Nina Arianda, Ellen Burstyn, Kim Cattrall & More to Lead Staged Reading of OUR CLASS During Holocaust Remembrance Week

Following critically-acclaimed runs at London's National Theater and Philadelphia's The Wilma Theater along with recognition in Israel and throughout Europe, The Temple Emanu-El Skirball Center and the Polish Cultural Institute New York present a one-night-only staged reading of Our Class by Tadeusz Slobodzianek. The cast includes Tony-winner Nina Arianda; Emmy, Oscar and Tony-winner Ellen Burstyn; Golden Globe winner Kim Cattrall; Obie winner Alvin Epstein; Obie winner Brian Murray; television stars John Pankow and Hunter Parrish; Obie winner Austin Pendleton. The staged reading is directed by Cosmin Chivu with original music by Jesse Selengut.

Making its New York City debut during Holocaust Remembrance Week, Our Class is the Nike Literary award-winning Polish play that follows a group of ten classmates, Catholics and Jews, from 1925 to the present. Victims and perpetrators are bound together and grow up in a country torn apart by the effects of war, betrayal, cruelty and repression. The play is inspired by true events and it is based on Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland by Jan Tomasz Gross.

Following the performance, the award-winning writer Tadeusz Slobodzianek will speak about his creative process and will answer questions from the audience. A preshow seminar will be conducted by Irena Grudzinska Gross, PhD, a Princeton University professor and celebrated scholar of Judaica, on issues of war, violence, and nation-state ideologies in East-Central Europe of 20th century.

The one-night-only staged reading of Our Class will take place on Monday, April 13 at 7pm at The Temple Emanu-El Skirball Center, located at 10 East 66th Street in Manhattan. Tickets are $35 for general admission and $18 for students. $100 tickets are also available and include reserved seating plus entry to a reception with the artists following the reading. Tickets can be purchased by visiting emanuelskirballnyc.org or by calling 212.507.9580.

The event is co-produced by The Temple Emanu-El Skirball Center and the Polish Cultural Institute New York. Profits from the reading will be donated to the UJA's Community Initiative for Holocaust Survivors, which provides funds for agencies supporting survivors, including the significant portion living in poverty.

Playwright, director and theater critic Tadeusz Slobodzianek has received many international awards including 'Nike' Literary Award for his play Nasza klasa / Our Class (2010), the Fringe First Award won with the Wierszalin Society at the Edinburgh festival (1993 and 1995), 'Polityka' Passport Award (1993), Stanis?aw Pi?tak Prize (1993) and the Ko?cielski Foundation Prize for lifetime achievements in drama and theatre arts. In 2010 he became the artistic director of the Teatr na Woli theatre in Warsaw and in May 2012 he was appointed the artistic director of the Gustaw Holoubek Dramatic Theatre in Warsaw.

Director Cosmin Chivu has directed over 50 productions in America, Austria, England, Germany, Greece, Italy, Romania, and Thailand. One of his recent projects The Mutilated by Tennessee Williams was nominated for the 2014 Drama League Awards in the Best Revival category and was the New York Times and Time Out critic's pick. In America Chivu has directed over 30 plays in New York City (Lincoln Center 3, Cherry Lane, The Actors Studio, HERE Arts Center, UBU Rep), Massachusetts (The Provincetown T. Williams Festival, KO Festival), California, and New Jersey.