CUNY Presents AN EVENING WITH THEATRE OF THE EIGHTH DAY 10/27

The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center of the Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York presents AN EVENING WITH THEATRE OF THE EIGHTH DAY on Monday, October 27 at 6:30pm. This is a free event, first come, first served.

Poland's venerable Theatre of the Eighth Day present a short excerpt from their new work, THE FILES, and screenings of their past work, followed by a discussion with the company and Professor Daniel Gerould, The Graduate Center, CUNY, moderated by Professor Carol Martin, New York University.

Founded in 1964 in Poznañ, Theatre of the Eighth Day was one of the most significant groups of the student theater movement from which Polish alternative theater arose. Their willingness to speak with their own voice about the surrounding world got the group into trouble with the Communist state apparatus, even though it had never been intended as a political theater of opposition. Kept under surveillance by the secret police, plagued by the regular police, and accused of committing common crimes, the theater managed to create some of the most important Polish performances of the 1970s.

The Files (2007) is based on actual Secret Police reports on the theater's activity written during the period from 1975 to 1983 (reports that also covered the actors' contacts, friendships, and meetings), juxtaposed with actors' private letters from the time the reports were being written, as well as excerpts from the performances to which the reports referred. This extraordinary, historic troupe has created a sardonic docudrama on their art as seen through the eyes of the police. The Files will be performed in English at MADE IN POLAND: a Festival of New Polish Plays at 59E59 Theaters from October 22 - November 9, 2008.

Presented by the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center, The Graduate Center, CUNY in collaboration with The Polish Cultural Institute in New York.

The Polish Cultural Institute, established in New York in 2000, is a diplomatic mission to the United States, serving under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland. The Institute is dedicated to nurturing and promoting cultural ties between the United States and Poland, both through American exposure to Poland's cultural achievements, and through exposure of Polish artists and scholars to American trends, institutions, and professional counterparts. The Institute takes an active collaborative role in the organization, promotion, and actual production of a broad range of cultural events in theater, music, film, literature, and the fine arts. To learn more, please visit http://www.polishculture-nyc.org.

MADE IN POLAND: a Festival of New Polish Plays is the most comprehensive introduction to contemporary Polish playwriting ever presented in the United States, both as to themes addressed and the diversity of talent represented. The festival offers a chance to see Polish playwriting through both Polish and American eyes: besides the performances of The Files, there is also an American production of the Polish hit, Made In Poland (from The Play Company), and an American-Polish collaboration on two hit one-act plays, Sandbox and The First Time (from the Immigrants' Theatre Project). For more information, please visit http://www.59e59.org.

The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center (MESTC), The Graduate Center, CUNY, is a non-profit center for theatre, dance, and film affiliated with CUNY's Ph.D. Program in Theatre. Originally founded in 1979 as the Center for Advanced Studies in Theatre Arts (CASTA), it was renamed in March of 1999 in recognition of one of New York City's outstanding leaders of the arts. The Center's primary focus is to bridge the gap between the academic and professional performing arts communities by providing an open environment for the development of educational, community-driven, and professional projects in the performing arts. As a result, MESTC is home to theatre scholars, students, playwrights, actors, dancers, directors, dramaturgs, and performing arts managers, as well as both the local and international theatre communities. The Center presents staged readings to further the development of new and classic plays, lecture series, televised seminars featuring professional and academic luminaries, and arts in education programs, and maintains its long-standing visiting-scholars-from-abroad program. In addition, the Center publishes a series of highly regarded academic journals, as well as books, including plays in translation, all written and edited by renowned scholars.

The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center of the Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York is located at 365 Fifth Avenue, New York. For more information, visit http://web.gc.cuny.edu/mestc.

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