"Hajnówka is a woman"
The flagship project has just started, i.e. preparations for a performance related to this outstanding biologist. It is an initiative addressed to students from secondary schools in Hajnówka. The workshop will be conducted by Joanna Troc, director from the Czrevo Theater. They will result in a performance that is scheduled to premiere in mid-December.
photo by Ewa Natalia Moroz-Keczyńska
The organizational meeting has already taken place and they are first interested. If someone would like to prove themselves in the role of an actor, and for various reasons could not take part in the meeting, nothing is lost. The workshops have started, but you can still join them. They take place as part of the project “Hajnówka is a woman. The strength of rebellious women on the example of Simona Kossak’s personality ”, which is run by the Foundation for Development and Educational Initiatives.
Staying committed and willing to learn new skills is difficult when young people have no space to meet and rarely hear their voices. For me, as the producer of the project, it is obvious that young people miss it a lot. I want to create an open space for young people to express themselves and their thoughts. No fear of being judged, and with a guarantee of self-development. A meeting in a theater group, after school hours, after further tutoring and duties, gives such an opportunity.
The strength of theater workshops is the fact that young people can establish peer relationships here, act creatively for themselves and their surroundings. The process of creating itself is also important.
Father Konstanty Bajko, Theater from the Belarusian Museum, performance directed by Joanna Troc, photo: author’s archive
I am sure that the meetings will bring something creative, real, because I know the previous results of the workshop-based creative process with young people. Director Joanna Troc from the Czrevo Theater is an attentive mentor and a great friend of young people.
The performance with the participation of secondary school students is not the only activity within the project “Hajnówka is a woman”. Next week, for example, there will be a city game called “The Witcher from Dziedzinka”, this time aimed at older primary school students. The young people will go for a walk around the city, and on the way they will stop at various points and solve puzzles and perform tasks related to Simona Kossak. Thanks to this, they get to know her personal history, attitude to nature and connection with the region better.
The Foundation also has an offer for the youngest, i.e. students of grades 1-3. They will be able to take part in the “Superhero Academy”, workshops in which you will have to demonstrate the ability to cooperate, commitment, and properly show emotions. Various types of tasks will familiarize children with values close to Simona – mindfulness, respect for nature, perseverance. The plan also includes a thematic walk or a screening of a documentary about Simon Kossak with a meeting with the director. We will keep you updated on the details of these events.
Who is Simona Kossak, no one in Hajnówka needs to be explained. Let us just remind you that although she came from Kraków, from a well-known family of artists, she tied her life with our region. She lived in the old forester’s lodge “Dziedzinka” near Białowieża, where she spent 30 years. She worked at the Mammal Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Białowieża. She was known for her love of animals – in particular, she was interested in zoopsychology – and her uncompromising views and actions on behalf of nature.
“Macbeth” – premiere by young people from the Orphanege in Białowieża
The aforementioned projects were co-financed under the project “Hajnówka ReNewal – Green Transformation”.
One of the activities planned in the project is related to defining the role of women in building the identity of Hajnówka. We wanted to refer to well-known and recognizable women, also those from outside the region, but related to it. Hence the indication of Simona Kossak. We left the same way of presenting or expressing the characters to the local community. I am very glad that there were active women from Hajnówka who wanted to take up this story and it was the women who took up the challenge of creating a spectacle about another exceptional woman.
People who missed the organizational meeting and would like to take part in the theater workshops, please contact the organizers:
