In August, the Music Theater in Poznań will premiere the musical performance “Irena” about Irena Sendler. The theater in Poznań announced the decision on February 15, on the 112th anniversary of the birth of the Righteous Among the Nations.
It will be a story about heroism and great courage, about struggle and undying hope, a tribute to the history and the heroes who made the impossible possible. The Polish premiere of the musical performance “Irena”, dedicated to the Righteous Among the Nations, will take place on August 27.
The libretto of the play was written by Piotr Piwowarczyk and Mary Skinner. The music was composed by Włodek Pawlik, the only Polish Grammy Award winner, the songwriter is Mark Campbell, winner of the Pulitzer and Grammy Awards. The libretto and the lyrics were translated by Piotr Piwowarczyk and Lesław Haliński.
The production is directed by Brian Kite, dean of the Department of Theater, Dance and Television at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), choreographed by Dana Solimando, who has collaborated on Broadway productions.
The musical director is Łukasz Pawlik, who will also deal with the arrangement. The set design of the performance is created by Damian Styrna, and the costumes by Anna Chadaj. Katarzyna Rościńska is the vocal director, Tadeusz Trylski will direct the lights, Eliasz Styrna will deal with the projection. The sound will be directed by Tomasz Zajma.
Irena Sendler was a Polish social activist who helped Warsaw Jews during the German occupation. She became the leading activist of Żegota (Polish Council to Aid Jews) after its creation in the fall of 1942. From 1943, as head of the children’s department, she used her contacts with orphanages and other institutions to find hiding places for Jewish children. The exact number of children she saved is not known, but it is estimated as 2,500.
During the action of saving the children out of the ghetto, Irena Sendler kept a file, writing down their data on small rolls of paper. Those notes were then buried in a jar under one of the trees in the garden of one of the messengers. To this day, an apple tree grows at 9 Lekarska Street, under which information about children was hidden.
In 1943, Irena Sendler was arrested by the Gestapo for her activities, tortured and sentenced to death. Żegota managed to save her by bribing German guards. After the prison and a short period of hiding, she continued her activity in the resistance movement. After the war, when asked about her actions, she said: “I was taught by my father that when someone drowns, you do not ask if he can swim, but you jump to help him.”
In 1965, Irena Sendlerowa was honored with the title of Righteous Among the Nations. She died in 2008 in Warsaw at the age of 98.
Arkadiusz Słomczyński