MEMORY LAWS
MEMORY LAWS is an experimental rock opera reflecting on the life and work of Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860-1941), renowned composer/musician who served as first Prime Minister of independent Poland. This piece is an album, a constellation, a collage of 81 vignettes that accumulate into a loose chronology of Paderewski’s life. Each vignette is named for women, historical and contemporary, who intersect with the person or idea of Paderewski in some way.
MEMORY LAWS was commissioned by Instytut Adama Mickiewicza in Warsaw as part of its larger Paderewski Musical Project, conceived and orchestrated by the wondrous Joanna Klass. MEMORY LAWS traces Paderewski’s life through a critical lens, investigating the interdependency involved in the making of any public figure and how memory is curated, even legislated, over time. In some ways, MEMORY LAWS is about us, looking back on this figure and asking what it means to consider his legacy right now.
Lead artists on MEMORY LAWS include writer Rachel Jendrzejewski (MN), director Emily Mendelsohn (NY), and composers Chris Hepola (MN) and Jenna Wyse (MN). Collaborators at various stages of development have included musicians Crystal Myslajek (MN), Eric Struve (MN), Christa Schneider (MN), and Kyle Ruggles (NM); performers/vocalists Hannah Kauffmann (MN), Katy Houska (NM), Marya Errin Jones (NM), Elsa Menendez (NM), Annie Schiferl (MN), Jennifer LeDoux (MN), Caitlin McDonough-Thayer (NY), Mia Ellis (CA), and Karen Cellini (NY/MA); designers Dahveed Torres (NM), Zbigniew Bzymek (NY/PL), Andrew Maillet (NY/PL), Bill Liotta (NM), Aaron Hendren (NM), and Jeanette Yew (NY); dramaturg Theo Goodell (MA); choreography consultant Donna Jewel (NM); producer Juli Hendren (NM); and many extraordinary crew members and volunteers at Tricklock Company (NM).
Work-in-progress from MEMORY LAWS has been developed and/or shared at Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater (NYC), Tricklock Company (Albuquerque), MASS MoCA (North Adams), Playwrights’ Center (Minneapolis), and ITSelF Festival (Warsaw). In early 2020, MEMORY LAWS was working toward a premiere, but production is postponed indefinitely due to COVID-19.
In 2022, a studio recording of the music composed for MEMORY LAWS is in process. Rachel Jendrzejewski is a fiscal year 2022 recipient of a Creative Support for Individuals grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation by the Minnesota State Legislature; and by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Photo by Rachel Jendrzejewski