Grotowski in New York City, 1993: Expectations, Hopes, and Stereotypes

The legacy of Jerzy Grotowski twenty years after his death still presents a powerful challenge for theatre-makers, not only in experimental theatre, and theoreticians – which is also how it was during his life. This retrospect by Juliusz Tyszka on the Grotowski seminar organized by Robert Findlay and Robert Taylor for the Program in Educational Theatre, at New York University in February 1993, is a testimony to his achievements, offering insights into the opinions and reflections of American artists, critics, and scholars on the importance of Grotowski, and the impact of his theatrical output both on world theatre, and specifically in the US. Tyszka sets their views within the Polish background he shares with Grotowski. The climax of the seminar in a meeting with Grotowski himself, following a film recording of The Constant Prince, is fully described. In 1992/93 Juliusz Tyszka was a Fulbright visiting scholar in the Department of Performance Studies at NYU. He is an advisory editor of NTQ and a regular contributor to the journal. Since 2008 he has been Head of the Unit of Performance Studies, Institute of Cultural Studies, Adam Mickiewicz University at Poznań, Poland.