March 8 at 10 am, Jewish Renewal in Poland’s webinar Freighted Legacies will interview Igor Golyak, the director of the enormously successful play “Our Class.” Igor Golyak is the founder and muse of Arlekin productions. Our webinar will focus on the genesis of this play in its American version.  

“Our Class” follows ten classmates—five Jewish and five Catholic—who grow up as friends in a small Polish village. Inspired by the real-life events of the 1941 Jedwabne massacre—where Polish neighbors murdered hundreds of their Jewish classmates and friends—this story traces their lives over eight decades as they turn against one another, driven by entrenched antisemitism and external forces. It is a shocking, timely, and deeply human journey. 

Arlekin worked with theatre historian Dr. Rachel Merrill Moss to develop educational materials exploring the story’s historical basis and its social and emotional impacts. We invite you to watch this mini documentary featuring a descendant of Jedwabne for a behind-the-scenes look at the history that inspired the play.