ISBN 978-1-945938-72-6 (paperback)
ISBN 978-1-945938-73-3 (eBook, PDF)
Dramaty Zebrane. Collected Plays. Tom 4. Volume 4. Teatr Pamięci. Theater of Memory by Kazimierz Braun is a bilingual collection of plays published by Moonrise Press in September 2025 completes the four-part Collected Plays bilingual edition in Polish and English.
This is the fourth volume of the collection that includes also:
Tom 1. Volume 1. Teatr Jednego Atora. Plays for One Actor.
Tom 2. Volume 2. Teatr Niezgody. Theater of Discord.
Tom 3. Volume 3. Teatr Artystek. Theater of Women Artists.
All four volumes include the same brief dedication in English and Polish:
We Wstępie do swego dramatu Pierścień Wielkiej-Damy pisze Cyprian Norwid: „…idzie dziś o dzieła dramatyczne, które by nie mniejszy dla osobnego czytania i dla gry scenicznej przedstawiały interes”. Tak i ja myślę. Ofiarowuję te dramaty zarówno czytelnikom, jak ludziom teatru: reżyserom, aktorom, scenografom, producentom.
K.B.
In the Introduction to his drama The Ring of a Great Lady, Cyprian Norwid writes: "... as I see it, today we’re in need of dramatic works that would be no less interesting for a private reading as well as for a stage performance." So do I think. I am offering these dramas both to readers and to people of the theater: directors, actors, set designers, producers.
K.B.
CONTENTS OF VOLUME 4 - THEATER OF MEMORY (416 p.)
ISBN 978-1-945938-71-9 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-945938-72-6 (paperback)
ISBN 978-1-945938-73-3 (eBook, PDF)
SPIS TREŚCITeatr Pamięci — 1
Niewyznane Zwierzenia — 3
Promieniowanie. Rzecz o Marii Skłodowskiej-Curie — 17
Dzieci Paderewskiego — 37
Paderewski Wraca — 77
Płonący Anioł. Rzecz o Leonie Schillerze — 121
Szkło Bolesne. Opowieść Matki o Powstaniu Warszawskim — 161
Nota o autorze — 409
CONTENTS
Theater of Memory — 207
Unconfessed Confession — 209
Radiation. The Story of Maria Skłodowska-Curie — 219
Paderewski’s Children — 239
Paderewski’s Return — 277
An Angel in Fire. A Story of Leon Schiller — 321
The Warsaw Uprising. A Mother’s Story — 363
Note About the Author — 409
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Teatr pamięci to czwarty tom zbioru dramatów Kazimierza Brauna. Zawiera on sztuki, w których autor zaprasza czytelnika lub widza, aby towarzyszyli włoskim aktorom Commedii dell Arte, występującym w Paryżu w latach 1730.; aby stanęli w pobliżu potężnego geniuszu uczonej Marii Skłodowskiej-Curie; aby byli świadkami losów i dzieł wielkiego pianisty, kompozytora i męża stanu Ignacego Paderewskiego; zadumali się nad losem wielkiego reżysera Leona Schillera; znaleźli się w Warszawie szykującej się do Powstania w 1944 r., a następnie bohatersko walczącej z niemieckim najeźdźcą.
Kazimierz Braun jest reżyserem, pisarzem i teatrologiem. Prowadził teatry i reżyserował w Polsce, a także w Ameryce, Irlandii, Kanadzie, Niemczech i innych krajach. Uczył na uniwersytetach w kraju i w USA. Wydał liczne książki z historii i teorii teatru. W jego dorobku pisarskim znajdują się również powieści, opowiadania, dramaty i poezje. Jego sztuki były wystawiane w Polsce, Irlandii Kanadzie i USA.
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Theater of Memory is the fourth volume of a collection of dramas by Kazimierz Braun. It includes plays in which the author invites the reader / spectator to accompany the Italian actors of the Commedia dell Arte performing in Paris in the 1730s; to stand close to the powerful genius of the scientist Maria Skłodowska-Curie; to witness the fate and works of the great pianist, composer and statesman Ignacy Paderewski to pondered over the fate of the great director Leon Schiller; to find themselves in Warsaw preparing for the Uprising in 1944, and then heroically fighting the German invaders.
Kazimierz Braun is a director, writer and scholar. He was artistic director and general manager of professional theatres in Poland. He directed in Poland, the United States, Canada, Ireland, Germany, and other countries. He taught at Polish and American universities. He published several books on theatre history and theory, as well as novels, dramas, and poetry. His plays have been staged in Poland, USA, Canada, and Ireland.
