Jan Karski - French Institute Alliance Française

For Immediate ReleaseMedia Contact: Natascha Bodemann | 646 388 6677 | nbodemann@fiaf.orgwww.crossingtheline.orgFrench Institute Alliance Française (FIAF)in partnership with the Centre Dramatique National (CDN) in Orléansand the Cultural Services of the French Embassypresentsthe U.S. Premiere ofJan Karskidirected by Arthur Nauzycielbased on the novel by Yannick HaenelPerformed by Alexandra Gilbert, Arthur Nauzyciel,Daniel Pettrow, and James WaterstonAdapted by Arthur NauzycielChoreography by Damien JaletLighting Design by Roderick MurraySaturday, September 17 & Sunday, September 18, 2011 at 8:30pm972 Fifth Avenue“Arthur Nauzyciel is one of the most interesting directors today.” —Le MondeNew York, NY, August 26, 2011 – The French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF), New York’s premiereFrench cultural center, together with the Centre Dramatique National (CDN) in Orléans and the CulturalServices of the French Embassy, welcomes director Arthur Nauzyciel back to Crossing the Line for the thirdtime with the New York Premiere of Jan Karski . Based on the award-winning French novel Jan Karski byYannick Haenel and translated into English by Ian Monk (published in the U.S. under the title The Messenger),this site-specific staged reading will be held on September 17 and 18 at the historic Payne Whitney House onMuseum Mile, current home to the Cultural Services of the French Embassy.Adapted by Arthur Nauzyciel, Yannick Haenel’s novel melds history with prose and explores the spacebetween fiction and non-fiction, recounting the heroic acts of Jan Karski, a messenger of the Polish Resistancefor the exiled government in London who risked his life as early as 1942 to report to the Allies on theHolocaust. Karski left Poland for London and then the United States, where he met with President Roosevelt toshare his personal account of the Warsaw Ghetto and the extermination of the Jews. His mission was todeliver a message from two Jewish leaders of the Polish resistance in order to convince the Allies to act tosave the Jews.

Told in three parts, Haenel based the novel’s first chapter on Karski’s testimony in Claude Lanzmann’slandmark documentary Shoah and the second part on Karski’s own autobiography, Story of a Secret State (abestseller when it was first published in 1944), to tell the extraordinary story of this man, confronted with thepassivity of the democratic allies. In the third chapter of the book, Haenel imagines Karski’s inner monologues,touching on his life, from his romance with his wife and the difficulties he faced in publicizing the story of theJews to the outside world, to the guilt that haunted him for years afterwards.Deftly crossing the boundaries between fiction and non-fiction, The Messenger explores what it means toremain human in the midst of extreme brutality and indifference. This portrait of a man of exceptional courageand nobility, who bore witness to the darkest crimes of the twentieth century, is both profoundly disturbing anduplifting. Arnold ZableThis reading, starring Daniel Pettrow, James Waterston, and Arthur Nauzyciel, and featuring a solo dancechoreographed by Damien Jalet and performed by Alexandra Gilbert, echoes Nauzyciel’s acclaimed staging ofJan Karski (My Name is a Fiction), which opened the Avignon Festival in July 2011. The director adaptedHaenel’s novel for the stage, inviting viewers deeper into the story and exploring the ways in which fiction caninform our perception of history. Nauzyciel’s distanced, yet haunting adaptation for the stage confronts theviewer with the question of how the Allies could hear tragic stories like that of Karski, yet fail to act. NeitherHaenel nor Nauzyciel attempt to answer the question of why the West allowed the Holocaust to happen, butsimply underline the question, and repeat it for a new generation.“What you have seen, have you really seen it? What you have heard, is it possible? Such is [Jan Karski], greattheatre that grasps reality, an accomplished work coming from far away that opens and closes with dance … Adramatic, strange and entrancing poem for our times.” — Armelle Héliot, Le Figaro, on the stage productionThe partnership between FIAF’s Crossing the Line Festival and the Centre Dramatique National (CDN) createsa new platform to present vibrant contemporary French writing in New York. In 2010, Crossing the Linepresented the first plays by renowned CDN associated writers Denis Lachaud and Marie Darrieussecq.This year, it is the work of author Yannick Haenel...