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NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
“Highly stylish and technically audacious work from one of Europe’s most interesting directors, Łukasz Twarkowski.” – The Stage
ABOUT THE WORK
The story of The Employees unfolds in an undetermined near future, on a spaceship carrying people and humanoid robots, with Earth having been annihilated. The crew of the spaceship 6000, overseen by a mysterious organization, is on a mission to explore a distant planet called the New Discovered. Among them are both humans and humanoid robots, though it’s unclear who’s who. This dark satire follows the crew’s reflections on consciousness and identity through fragmented reports left by the spaceship’s crew.
Directed by Łukasz Twarkowski, this visually striking adaptation of Olga Ravn‘s acclaimed novel offers a mix of theater, film, and installation in an exploration of what it means to be human.
PRODUCTION GUIDANCE
This production is performed in Polish with English surtitles.
Contains nudity, strobe lights, smoke, very loud music, and references to sexual violence.
The performance is not recommended for people with epilepsy.
Please note seating for this performance is general admission. Audience members are able to move around the space between acts so as to experience the performance from different points of view.
RUN TIME
Approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes with two short breaks.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Łukasz Twarkowski is a Polish born creator of multimedia performances combining theatre and visual arts. He places his projects in the context of extending reality through multimedia. A crucial element of Twarkowski’s creative work is investigating the ability and limitations of theatre as a medium and tool of communication. By permanent deconstruction of narratives, questioning the fixed habits of the audience and by meaningful usage of new media, Twarkowski creates a new, original language of stage performance based on multimedia and, more widely, digital technologies. His works have been performed at the most important festivals and stages of Europe. Currently, he is an associated artist of Onassis Stegi in Athens. teatrstudio.pl/the-employees
CREATIVE CREDITS
Author Olga Ravn
Translation from Danish Bogusława Sochańska
Director Łukasz Twarkowski
Text Adaptation and Dramaturgy Joanna Bednarczyk
Producer STUDIO theatregallery, Warsaw
Set design Fabien Lédé
Video design Jakub Lech
Lighting Bartosz Nalazek
Costume design Svenja Gassen
Music Lubomir Grzelak
Movement consultation Rob Wasiewicz
Assistant director Adam Zduńczyk
Concept facilitation Szymon Adamczak
Camera operators Iwo Jabłoński and Gloria Grunig
Production manager Monika Balińska
Stage manager Zuzanna Prusińska
Assistant producer Aleksandra Urban
Model and Objects Katarzyna Rytka
Lighting operator Jan Zajączkowski
Sound Operators Damian Kruszewski and Kacper Słowik Dabravolskiy
Video Operators Adrien Cognac and Adam Kuznowicz/Paweł Banaszczyk
Set production Piotr Szczygielski
Costumes production Aleksandra Andrychowicz
International collaboration Anna Lewanowicz
Cast Dominika Biernat, Daniel Dobosz, Maja Pankiewicz, Sonia Roszczuk, Paweł Smagała, Rob Wasiewicz, Miron Smagała, Małgorzata Hajewska- Krzysztofik (voice)
RUN TIME
140 minutes, 3 intermissions of 3 minutes each
SUPPORT
This project is made possible in part with support from the Polish Cultural Institute.
Co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage
NYU Skirball’s programs are made possible in part with support from the National Endowment for the Arts; the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature; and the Howard Gilman Foundation; Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels; The Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater; Collins Building Services; Harkness Foundation for Dance; Villa Albertine; General Delegation of the Government of Flanders to the USA; Goethe Institut-New York; Austrian Cultural Forum New York; Marta Heflin Foundation; as well as our valued donors through memberships, commissioning, and Allies for Arts Access Fund support.