CANCELLED: KRYSTIAN LUPA’s THE TRIAL

We regret to announce the cancellation of The Trial due to the withdrawal of financial support from the Adam Mickiewicz Institute (IAM), the international exchange program of the Polish Cultural Ministry.

In a statement written in response to the cancellation, Mr. Lupa writes: “The declaration of Minister Glinski (Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland) is clear: Artists who do not sympathize with the current leadership’s cultural policy, who criticize its values, decisions and actions will be treated as enemies of Poland and will not be supported by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage in any form.” READ HIS FULL STATEMENTLEARN MORE IN OUR PRESS RELEASE

JOIN US FOR A PANEL DISCUSSION & MARATHON READING
MARCH 8 FROM 1PM

NYU Skirball joins with The Public Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, PEN America, CUNY’s Segal Center and the Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies Working Group at NYU to present this special all-day event – in defiance of attempts to silence these artists, and in protest of political corruption, government censorship, and social malevolence.

1PM: PANEL: “ART IN DANGER, ARTISTS AT RISK”

A panel conversation around Kafka’s The Trial, censorship, artistic freedom, and artists at risk, in relation to the continuing global rise of right-wing and populist politics.

Monika Fabijanska, Former Director of the Polish Cultural Institute in New York
Holly Hughes, Professor at the University of Michigan’s Stamps School of Art and Design
Felix Kaputu, Resident “Writer at Risk” at Fordham University
André Lepecki, NYU Performance Studies Professor and Chairperson
Krystian Lupa, Director
Julie Trébault, Director, Artists at Risk Connection, PEN America

Moderated by Catharine R. Stimpson

3PM: “THE TRIAL” MARATHON READING

The reading will be continuous from 3PM to approximately 9:30/10PM. Stop in anytime; the audience is welcome to come and go throughout the event.

Guest readers include Salman Rushdie, Kathleen Chalfant, and Kwame Anthony Appiah.

 

If you’re interested in reading, there will be limited spots available the day of the event!

RSVP is recommended but not required.

 

“Lupa’s productions have long been revered beyond his native Poland.” The New York Times

“Someone must have been spreading lies about Josef K, for without having done anything wrong he was arrested one morning.” This is the first sentence of Franz Kafka’s mysterious, provocative, unfinished novel, The Trial. We never get to know why the protagonist was arrested, what he has been accused of, or whether he is innocent or guilty. He has entered the labyrinthine judicial system that birthed the term “Kafkaesque,” and there are no exits. Iconic Polish director Krystian Lupa’s theatrical adaptation of this seminal work is a five-hour journey into absurdity that darkly echoes our current political realities.

Polish theater director and set designer, Krystian Lupa, is known for his “laboratory rehearsals,” an organic method of working with text and actors. Nowy Teatr was founded in Warsaw in 2008, with Krzysztof Warlikowski as its artistic leader, and a group of his long-term collaborators. It has produced six of Warlikowski’s works, as well as theater productions, lectures, concerts, and exhibitions. In April 2016 the company moved to a refurbished postindustrial hall in the heart of Warsaw. nowyteatr.org

Performed in Polish with English supertitles. Advisory: Kafka’s The Trial is appropriate for ages 18+

 

Spring20-17 Krystian Lupa The TrialProces_gen1__0668_Magda Hueckel
Photo: Magda Hueckel
Spring20-19 Krystian Lupa The TrialProces_gen_222__1660_Magda Hueckel
Photo: Magda Hueckel
Spring20-18 Krystian Lupa The TrialProces_gen1__0207_MAGDA HUECKEL
Photo: Magda Hueckel
Spring20-15 Krystian Lupa The TrialProces_gen2_0096 - Kopia_Magda Hueckel
Photo: Magda Hueckel
Spring20-14 Krystian Lupa The TrialProces_gen3_201_Magda Hueckel
Photo: Magda Hueckel
Spring20-9 Krystian Lupa The Trial2-PROCES_fot-NK (61)__Natalia Kabanow
Photo: Natalia Kabanow
Spring20-13 Krystian Lupa The TrialProces_gen4_0750_Magda Hueckel
Photo: Magda Hueckel
Spring20-4 Krystian Lupa The TrialPROCES_M-Pempuś_fot_NK (19)_NATALIA KABANOW
Photo: Natalia Kabanow
Spring20-7 Krystian Lupa The Trial2-PROCES_fot-NK (49)__Natalia Kabanow
Photo: Natalia Kabanow
Spring20-2 Krystian Lupa The Trial (25)_Natalia Kabanow
Photo: Natalia Kabanow
Spring20-1 Krystian Lupa The Trial 2-PROCES_fot-NK (47)_NATALIA KABANOW
Photo: Natalia Kabanow

Go Beyond

Alisa Zhulina on Krystian Lupa

Are we the arrested? And is Joseph K. innocent? He doesn’t know. And neither do we.

Prep School: The Trial

Readings, videos, interviews and more.

KAFKA WILL NOT SAIL TO AMERICA

We were all (the team of The Trial, the performance based on Franz Kafka’s novel) immensely happy and excited that

CANCELLATION OF KAFKA’s “THE TRIAL” DUE TO POLISH CENSORSHIP

New York, January 13, 2020 – Jay Wegman, Director of NYU Skirball, has announced the cancellation of Polish director Krystian