••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••About Arthur NauzycielArthur Nauzyciel was born in Paris in 1967. After studying visual arts and film, he enrolled at the school of theThéâtre National de Chaillot, then headed by Antoine Vitez. As an actor, he worked with Eric Vigner, AlainFrançon, Jacques Nichet, and Tsai Ming Liang. He directed his first production, Le Malade imaginaire ou lesilence de Molière, after Molière and Giovanni Macchia, at CDDB – Théâtre de Lorient in 1999. The productionwas reprised widely in France and abroad. In 2003, Nauzyciel directed Happy Days, starring Argentineanactress Marilù Marini, which was performed in France and reprised in Buenos Aires. In 2004, he directed Placedes Héros (Heldenplatz), marking playwright Thomas Bernhard’s introduction into repertory of the Comédie-Française. For the 2006 Centenary Beckett Festival, he premiered Samuel Beckett’s The Image in Dublin,reprised regularly since then (in Iceland in 2007, at the Les Grandes Traversées Dance Festival in France in2007, as part of FIAF’s Crossing the Line Festival in New York in 2008, in Orléans, and at the Etrange CargoFestival in Paris in 2011). In 2008, Nauzyciel premiered Kaj Munk’s Ordet (The Word) at the Avignon Festivalat the Cloître des Carmes, which was reprised at the CDN Orléans/Loiret/Centre and the 2009 Autumn Festivalin Paris.He has frequently worked in the United States, where he directed Bernard-Marie Koltès’ Black Battles WithDogs (Combat de nègre et de chiens) (2001) and Roberto Zucco in Atlanta, Mike Leigh’s Abigail’s Party (2007)and Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar (2008) in Boston for the American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.). Julius Caesarwas reprised for the opening of the season of the CDN Orléans/Loiret/Centre in 2009 and for the AutumnFestival in Paris the same year, and toured in France in 2010 and 2011. Nauzyciel premiered MarieDarrieussecq’s Le Musée de La Mer (The Sea Museum) at the national Theatre of Iceland in Reykjavik in

2009, reprised for the CDN and on tour in February 2011. He was invited by Franco Quadri to direct a projectwith young European actors within L’Ecole des Maîtres: he staged A Doll’s House by Ibsen, performed inLiège, Reims, Rome and Lisbon in the fall of 2009.Arthur Nauzyciel created Jan Karski (My Name is a Fiction), based on Yannick Haenel’s novel for the openingof the Festival d'Avignon 2011. He has also been a Villa Medicis Hors-les-Murs scholar. He has been thedirector of the Centre Dramatique National Orléans/Loiret/Centre since 2007.Within the Crossing the Line Festival, Arthur Nauzyciel presented The Image by Beckett, co-created withchoreographer Damien Jalet and starring Lou Doillon in 2008. He also directed a reading of Hetero by DenisLachaud in 2010: this site-specific performance, presented along with The Sea Museum (Le Musée de la mer)by Marie Darrieussecq, and directed by Daniel Pettrow, kicked off a new partnership between Crossing theLine and the Centre Dramatique National (CDN) in Orléans. This collaboration creates a new platform topresent vibrant contemporary French writing in New York. Last year, the first plays by renowned CDNassociated writers Denis Lachaud and Marie Darrieussecq had been featured. This year, it is the work ofYannick Haenel.About Yannick HaenelYannick Haenel was born in 1967. Together with François Meyronnis, Haenel has been the editor of theliterary journal Ligne de Risque, which they founded in 1997. Haenel is the author of Cercle (Gallimard, 2007),Les petits soldats (La Table Ronde, 1996), Introduction à la mort française (Gallimard, 2001), A mon seul désir(Argol, 2005), Evoluer parmi les avalanches (Gallimard, 2003), and Le sens du calme (Mercure de France,2011). He was awarded the Décembre 2007 prize for the novel Cercle, and the Interallié and Fnac prizes forJan Karski in 2009. In the spring of 2011, Haenel participated in the panel discussion The Original Copy:Borrowed Voices, Stolen Stories, presented by FIAF in partnership with Bookforum and Villa Gillet as part of itsliterary program Write About Now.About James WaterstonSon of the famous American actor Sam Waterston, James Waterston has performed in major