Michal Zadara, director of Operetta, Rita Gombrowicz, biographer and literary executor of Witold Gombrowicz, and Thomas Sellar, critic and editor of Theater, Yale School of Drama, will take part in a discussion moderated by Prof. Allen Kuharski, Chair of the Department of Theater at Swarthmore College. Witold Gombrowicz (1905-1969) has proven to be Poland's most celebrated playwright abroad, and Michal Zadara has created the most important recent production of his Operetta. This panel will set the stage for the North American professional debut of Gombrowicz's prophetic musical farce at the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and the Philadelphia homecoming of Zadara, Swarthmore College graduate and one of the most innovative Polish directors of his generation. Rita Gombrowicz (b. 1935) has overseen Gombrowicz's literary estate since her husband's death and is the author of two key biographical works, Gombrowicz en Argentine and Gombrowicz en Europe. She lives in Paris. The panel will precede the presentation of Operetta, directed by Michal Zadara and performed by Capitol Theatre (Wroclaw), at the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival, September 10-13. This panel is made possible by a grant from the William J. Cooper Foundation, Swarthmore College. The presentation of Operetta is made possible due to the initiative and support of the Polish Cultural Institute in New York. More on Operetta at the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival
