Sebastian Rys Presents a Play about Zofia Rysiowna - Family War Stories, L.A. Performing Arts Conservatory, 3 November 2024 at 6:30 pm

The Helena Modjeska Art & Culture Club in cooperation with the Institute of National Remembrance invites you to a monodrama written by Polish actor, Sebastian Rys, entitled "Family War Stories: Zofia Rysiowna" and presented on Sunday, November 3, 2024 at 6:30 PM at the Los Angeles Performing Arts Conservatory, 10931 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90064.

RSVP to Beata Czajkowska, at Beata.J.Czajkowska@gmail.com. Free admission for club members, $30 per person for guests. Payment by check made payable to "Helena Modjeska Art & Culture Club" with note about the theater, to PO Box 4288 Sunland CA 91041, or paypal to prezes@modjeska.org. Parking behind building or on Pico Blvd. Surrounding streets have parking restrictions...

ABOUT THE PLAY. Family war stories: Zofia Rysiówna, presented by Sebastian Ryś

"With our thoughts, we reach memories as quickly as with our eyesight to the stars. Looking at the starry sky, we see the black dome of the Earth's firmament sparkling with diamonds. The stars are seemingly equally distant, but in reality they are separated, from us and from each other, by thousands of light years. Thought has a similar path to memories recorded in memory, although some lose their shine."

Let these thoughts accompany us, calling up from memory the recorded slides, which can now shine anew with the power of our hearts.

The heroine of our meeting today is Zofia Rysiówna. A woman from Nowy Sącz, a liaison officer, an actress, a mother and a wife, a strict but fair and dedicated person. She will open up the world of family memories of the Rysiów family from Nowy Sącz to us. Continuing the family saga, we will follow "Zosia" in this story, because that was her war nickname, and we will try to see the youth of Nowy Sącz, their activities and sports through her eyes. We will meet Rysiówna's school professors and try to recognize the character traits of the so-called Other Generation, with whom we have less and less in common.

Perhaps she will reveal to us the spherical reflection of Jan Karski's secret emissary, in which action she took part and reveal the later dramatic fates of the family and the inhabitants of this city related to it. I do not know if she will take us with her beyond the walls of the Camp, we cannot really expect that, but I think that at the end of the story Zofia Rysiówna will invite us in front of her beloved radio microphone and onto the stage of the theater. Her post-war life was hidden and here too let's not expect too effusive a report. What can we expect? Honest words, a warm heart and something on the border of a dream and intense experience.

The stage statement combines: the testimony of an indirect witness to history, archival radio recordings, poems with elements of a fictional narrative in musical accents. The whole thing was based on "Memories of May" by Wanda Straszyńska, remembered family relations and the book "On the Paths of Fantom" by Jacek Ryś.

Let this meeting be an engaging journey into the recesses of memory of living memories.

~ Sebastian Ryś

ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND ACTOR

Sebastian Ryś – born in Wrocław in 1986, graduate of the Aleksander Zelwerowicz Theatre Academy in Warsaw. Actor, sensitive interpreter of romantic heroes. He made his debut while still a student at the Nowy Theatre in Słupsk, in the role of Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz in Andrzej Maria Marczewski's original performance "Witkacy jest do X-tej" with music by Marek Dyjak. He collaborated with the Old Town Theatre and the Polish Theatre in Warsaw. In the Płock Dramatic Theatre he made himself known as: S.B. in Szymon Bogacz's play "Trzech mamy w inne wiek" directed by Julia Mark, as well as the title role of W. Shakespeare's "Hamlet" directed by Marek Mokrowiecki. He was permanently associated with the Polish Theatre in Wrocław, where he played, among others: in Janusz Wiśniewski's "Imaginary Sick" and in Bartosz Wyszomirski's "Mirandolina".

He has film and TV roles under his belt. In his search for theatre heroes, he reaches for radio theatre and his own short productions. In his monodrama entitled: "Zupa rybna w Odesie", he resurrects the unfinished story of the forgotten hero Jan Karski, winning numerous awards: Main prize at the Strzała Północy Festival in Koszalin. Main prize of the XLIII Tyskie Spotkania Teatralne Two Jury prizes - Solo Olsztyn OSTJA Grand Prix - Festival of Original Arts and Adaptations, WINDOWISKO, Gdańsk.

Ryś is a beneficiary of the "Kultura Polska na Świecie" programme of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute. He took part in the international United Solo festival in New York, performing there with the English version of the monodrama "Fish soup in Odessa". He is a theatre instructor with pedagogical training and a supporting teacher. He organizes poetry concerts. With his vision he set the tone for the artistic expression of the radio play entitled: "Scars of Freedom". Co-creator of "Plam w Pamięci" - a production of the Polish Radio Theatre. Co-writer, director and actor in the spectacle about Jerzy Popiełuszko "Rozżarzone embers miłości".