Americantheatres. For three seasons, he headed the musical project Greylock Project for the Williamstown TheatreFestival. In New York, he performed in The Importance of Being Earnest (directed by Peter Hall), As You LikeIt directed by Mark Lamos in the New York Shakespeare Festival, and The Jew of Malta directed by BrianKulick. He has worked on several movies (Dead Poets Society, Little Sweetheart, Oscar, The Debutantes) andTV projects (Live From Baghdad, 13 Bourbon Street, Six Feet Under, and Treme).Under the direction of Arthur Nauzyciel, he performed in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar at the AmericanRepertory Theater in Boston in 2008, reprised since then on tour in France and abroad. He was part of the castof Hetero by Denis Lachaud, a site-specific performance directed by Arthur Nauzyciel and presented as part ofCrossing the Line in 2010.About Daniel PettrowAn associate actor with The Wooster Group in New York, Pettrow performed in Hamlet in 2007. He was a cofounderof The Ballroom Studios (1996–2003) in Atlanta, an alternative art space catering to innovative visualand performing arts. He is now an associate artist with Bluemouth Inc., an award-winning interdisciplinarycompany. He has acted in over 60 productions at national and international theatres, and worked closely withSamuel Beckett’s longtime collaborator, German director Walter Asmus. He is also a film and TV actor (TheCult Of Sincerity, The Last Adam, Psychopathia Sexualis).With Arthur Nauzyciel, he performed in Black Battles With Dogs (2001), Roberto Zucco (2004), and JuliusCaesar (2008). He was part of the cast of Hetero by Denis Lachaud, a site-specific performance directed byArthur Nauzyciel within Crossing the Line in 2010, and he also directed The Sea Museum by MarieDarrieussecq within the same edition of the Festival.

About Alexandra GilbertFranco-Vietnamese dancer Alexandra Gilbert studied at the Conservatory of Dance in Paris from 1989 to1996, and at the National Centre of Contemporary Dance in Angers. She has collaborated with Serge Ricciand the Mi-Octobre Dance Company for over 10 years. She has participated in several projects andperformances with Marion Lévy, the Cré- Ange Dance Company, Cyrill Davy, Joëlle Bouvier/Régis Obadia,Christophe Haleb, Lionel Hoche, Xavier Lot, Christie Lehuédé, and François Verret. In 2004, she joined SidiLarbi Cherkaoui. She met Erna Omarsdottir and Damien Jalet, with whom she established a strong workingrelationship and worked on several projects: Foi and Myth by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Ofætt by Erna Omarsdottirand Damien Jalet, Il Cielo Sulla Terra by Stefano Scodanibbio, and Three Spells (Venus inFurs+Venari+Aleko) by Damien Jalet. In 2010, she worked with musician Christian Fennesz on the duet DimFairy. Besides her work as a dancer, Alexandra Gilbert has designed and created costumes for several theatreand dance projects.Arthur Nauzyciel invited her to participate in The Image by Samuel Beckett, performed in Reykjavik (Iceland) in2007 with choreographer Damien Jalet. She also performed in Jan Karski (My Name is a Fiction) directed byArthur Nauzyciel and presented for the opening of the 2011 Avignon Festival.About Damien JaletFrench-Belgian choreographer Damien Jalet began his dance career with Wim Vandekeybus on the show TheDay of Heaven and Hell in 1998. In 2000, he began an intense collaboration with Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui as hisartistic partner in the company Les Ballets C de la B. They co-created Rien De Rien (2000), Foi (2003),Tempus Fugit (2004), and Myth (2006). In 2002, he created D’avant in collaboration with Cherkaoui, LucDunberry, and Juan Kruz Diaz de Garaio Esnaola. He regularly collaborates with Erna Ómarsdóttir (Ofaett,TheUnclear Age, Transaquania). They co-directed the piece Black Marrow for the Australian dance companyChunky Move at the prestigious Melbourne Arts Festival. He created Three Spells with dancer AlexandraGilbert and musician Christian Fennesz in 2008. In 2010, he co-directed the piece Babel (Words), acollaboration with Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Antony Gormley that received two Laurence Olivier Awards in2011.Jan Karski (My Name Is A Fiction) marks his fifth collaboration with Arthur Nauzyciel since they began workingtogether in 2006. Together they created The Image by Samuel Beckett in 2006, and