CONTENTS OF VOLUME 3 - THEATER OF WOMEN ARTISTS (250 pages)
ISBN 978-1-945938-68-9 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-945938-69-6 (paperback)
ISBN 978-1-945938-70-2 (eBook, PDF)
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
ISBN 978-1-945938-65-8 (paperback)
ISBN 978-1-945938-67-2 (eBook, PDF)
SPIS TREŚCITeatr niezgody — 1Wiatr Niepodległości — 3Postscriptum: Powrót do domu — 26Lanckorońska — 28Internowani. Zły Sen — 55Bojkot. Dramat w dwóch częściach — 86Kwarantanna — 126Nota o autorze — 305CONTENTSTheater of Discord — 153Wind of Independence — 155Postscript: Returning Home — 178Lanckorońska — 180Internees. A Nightmare — 209Bojkot. Drama in Two Parts — 240Quarantine — 279Note About the Author — 305
ISBN 978-1-945938-63-4 (paperback)
ISBN 978-1-945938-64-1 (eBook, PDF)
SPIS TREŚCIMoje przygody w teatrze jednego aktora—3Sztuki dla aktorki — 15Królowa Emigrantka — 17Hollywood znaczy święty las — 57Sztuki dla aktora — 75Kościuszko. Naczelnik — 77Powrót Norwida — 97Sienkiewicz. Ku niepodległości — 115Mistrz Paderewski — 135Cela Ojca Maksymiliana — 151Nota o autorze — 357
CONTENTSMy Adventures With Plays For One Actor— 177Plays For An Actress — 187Emigrant Queen —— 189Hollywood Means The Sacred Forest — 237Plays For An Actor — 255Kościuszko. The Commander — 257Norwid Returns — 277Sienkiewicz. Towards Independence — 295Maestro Paderewski — 315Father Maximilian’s Cell —333Note About The Author — 357
Braun has been particularly attentive to Polish heroes associated with the restoration of Poland's independence in 1918. Three plays are about Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860-1941), pianist, composer and statesman credited with "resurrecting" Poland after 123 years of the country being divided between Russia, Prussia and Austria. A play for one actor "Maestro Paderewski" was written for the talented and dedicated Polish-American actor Marek Probosz, and conceived after their successful collaboration on the staging of "Norwid Returns" - a solo play dedicated to the tragic fate and timeless art of the great Romantic poet, Cyprian Kamil Norwid, 1821-1883). Two other plays are found in Vol. 4: "Paderewski's Children" (focusing on the patriotic activities during WWII of Stanislaw Dygat, 1914-1978, a writer, grandson of a 1863 insurgent, and one of the very few Paderewski's students), and "Paderewski's Return" (presenting the episode from the pianist's life when he supported the creation of Polish Army in Canada in 1917, it later became the Haller's Army and fought alongside Americans against the Germans in WWI).
The Nobel-Prize-winning novelist, Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846-1916) who was also active in Paderewski's patriotic committees, appears at the end of his life in Poland, when he is leaving his manor to its uncertain fate during WWI ("Henryk Sienkiewicz - Towards Independence" in Vol. 1). Finally, a fascinating and little-known episode from Poland's struggle for independence is found in Braun's family history: the "Wind of of Independence" presents his family's patriotic activities in Tarnow during the turmoil when WWI ended, Poles rose in an insurrection and Austrian troops withdrew.
The great heroes of Polish history whose pivotal moments and experiences are captured by Kazimierz Braun include General Tadeusz Kosciuszko (1746-1817), a hero of the American Revolutionary War who fought for Poland's independence in 1794, was imprisoned for two years and sent back to America by the Tsar (this play definitely should be staged in 2026, the 250th anniversary of American Independence). "Father Maximilian's Cell" presents the tragic fate of Father Maximilian Maria Kolbe OFMConv. (1894-1941), a Catholic Saint murdered in German NAZI Auschwitz Concentration Camp, where he volunteered to replace another man who was a father and thus unwilling to die. These two great patriots of impeccable character and moral virtues are celebrated worldwide.
Countess Karolina Lanckoronska (1898-2002) is far less known, even though, her heroism and self-sacrifice were enormous. A heir of an aristocratic family and an art historian, during WWII she was arrested first by Soviets and then by Germans for her role in the Polish resistance movement. She escaped death twice but was finally arrested and spent long years imprisoned in Ravensbruck Concentration Camp for women, where she helped lift the prisoners' spirits by giving lectures about art and describing masterpieces of the past. When the Italian government intervened to free her from captivity, she refused and stayed in the camp along other prisoners to its liberation. After the war, she emigrated to Italy, where she established a foundation helping many Polish students.
