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SUMMARY:'If I Had a Gun I’d Take Them All Down' directed at the Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival
UID:https://instytutpolski.pl/newyork/2026/06/01/if-i-had-a-gun-id-take-them-all-down-directed-at-the-rehearsal-for-truth-theater-festival/
LOCATION:
DTSTAMP:20260620
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Warsaw:20260620
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Warsaw:20260620
DESCRIPTION:Saturday, June 20, 2026 at 7:00 PM Bohemian National Hall321 East 73rd
Street, New York, NY, 10021Tickets are free, but please RSVP.
The work is also being presented:June 16th, 2026 at 8:00 PMJACK20 Putnam
Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11238Tickets are free, but please RSVP.
If I Had a Gun, I’d Take Them All Down is a gripping multimedia solo work
written by Ukrainian playwright and activist Piotr Armianovski, directed by
Paul Bargetto, and created in collaboration with performer Michael
Rubenfeld. The production confronts the long history of Russian oppression
in Ukraine through a calculated collision of personal testimony, political
history, and live performance. The piece unfolds as an intimate,
unflinching walk through contemporary wartime Kyiv—examining both the
physical architecture of a city under siege and a psychological landscape
of memory, resistance, and survival.
The narrative mirrors two distinct timelines: the history of Dmitry Bogrov,
the anarchist who assassinated Russian Prime Minister Piotr Stolypin at the
Kyiv Opera House in 1911, and the modern narration of Armianovski himself.
On stage, Rubenfeld retraces Armianovski’s and Bogrov’s steps through
the capital, moving physically across a space transformed by
Armianovski’s documentary video projections, which function as a living,
cinematic archive.Enveloped in an immersive soundscape and original
composition by Natan Kryszk, the production establishes a multi-sensory
environment where acoustic and visual textures evoke collective memory. For
New York audiences, the play also represents a bridging of eras for
Bargetto, who developed the piece alongside Rubenfeld in Poland after more
than a decade away from the city's independent theater  (where he
previously founded East River Commedia and directed the undergroundzero
festival). Through its seamless fusion of live staging, documentary cinema,
and atmospheric sound and music, the stage becomes a volatile meeting point
between two distinct realities: the relative safety of an American theater
and a city living. 
Written and with video by Piotr ArmianovskiDirector/co-creator Paul
BargettoPerformer/co-creator Michael RubenfeldFrom FestivALT and Teatr
Trans-Atlantyk
About the Artists
Piotr Armianovski is a Ukrainian multimedia artist working across
documentary film, performance, and video art. Trained in both computer
science and contemporary performance, Armianovski brings a precise,
observational sensibility to deeply human subjects—memory, displacement,
and the social fabric of everyday life in Ukraine.
Raised in Donetsk and later based in Kyiv, Armianovski’s work is shaped
by the rupture of war and the loss of his home city. His films and
performances examine how individuals navigate political upheaval, trauma,
and the shifting meanings of “home.” His acclaimed works, including Me
and Mariupol and A Balance of Sadness and Joy, blend personal testimony
with documentary realism, creating intimate portraits of places and people
caught between destruction and resilience.
Armianovski has exhibited widely, including a 2023 solo exhibition History
of Relations at the PinchukArtCentre, and has participated in major
performance and video art programs across Ukraine and Europe. He is a
recipient of the MUHi Special Prize for emerging Ukrainian artists and the
Gaude Polonia scholarship from Poland’s Ministry of Culture. Today,
Armianovski continues to use the body, the camera, and multimedia forms to
ask how personal stories survive in times of collective crisis.
Paul Bargetto is an international theater director, dramaturg, and festival
producer based in Warsaw, Poland. He is the President and Founder of
Fundacja Teatru Trans-Atlantyk, an independent arts organization producing
original performances, cultural research, digital media, and international
collaborations. Before relocating to Europe, Bargetto spent over a decade
as a contributor to the New York City independent theater community, where
he founded East River Commedia (1998–2010), co-founded the League of
Independent Theater, and directed the undergroundzero festival
(2007–2014) across venues such as PS 122, Collective:Unconscious, and The
Living Theatre.
Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Bargetto has focused his European
practice on collaborating directly with Ukrainian theater and dance makers
on humanitarian and artistic initiatives. This production marks a return to
his roots in the New York experimental tradition, infusing it with the
politically urgent, multidisciplinary aesthetic he has developed through
recent European projects. His international credits include Every Minute
Motherland with choreographer Maciej Kuźmiński, Album Karla Höckera with
Teatr Trans-Atlantyk, and commissions for the Staatsballett Wiesbaden and
Tanz Linz.
Michael Rubenfeld is a Canadian-Polish theatre maker, director, performer,
and cultural producer based in Warsaw, whose work investigates memory,
identity, and the complexities of intergenerational narrative. Known for
blending documentary practice with theatrical innovation, Rubenfeld creates
intimate, emotionally resonant performances that challenge audiences to
confront history and its living echoes.
Born in Winnipeg and trained at the National Theatre School of Canada,
Rubenfeld began his career in Toronto’s independent theatre movement,
where he became a central figure in the development of contemporary
performance. As co-artistic director of SummerWorks, Canada’s largest
juried performance festival, he focused on fostering experimental,
political, and cross-disciplinary work.
Since relocating to Warsaw, Rubenfeld has increasingly focused on projects
that explore Jewish-Polish history, diasporic memory, and trauma. Works
such as We Keep Coming Back reflect Rubenfeld’s hybrid approach—part
theatre, part documentary investigation. In Poland, Rubenfeld has developed
partnerships between Canadian, Polish, and European institutions to build
spaces where complex histories can be engaged with nuance and a commitment
to dialogue.
Natan Kryszk is a Warsaw-based musician and visual artist whose work moves
fluidly between sound, image, and narrative atmosphere. Drawing on
traditions of experimental music, ambient composition, and conceptual
visual art, Kryszk focuses on creating immersive environments where sound
functions as an atmospheric record of memory.
His practice is driven by a fascination with texture, weaving field
recordings, analog instrumentation, and digital synthesis into emotionally
charged soundscapes. Whether performing live or composing for theatre,
film, and installation, Kryszk’s music is marked by an attention to
atmosphere, geography, and the unspoken emotional currents beneath a text.
As a visual artist, Kryszk works with photography, projection, digital
media, and scenographic installations, exploring themes of time,
disappearance, and transformation. He collaborates widely with
international directors, choreographers, and theater companies. In If I Had
a Gun, I’d Take Them All Down, Kryszk’s surround-sound environments and
live audio design serve as the acoustic framework of the production,
transforming a solo performance into a multi-sensory, cinematic encounter.
About the 2026 Rehearsal for Truth International Theater Festival
Rehearsal for Truth International Theater Festival, honoring Václav Havel,
is a showcase of contemporary European theater organized each year in New
York City. Conceived in 2017 as a shared endeavor of the Václav Havel
Center (VHC) and Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association (BBLA), the
festival honors the legacy of Czech playwright, dissident and political
thinker Vaclav Havel. The 2026 festival is being produced in partnership
with Untitled Theater Company No. 61.Each edition of Rehearsal for Truth
Theater Festival addresses current sociopolitical trends in Central and
Eastern Europe, offering New York audiences a unique opportunity to witness
the region’s theatrical zeitgeist.
Produced by Fundacja Teatru Trans-Atlantyk and Festivalt, with support from
the Adam Mickiewicz Institute and the Polish Cultural Institute New York.
This project is also supported, in part, by public funds from the New York
City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
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