| Brzezinka |
 Brzezinka, the forest base of the Grotowski Institute, is an isolated building surrounded by 10 hectares of forest, located near the village of Brzezinka, next to Olesnica, 46 km from Wroclaw. It was one of several farm buildings, the remainder of which were destroyed at the end of World War II. Next to the building, by the stream, there is a wooden water mill. The stream supplies water to the nearby pool. In November 1971, the Laboratory Theatre bought the buildings from the Jezierscy family and began renovation and conversion works, which were undertaken mainly by the younger members of the theatre. Working spaces and modest accommodations were created. Jerzy Grotowski chose to keep Brzezinka an isolated place, without running water and electricity. It was a home to paratheatre and Theatre of Sources until the declaration of martial law in Poland, in December 1981. In August 1982, Jerzy Grotowski left the country and was never to return to Brzezinka. After the dissolution of the Laboratory Theatre in 1984, the Second Wroclaw Studio inherited Brzezinka, along with the premises in Wroclaw. Zbigniew Cynkutis, the director of the Second Studio, conducted a detailed inventory of the building, but unfortunately, he was not able to secure funding for further renovation works. In 1990 Brzezinka gained a new protector. From the start, the newly-formed Grotowski Centre attempted to raise funds to save the building. In 2001, thanks to the Wroclaw authorities, the first stage of renovation – the installation of a new roof – was finally accomplished. It was the last opportunity to save this unique place. The following year, once again financed by the city council, the renovation work was completed. The inauguration of the ‘new’ Brzezinka took place during the international conference ‘Jerzy Grotowski: the Past and the Present of Research – paratheatre and Theatre of Sources,’ organised by the Grotowski Centre in September 27–29, 2002.  Currently, Brzezinka is a place for practical activities and long-term projects. Here, Theatre ZAR (Wroclaw) created its Gospels of Childhood. Brzezinka presently hosts several projects, amongst which are Maisternia Pisni’s (Lviv, Ukraine) Rasa and Song of Songs, Teatro La Madrugada’s (Milan, Italy) Regula contra Regulam, and The Leaden Ball by an undertaking of Song In Between (Wroclaw, Poland). |