Another great patriot was an actress, director, producer, celebrity and fashion icon, Helena Modrzejewska (1840-1909) known in America as Helena Modjeska, a Shakespearean actress of worldwide fame. Modjeska came to California in 1876 with a group of utopian-minded artists, Henryk Sienkiewicz among them, and since 1877 conquered the American stages, specializing in Shakespearean repertoire and giving thousands of performances. Her patriotic and anti-Russian speech at the World Columbian Exposition in 1893 in Chicago had her permanently banned from returning to her native Poland so she settled in California and continued to perform, as well as assist numerous artists in their budding careers. Modjeska's farewell to her beloved home of Arden in the Silverado Canyon area of Orange County before she moved to the Bay Island in Newport Beach, sets the stage for reminiscences about her past friendships, romances, and passions in a solo play, "Emigrant Queen." Polish emigre actresses Nina Polin and Maria Nowotarska became "Queens" and aptly impersonated Modjeska on the stage.
Several plays were written for two actresses from the Polish Salon of Poetry and Theater in Toronto, Maria Nowotarska (originally from The Old Theater in Krakow), and her daughter Agata Pilitowska. They toured the world with these plays, educating audiences about Polish history and culture, and helping emigres preserve Polish language and identity. Maria Sklodowska-Curie (1867-1934), a double Noble-Prize-winning scientist was seen in a dialogue with her daughter ("Radiation"). In other plays, a beautiful, and successful artistic celebrity is contrasted with an older figure, acting as a voice of conscience or memory. "Tamara L" pairs the flamboyant Art Deco painter Tamara de Lempicka (1894-1980) with Mother Superior. "The Return of Ordonka" highlights the successes of the Polish singer and film star Hanna Ordonowna (b. Maria Anna Pietruszyńska, 1902-1950) and her fate during WWII when she survived Soviet occupation by joining the Second Corps of Polish Army under General Anders and helping care for Polish war orphans evacuated from the Soviet gulags to safety in India or Iran. The greatest Polish star in inter-war Hollywood, Pola Negri (1897-1987) talks about her career, her romance with Rudolf Valentino, her interest in starring in German films in the 1930s, and career higlights. The play, illustrated with film fragments, truly brings the silent movie star to life.
The final "biographical" play traces the betrayal of youthful ideals during the onset of communism in Poland occupied by Soviet forces after 1945 - the influential theater director Leon Schiller (1887-1954). A devout Catholic in his youth, member of the Third Order of lay brothers of St. Francis, he made a complete turnaround during the Stalinist era of repressions, forceful introduction of "socialist realism" themes and rejection of all references to religion. White the characters are fictitious, the drama of youth sacrificing their lives for the nation in 1944, depicted in the "Warsaw Uprising" - seems very real, as it is based on a sublimation of thousands of tragedies of this tragic gesture - the underground Home Army fighters battled the overwhelming forces of Germans and Russians under their command for 63 days from 1 August 1944 to 3 October 1944. 18 thousands of fighters died, but over 200,000 civilians were massacred by German Nazi, Waffen SS, and RONA forces. Only the mother survives her children and visits the cemetery at the end of Braun's poignant, dramatic play.
The theme of betrayal of one's conscience and beliefs for the sake of a potential material and artistic success (that often never materializes due to the characters' tragic ending) appears in several plays without "real-life" characters. Plays about fictional characters place them in the liminal circumstances of imprisonment after the fall of Solidarity ("Internees. A Nightmare"), return to the stage after political betrayal ("Bojkot. Drama in Two Parts"), emigration to the U.S. in the 1980s ("American Dream" about two misguided actresses, and "Hollywood Means Sacred Forest" about one lost soul, that dreamed about American success after emigration without knowing the language), and the Covid 19 shutdowns, censorship and globalist takeover ("Quarantine"). In the latter play for two actors, "Sylvia" who remains faithful to her youthful ideals, and "Pierre" who sells his soul to the devil of success and fame, the "play in the play" is of the commedia dell'arte - a genre that fascinates Braun as a theater historian, and that is also explored in a brief comedy "Unconfessed Confession" about the genesis of modern theater.
With their wealth of imaginative settings, fascinating upright and fallen characters, dramas of conscience and choice, the four volumes of Collected Plays by Kazimierz Braun deserve to be studied, read, and performed by Poles worldwide for years to come.
