Dzieci is a wonderful example of the spiritual intensity possible when theatre engages the age-old mysteries of faith and the human experience. We at the Cathedral found the very stones our monumental building coming alive through their presence.
Canon Tom Miller, Canon of Arts and Liturgy
Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, New York City
Dzieci
View three distinct works from one of the finest acting ensembles in New York City. Dzieci traces its lineage to Jerzy Grotowski, the great 20th Century Polish director. At BEAT, you may view “Fools Mass” & “Makbet” plus the much anticipated world premiere of “Ragnarök”
Fools Mass
Flatbush: Sept 15, 1:00pm
In Dzieci’s living example of Holy Theatre, a group of medieval village idiots are forced to enact their own Mass, due to the untimely death of their beloved pastor. Bursting with buffoonery and comic audience participation, Fools Mass is balanced with lovely hymns and chants from the 8th to the 14th centuries, creating a seminal work that has been Dzieci’s signature piece since 1998.
Makbet
Red Hook: Sept 19, 7:30pm
Park Slope: Sept 23, 4:30pm
For Dzieci’s Gypsy version of Macbeth, the ensemble has learned all of the lines, of every part, to provide maximum improvisational possibilities, creating a palpable level of danger. Employing haunting folksongs from Scandinavia and Eastern Europe, along with the poetry of Shakespeare’s verse, Dzieci explores (and explodes) the very essence of theatre and storytelling.
Ragnarök | WORLD PREMIERE
Fort Greene: Sept 21, 7:30pm
Ragnarök, or “The Twilight of the Gods”, from the epic cycle of Nordic legend, serves as rich material for Dzieci’s continuing inquiry into ritual and transformation. In this saga of birth, death, and renewal, Dzieci explores through song, movement, and sacred ceremony, the resonance of ancient themes to modern times, to our own gods, the destruction of old forms, and the promise of new beginnings.
* Dzieci will also be appearing in this year’s BEAT Sideshow at Coney Island on Tuesday, Sept 18. Click below to learn more and get tickets!
BEAT SIDESHOW
Company Director Matt Mitler Discusses Ragnarök on BCAT’s “Caught In The Act”:
About Dzieci
Dzieci (djyeh-chee) is an international experimental theatre ensemble dedicated to a search for the “sacred” through the medium of theatre. Using techniques garnered from such theatre masters as Jerzy Grotowski, Eugenio Barba and Peter Brook, ritual forms derived from Native American and Eastern spiritual disciplines, and an ethic based securely in Humanistic Psychology, Dzieci aims to create a theatre that is as equally engaged with personal transformation as it is with public presentation.
Towards this aim, the ensemble balances work on performance with work of service, through creative and therapeutic interaction in hospitals and a variety of institutional settings. Dzieci believes that helping others generates a profound healing effect that not only serves the patient but also strengthens the ensemble’s work.
Dzieci is firmly dedicated to process. Our theatrical creations evolve organically over a long span of time, and a relationship with the world around us is essential. Therefore, public presentations of the work in progress are offered along the way, along with para-theatrical workshops, which invite participants to experience the work underlying our most current investigations.
DZIECI: LEARN MORE
This clip from “Caught in the Act” is courtesy Brooklyn Independent Television, a community media program of BRIC Arts | Media | Bklyn