Jalet choreographedShakespeare’s Julius Caesar (2008), Ordet (The Word) (2008) and The Sea Museum (Le Musée de La Mer)by Marie Darrieussecq, created in 2009, in which Jalet also performed the role of Bella.About Ian MonkIan Monk, born 1960, is a British writer and translator, based in Lille, France. Since 1998, he has been amember of the French writing group Oulipo. Among his works in English are the books, Family Archaeologyand Other Poems (2004) and Writings for the Oulipo (2005). His translations include several novels by DanielPennac, several works by his fellow Oulipian Georges Perec, and a rhyming translation of Raymond Roussel'sNew Impressions of Africa. He has also written several works in French.About Roderick MurrayRoderick Murray, Lighting Designer, has been designing lighting and installations for performance bothnationally and internationally since 1989. He received a 2001 Bessie Award for “a shifting alchemy of adancing space” for his work on Wally Cardona’s Trance Territory. Murray has designed the lighting andenvironments in all of dancer Kimberly Bartosik's choreographic works since 2000. His installation and designwork has also been regularly seen in the works of Ralph Lemon, Yanira Castro, Luca Veggettti, and manyothers. He has also designed the lighting for Sekou Sundiata and for a concert of Paul Simon's Songs from theCapeman, at BAM. His lighting designs for Benjamin Millepied include world premieres at venues in Europeand the U.S. including for American Ballet Theatre and Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève. He collaboratesregularly with Dusan Tynek and Melinda Ring among many others.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••Merci!FIAF would like to thank the following for their generous support of Crossing the Line 2011:American Airlines, the Official Airline of FIAF; 972, the Cultural Services of the French Embassy; Institutfrançais; Florence Gould Foundation; Robert de Rothschild; National Endowment for the Arts; FACE: FrenchAmerican Cultural Exchange; Etant donnes: The French American Fund for the Performing Arts; FUSED:French U.S. Exchange in Dance; New England Foundation for the Arts; Nespresso; BNP Paribas; Societe desAuteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques; New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; New York State Councilon the Arts; The Lowell Hotel. Special thanks to Arizona State University.About Crossing the Line 2011Crossing the Line 2011 presents a broad ranging program of performances and events in various and uniquelocations across New York City, aimed at engaging diverse audiences. Three principal programming clustersframe this year’s festival: Fiction & Non-Fiction, a Lecture/Performance series andEndurance/Resistance/Inspiration. This year’s edition continues the festival’s focus on supporting the creationof new work through its vital international commissioning program, and features new works by artists such as,Nick van Woert, Kimberly Bartosik, Soundwalk Collective, Prune Nourry, Chong Gon Byun, AmélieChabannes, Rachid Ouramdane, Marie Losier, Arthur Nauzyciel, and Sophie Calle, among others.Inaugurated in 2007, Crossing the Line has enjoyed increasingly strong audience response from diversesegments of the New York City area, as well as prestigious critical acclaim. The festival has been voted “Bestof 2009” and “Best of 2010” by Time Out New York, The New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. TheNew York Times wrote: “One of the fall’s most exciting and thought-provoking performance events” (2008) and“The city should have a party for the French Institute Alliance Française for giving it this wonderfulinterdisciplinary festival” (2009).About FIAFFIAF's mission is to create and offer New Yorkers innovative and unique programs in education and the artsthat explore the evolving diversity and richness of French cultures. FIAF seeks to generate new ideas andpromote cross cultural dialogue through partnerships and new platforms of expression. www.fiaf.org•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••LISTING SUMMARYWhat:Crossing the Line 2011: Jan KarskiWhen:Saturday-Sunday, September 17–18, at 8:30pmWhere:Cultural Services of the French Embassy972 Fifth AvenueAdmission: Free, by reservationRSVP: performing-arts@frenchculture.org | 212 439 1429Information: fiaf.org/crossingtheline | 212 355 6160###