with the luminaries of Polish culture, such as playwright Sławomir Mrożek (1930-2013), whose play Policjanci (The Police) Ossetyński translated in 1960 and directed in 1961. 

Jerzy Grotowski and Leonidas Dudarew-Ossetynski, 1973.

About 10 years after his marriage to Elizabeth Hughley, Ossetynski divorced.  He later married again in late 1960s to Teresa Domanska who followed him to California from Poland. After returning from New York to Los Angeles in 1964, Ossetyński developed a unique teaching method in his own acting studio, Ossetynski Actors Laboratory, inspired in its name and a syncretic approach to acting by the experimental work of legendary theater director Jerzy Grotowski. He also drew from the method of Michael Chekhov, based on Stanislavsky’s approach.  In 1966, the émigré actor traveled to Poland for the first time after WWII; during this visit he attended many theatrical performances, met with directors and actors, and performed for the Polish Radio Theater.  In all, he Visited the Polish People’s Republic three times: in 1966, 1977, and 1986 – the latter two times with the Ossetynski Actors Lab and his students. During these travels, with great enthusiasm he attended theater plays, met with actors and directors, the students gave workshops for host theaters such as Gardzienice, or Teatr Kto, and the director gave interviews for the press and television programs while gathering information about fascinating avant-garde experiments in Polish theater. 

1973 invitation to an event about Maciejewski's Requiem.

Ossetynski, Roman Meciejewski and Stefanie Powers, 1973.

In order to promote Polish theater and culture in California, Ossetynski needed a group of like-minded people who would share his passion for the arts.  The idea of creating the Modjeska Club emerged in 1971 and the actor gave credit in his farewell speech as the Club’s first president in 1978 to four people: himself, composers Stefan Pasternacki and Waclaw Gazinski as well as Eugenia Domachowska. For the first eight years of activity in the Modjeska Club, 1971-1978, Dudarew-Ossetyński was its President and the driving force behind its projects: he invited outstanding personalities to cooperate on the Board, while planning and implementing its programs. Artistic Advisory Board included Pasternacki, Szukalski, and Stefan Wenta. Notable ents featured Sławomir Mrożek’s play Emigranci (The Émigrés) that was given its unofficial world premiere in 1973 in the Reading Theater of the Modjeska Club. In a year, this play took worldwide theater stages by storm; but its humble beginnings are inseparably connected to the Modjeska Club. 

Similarly, the invitation of director Jerzy Grotowski to the U.S., his subsequent explorations of American theater, and experiments involving actors and the audience as equally significant participants in the theatrical ritual and psychological experiment, may also be credited to Ossetyński.  In 1973, Grotowski conducted an eight-hour workshop with Modjeska Club members and Ossetynski's students. In 1975, a massive group of nearly 240 musicians performed the monumental Requiem by Roman Maciejewski at the Los Angeles Music Center, to great critical acclaim; Dudarew-Ossetynski spent a decade, since 1965 as leader of a committee that organized this performance in collaboration with the Master Chorale, Roger Wagner, and the Modjeska Club. Artur Rubinstein was the honorary chairman of this organization. 

Rubinstein, Maciejewski, Ossetynski after the performance of Requiem.

Ossetynski presents Roman Maciejewski with a gold watch, with Maciejewski's brother.

In 1977, the OAL took its students with Stefanie Powers on a two-month tour of Poland, with a repertoire of acting etudes. He gave 15 lectures in various Polish cities, including: Warsaw, Łódź, Kraków, Poznań, Ełk, Łomża, Szczecin, Wrocław, and Zielona Góra. During this trip, Ossetyński and his students spent time with Grotowski at his Teatr Laboratorium reinforcing earlier connection of 1973. The group’s founder and leader was interviewed for Przekrój, Ekran, Kultura and Poland magazines; he also appeared in a Polish TV program, Pegaz (Pegasus). The actor-director was far more interested in promoting and teaching theater than in organizing small cultural events in the Modjeska Club.

