The artists Janek Turkowski and Iwona Nowacka established the social enterprise JaWa in the Polish town of Szczecin in 2021 together with Jan, who was battling homelessness, and Waldemar, who had just been released from prison. As with all social enterprises, the focus is not profit, but the resolution of social problems. In a hybrid form of intimate drama and performative reading, Turkowski and Nowacka share the outcomes of eighteen months of joint gardening and carpentry work with the audience. JaWa illuminates the complexity of collective endeavours and poses questions on how to organise social activism. It is a moving story about dignity, addiction and freedom, poverty and wealth, numerous crises and successes.
By and with Turkowski & Nowacka Screen performance Jan Rozpędzik, Waldemar Wieczorek, Artur Czechowicz, Alina Gałązka, Olga Kozińska, Grzegorz Laszuk, Dorota Kwinta, Dariusz Mikuła, Piotr Szczygielski, Szymon Olbrychowski and others Scenography Piotr Szczygielski Costume Iwona Nowacka Production management Warsaw Olga Kozińska / Komuna Warszawa Curator of “Tough Love” season Anna Smolar International management Dorota Kwinta Video translation into English Sean Gasper Bye
Production Komuna Warszawa (as part of the residency programme) Coproduction Noorderzon / Grand Theatre Groningen Supported by Stowarzyszenie Teatr Kana (Szczecin), social enterprise JaWa Co-financed by The City of Warsaw within the Culture Hub project
Premiere November 2022, Komuna Warszawa