Multiculturalism, Polish Style

Multiculturalism, Polish Style

In the tiny Polish town of Sejny, close to the borders of Lithuania and Belarus, the Borderland Foundation was founded in 1990, just after the fall of communism, to promote understanding and a sharing of culture between the Jews, Poles, Lithuanians, Roma and others who historically lived on this land. Now, the Foundation is mounting the American debut of its play, “Sejny Chronicles,” as part of the “Borderlanders: Finding Their Voice” festival, organized by the Polish Cultural Institute in New York.

“Sejny Chronicles” began as a workshop in the late 1990s, when local teenagers interviewed their parents and grandparents about the multicultural heritage of their city. They built clay models of the various buildings of Sejny, which include a former yeshiva, Hebrew school and synagogue; the complex houses the Foundation’s offices. And the play, performed by teenagers from the 1990s until today, draws on these models as windows into the rich past of this town.

Directed by Bozena Szroeder, the play has been performed throughout Poland and Europe, and the Polish theater critic Roman Pawlowski wrote of it in Gazeta Wyborcza: “One could utter an infinite number of beautiful speeches about the need for tolerance, about the meaning of tradition, about the respect for other cultures, faiths and nations. But these would only be words compared to this spectacle in which materializes the dream of the multicultural and tolerant Poland.”

The Borderland Foundation’s founder, Krzysztof Czyzewski, who is in town for the festival, told The Jewish Week of the centrality of Jews within the various ethnicities and cultures found in historical Sejny. He hopes American audiences will recognize that, “in a globalized world we are easily separate, living in different islands, ghettos, cultures. But the way to create common tissue between these is to create another level of communication. So I hope this is something we can share with New Yorkers.”

As for how a dramatic interpretation of history can influence the future, “we should somehow touch these wounds, this memory, touch the center inside. Without that, all our work would be somehow useless or inauthentic. We are trying to tame, or heal, these wounds.” 
The Festival will also include an evening of poetry, a series of films about identity and a talk at the New School for Social Research by Czyzewski. 

“Sejny Chronicles” runs at La MaMa E.T.C. (74A E. Fourth St.) through April 20. For tickets call (212) 475-7710 or go to www.lamama.org. For the rest of the Borderlanders Festival information, go to polishculture-nyc.org. 

by Carolyn Slutsky, The Jewish Week - New York, 9 April 2008