Our Korczak USA not-for-profit organization is eager to expand our reach in the USA and your ideas and your donations for new projects are greatly appreciated.
SPECIAL INVITATION TO TWO JANUSZ KORCZAK’S PUPPET PLAYS AND JANUSZ AND STEFA MUSICAL DRAMA
Brianimations would like to invite you to two very special performances based on the children’s book written by Janusz Korczak: King Matt the First (written in 1932) and Kaytek the Wizard (written in 1933). Both multi-media puppets plays are 50 minutes long and are presented by Brian Hull and Mary Tanner from Nashville, TN.
Opera Leggera from Houston, TX would like to invite you to Janusz and Stefa, a powerful 75-minute musical drama, with a cast comprised of adults and children, that tells the poignant story of Dr. Janusz Korczak, his partner Stefa Wilczyńska and the Jewish orphan children in their care during the Holocaust.
Help us find places for performances of these special shows. Both companies, Brianimations and Opera Leggera are open to traveling to your areas.
KING MATT THE FIRST BY JANUSZ KORCZAK
What happens when a young, orphaned prince becomes king? Based on the 1923 Polish classic, this tale is infused with the philosophies of children’s rights activist and the Holocaust hero, Janusz Korczak. Through the perspective of a child king, this story takes a look at right and wrong, rich and poor, those who have power and those who don’t…even the absurdity of war and racism.
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KAYTEK THE WIZARD by JANUSZ KORCZAK
Every kid wants magic powers. What happens when they actually get them? This story speaks to every child’s dream of asserting their independence and shaping the world to their own design.
Brianimations Puppetry Storytelling, started in 1985, is a brainchild of Brian Hull, master puppeteer, animator, Emmy award writer and producer, who has been bringing live performances with striking visual effects to children and their families for almost 40 years! Brian was joined by Mary Tanner, master puppeteer and actor, in 2007 and together, this incredibly gifted artists not only started bringing meaningful and accessible theatrical experiences to young and old based on Korczak’s ideas and books, but also help educators by providing lesson plans for both shows. Visit their website athttp://brianimationspuppetry.com/. You can also contact them at brianimate@aol.com and marytanner5@gmail.com to invite them to your communities to perform.
JANUSZ AND STEFA – MUSICAL DRAMA
Based on Dr. Janusz Korczak’s ghetto diary entries, Janusz and Stefa is a powerful 75-minute musical drama, with a cast comprised of adults and children, that tells the poignant story of Dr. Janusz Korczak, his partner Stefa Wilczyńska and the Jewish orphan children in their care during the Holocaust. With flashbacks to Janusz and Stefa’s lives before the war and the moment when their partnership first began, Janusz and Stefa brings audiences inside the Warsaw Ghetto as witnesses to the bravery of two souls who sought to uphold the human spirit and dignity of each Jewish orphan child, even in the face of death. The musical drama also sheds light on the real stories of the Jewish orphan children in their orphanage, Dom Sierot, as they looked to Janusz and Stefa for hope and comfort in a world of chaos and fear.
To watch the Janusz and Stefa trailer, visit facebook.com/januszandstefa. To contact Opera Leggera, email info@operaleggera.com.
Marcia Talmage-Schneider’s book, Janusz Korczak: Sculptor of Children’s Souls, has been translated into Ukrainian, Russian, and Polish.
What is next for Marcia’s book? We are looking for Polish Saturday Schools and universities with Polish departments to use the new Polish version. We also are planting seed with various organizations to use that book to teach middle and high school students about life in Korczak’s orphanage with focus on civic responsibilities, socio-emotional development and lives of children during wars and Holocaust. If you know of any places that may be interested, please let us know. We also heard that Batia Gilad in Israel is using our Polish version and will translate it into Hebrew.
We are in the process of reaching out to universities on the east coast to find an appropriate place where Korczak’s exhibit and books can find a home and be used by students working on their theses or dissertations. We currently have one collection with 110 books for both children and adults, written by and about Dr. Korczak, in both English and Polish. We also have a few smaller collections and some of the US members are getting ready to “release” some of their Korczak’s books. Letter to the universities has been created and you can now browse through our book catalog. If you are an alumnus of a university with a strong education program, please check with them—they may be interested in receiving the Korczak collection. If you have ideas of universities where this collection would be well used, do let us know asap.
Download a copy of the catalogue here.
Plans are underway to have a week-long, overnight Korczak camp in Columbia County, New York, for 12 to 20 American teens in August of 2025. We plan to bring counselors from Korczakowo Camp in Poland to help us with the activities.
In April of 2023 (for the 10th Anniversary of Korczak USA), Marcia Talamage Schneider established the Korczak Camp Scholarship Fund to help us with this new project.
We are looking for ways to collaborate with Irving Roth’s Holocaust Center at Temple Judea in Manhasset, New York. The temple has an extensive display of children’s art commemorating Korczak’s life and the lives of his children. There is a possibility to show our exhibit, Educational Moments, at the center and to create a small archive of Korczak’s work.
Irving Roth was a Holocaust survivor, the director of the Holocaust Resource Center at Temple Judea in Manhasset, Long Island, NY, and the member of the Advisory Board of the Janusz Korczak Association of the USA. To listen to Irving’s introduction about his hero, Janusz Korczak, click here.
Irving Roth crossed the threshold on February 16th, 2021. To learn more about him, visit: https://korczakusa.com/touched-by-the-spirit-of-janusz-korczak/irving-roth/
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