On 17 November 1978 Ossetyński resigned from the Club’s presidency. On this occasion, he gave a speech, full of interesting remarks about the purpose and mission of the Club, as well as descriptions of its past projects and accomplishments. He did not hide his embittered feelings due to the lack of interest by the Club members in volunteer work for the promotion of Polish culture. After the first President’s resignation, Dr. Andrzej Mikulski took over the helm of the organization but died within a month. Then, a Board member Jerzy Gąssowski was elected President in December 1978; he served for four successive one-year terms until 1983. During that time, the Club’s programs were greatly diminished in scope and number; its membership plummeted; and a mood of crisis permeated its activities. 

The Board (or its reminder, after a spate of resignations), continued to work closely not with the Modjeska Club’s Founder and first President, but with his former wife, Teresa Domańska-Ossetyński; their divorce took place in 1981. Meanwhile, Ossetyński temporarily retained the title of Honorary President, but on 13 November 1981 by the decision of the Board, he was formally removed from the Club’s membership, including the withdrawal of his honorary title. Alas, upon a review of subsequent Modjeska Club publications, there is indication that the removing of its founder and first President from membership and any association with the Modjeska Club was not enough to satisfy his detractors. They continued to attack his reputation, diminish and distort his contributions, and pretend that none of what he did to promote Polish culture in California ever mattered.

Satirical image from 25th Anniversary of the Cub, 1996.

The Modjeska Club occupied Dudarew-Ossetynski's time in the 1970s, from 1971 to 1978.  His final, unfinished project was a book of recollections and tributes for Aleksander Janta-Połczyński that was meant to be edited by Prof. Tymon Terlecki of the University of Chicago and include entries by 44 authors. The book was conceived of in 1976 but abandoned after the Club’s founder abruptly departed from his post in November 1978. A well-regarded literary scholar, Jerzy Krzyżanowski took over the project and brought it to fruition: the anthology was published in 1982 in London, with most of the original essays included, among them Ossetyński’s fascinating text about Janta and theater.

Krafftowna in "Matka" by Witkacy, 1983. Courtesy of Witkacologia website. 

Poster for "Matka" by Leonard Konopelski. Courtesy of Witkacologia website.

The most significant project that Ossetyński worked on after leaving the Club was undoubtedly the staging of Witkacy’s Matka (The Mother) in September-November 1983. His interest in the work of Witkacy (full name: Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, 1885-1939) was expressed earlier by using the play Wariat i Zakonnica (The Madman and the Nun) for workshops in his Actors Laboratory in 1980-83. In 1982, the visionary actor-director decided to introduce Witkacy’s surrealist theater to Los Angeles. He invited actress Barbara Krafftówna (1928-2022) to Los Angeles to appear in Matka’s title role the following year.  The play was staged in Safe Harbor Theater by a 20-person team led by Ossetyński,  between 23 September and 12 November 1983. The original one-month run was extended by two weeks due to high demand and sold-out performances. 

This surrealist play won ten prizes in a competition organized by a theatrical magazine Drama-Logue (“Seventh Annual Drama-Logue Critics’ Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Theater”): for production, direction, co-production, translation, three main roles (of Matka, Leon, and Zofia), costumes, make-up, and masks. Clearly, it was the best theatrical production of 1983. But the Modjeska Club had nothing to do with it. Its founder died in 1989.

With Barbara Krafftówna (1928-2022)  after the premiere of Matka’ 1983.  


Stanislaw Szukalski and Leonidas Dudarew-Ossetynski

In 2011, in the application to award the founder of our Club the Golden Cross of Merit, as the President of the Club at that time, I wrote: "Leonidas Dudarew-Ossetyński founded the Helena Modjeska Art and Culture Club to promote Polish culture and art in Los Angeles. He invited well-known actors and activists from the Polish community to cooperate and quickly transformed the new organization into the most important site for the promotion of Polish culture in California. He served as the President of the Club in the years 1971-1978 […] He directed and acted in many theatrical productions. Thanks to his efforts, the possibilities of promoting Polish culture in California have been expanded."

A higher-ranked medal, the Cavalier Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland, was awarded to Ossetyński posthumously and presented to his daughter, Valerie Dudarew-Ossetyńska Hunken, after its unveiling during the award ceremony at the residence of the Consul General of the Republic of Poland, Joanna Kozińska-Frybes, held on 15 March 2013.

Imaginary portrait of Ossetynski by Stanislaw Szukalski.

My efforts to restore the good name of actor, director, journalist and promoter of culture did not end with the medal.  His titles as Honorary Member, Founder and Honorary President of the Modjeska Club was fully restored in 2024. The resolution was approved by the Board of Directors of Helena Modjeska Art & Culture Club in Los Angeles on 24 August 2023 for vote of the General Meeting.  It was then approved by a majority vote at the Special General Meeting of the Modjeska Club on 24 FEbruary 2024 in Tujunga, CA, with 83 votes for and 22 votes against. With the total of 105 votes cast and active membership of 125 persons, this was an  expression of an overwhelming support in favor of honoring Ossetynski.

~ By Maja Trochimczyk, based on fragments of paper, "Polish Émigrés in California: Leonidas Dudarew-Ossetyński's Modjeska Players and the Helena Modjeska Art & Culture Club," presented at the 6th World Congress of Polish Studies organized by PIASA in Warsaw, Poland June 2024.  The paper is an updated version of a biography of Dudarew-Ossetynski included in Celebrating Modjeska in California: History of Helena Modjeska Art & Culture Club (2023), written after extensive archival research and with tremendous support and encouragement of his daughter, Valerie Dudarew-Ossetynska Hunken.  Photos are from her archives, some also preserved at the Polish Museum of America, where LDO Papers are now located.  

Henry Vars fixes Ossetynski's tie, 1970s.



Friday, April 4, 2025

Kazimierz Braun - Collected Plays. Vol. 3. Theater of Women Artists - Published in April 2025

 

ISBN 978-1-945938-68-9 (hardcover), 250 pages, $50.00
 ISBN 978-1-945938-69-6 (paperback), 250 pages, $40.00
ISBN 978-1-945938-70-2 (eBook, PDF), $20.00  

Moonrise Press announces the publication  of "Theater of Women Artists" is the third volume of Kazimierz Braun's collected dramas in a bilingual edition in Polish and English. It contains dramatic recounting of the fates and works of outstanding Polish female artists— the excellent painter Tamara Łempicka, a master of the "Art Deco" style; silent film actress Pola Negri, the brightest star in Hollywood in the 1920s; the most famous Polish singer of the 1930s, Hanka Ordonówna ("Ordonka"); and two excellent actresses for whom there was no place in Poland after the introduction of martial law in 1981, who found themselves in emigration but did not stop dreaming about the stage. All these are fascinating women, so different and expressing themselves in different artistic genres, yet, at the same time—so similar in their passion for artistic perfection and transcending themselves in their art. The four plays are entitled: 1) Tamara L., 2) Pola Negri Tales, 3) The Return of Ordonka, 4) American Dreams. 

CONTENTS

SPIS TREŚCI
Teatr Artystek ————————————   —   —1
Tamara L .—————————————   — —— 3
Opowieści Poli Negri   ————————— — — 31
Powrót Ordonki  —————————— ——  —  63
American Dreams —————————  ————97
Nota o autorze ———————— —  ——  —— 243

CONTENTS
Theater of Women Artists——————  —  —  —125
Tamara L.————————————————   127
Pola Negri Tales—————————————— 153
The Return of Ordonka—-- —————————  183
American Dreams ————————————— 217
Note About the Author  ———— ——  ——  —-- 243

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kazimierz Braun is a director, writer and theater historian. He studied Polish Literature and Directing. He earned his doctorate at the University of Poznań, and his habilitation at the University of Wrocław; he also obtained a habilitation in directing at the State Drama School in Warsaw. He holds the title of full professor both in Poland and the United States. He directed over 150 theater productions in Poland—in theaters in Gdańsk, Kraków, Lublin, Łódź, Tarnów, Toruń, Warsaw—and in the USA, Canada, Germany, Ireland, and other countries. He was the Artistic Director and General Manager of the City Theater of J. Osterwa in Lublin and the Contemporary Theater in Wrocław. He lectured at the universities in Poland and the United States, including the University of Wrocław, Drama School Kraków-Wrocław, University of California, City University of New York, New York University, University at Buffalo. He is the author of over 70 books on the history and practice of theater, as well as novels, poetry and dramas published in several languages. His dramas were produced in Poland, the USA, Canada. and Ireland. He has received a number of artistic, literary and scholarly awards, including awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, Fulbright Foundation, Turzański Foundation, Japanese Foundation, and the London Prize for Literature.


TAMARA L.

Tamara L. is dedicated to an existential crisis of values and faith in the life of Polish painter Tamara  Lempicka, famous for her elegant "Art Deco" portraits and scenes.  She confronts her life choices with a Catholic nun, Mother Superior of the convent where she resides, while working on a painting. 

Woman with Arms Crossed by Tamara de Lempicka, 1939, 
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Tamara Łempicka (16 June 1894 – 18 March 1980), born Tamara Rozalia Gurwik-Górska, was born in Warsaw, Poland, married Tadeusz Łempicki, an attorney working in St. Petersburg; then moved to Paris and studied painting with Maurice Denis and André Lhote. After her divorce, she married Baron Raoul Kuffner with whom she moved to the U.S. after the outbreak of World War II in 1939.  Her personal style had roots in cubism and neoclassicism and is most often associated with Art Deco; she is well known for portraits and still life paintings. In 1974 she moved to Mexico where she died in 1980. More information: https://www.delempicka.org/tamaras-life/ 


POLA NEGRI TALES


The play about the life and career of Poland's most famous film star of the 1920s and 1930s is the actress's monologue,, reminiscing about her career and romantic affairs, most famously with Valentino, and ending with a conversation with her mother. The play is divided into eight acts, each starting with a silent-film-style caption and is illustrated with fragments from her film roles: in the following films: Madame Du Barry, Sumurun , A Woman of the World, The Spanish Dancer, Mazurka and A Woman Commands. 

Pola Negri was the first European actress that signed a Hollywood contract (with Paramount). Born Barbara Apolonia Chałupiec (3 January 1897 – d. 1 August 1987 , she was was a stage and film actress and singer. She become world-famous during the silent era of Hollywood. She also appeared in films made in Europe. She was noted for her tragic roles, often becoming a femme fatale, of infinite and destructive erotic charm. 

THE RETURN OF ORDONKA


The Return of Ordonka recounts the career, artistic triumphs, war-time suffering and illness of Hanka Ordonowna, Poland's most famous cabaret and musical star, endowed with great stage charisma and enchanting voice. The narrator is her friend. The singer appears on stage in a series of her most famous songs - requiring the actress playing her to be an excellent singer or the use of film and recording inserts. 

Hanka Ordonówna, nicknamed Ordonka was born as Maria Anna Pietruszyńska on 4 August 1902 in Warsaw (d. 8 September 1950 in Beirut). She was a cabaret and popular singer, dancer and actress. She started her stage career as a dancer, and with the guidance of director and producer Fryderyk Jarosy became the star of cabaret Qui Pro Quo, and recorded many popular songs, including the most famous song of Poland, "Love with forgive you everything" to text by poem Julian Tuwim and music by Henryk Vars.  In 1931, she married Count Michał Tyszkiewicz, who wrote many of her songs; she also wrote poems and song lyrics and music all her life. She was deported to Soviet Union camp during world War II, joined the "Anders" Army - the Second Polish Corps that was allowed to leave and take Polish families and orphans with them. Of her books, only the collection of short stories inspired by her work as teacher and guardian of these orphans on the way to refugee camp in India has been published in Polish. During her imprisonment she got sick with tuberculosis, and finally died of this illness in 1950 in Beirut, Lebanon. .