{"id":20935,"date":"2026-06-01T20:23:33","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T18:23:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/?p=20935"},"modified":"2026-06-02T17:03:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T15:03:18","slug":"if-i-had-a-gun-id-take-them-all-down-directed-at-the-rehearsal-for-truth-theater-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"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\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8217;If I Had a Gun I\u2019d Take Them All Down&#8217; directed at the Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Saturday, June 20, 2026 at 7:00\u202fPM <br><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rehearsalfortruth.org\/program\/if-i-had-a-gun-id-take-them-all-down\">Bohemian National Hall<\/a><\/strong><br>321 East 73rd Street, New York, NY, 10021<br>Tickets are free, but please <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tickettailor.com\/events\/havelcenter\/2198775\">RSVP<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:26px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\">The work is also being presented:<br>June 16th, 2026 at 8:00 PM<br><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jackny.org\/winter-2026-season\">JACK<\/a><\/strong><br>20 Putnam Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11238<br>Tickets are free, but please <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zeffy.com\/en-US\/ticketing\/if-i-had-a-gun-id-take-them-all-down\">RSVP<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:26px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>If I Had a Gun, I\u2019d Take Them All Down<\/em><\/strong> is a gripping multimedia solo work written by Ukrainian <strong>playwright and activist Piotr Armianovski<\/strong>, directed by <strong>Paul Bargetto,<\/strong> and created in collaboration with <strong>performer Michael Rubenfeld<\/strong>. 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\u2014examining both the physical architecture of a city under siege and a psychological landscape of memory, resistance, and survival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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\u2019s and Bogrov\u2019s steps through the capital, moving physically across a space transformed by Armianovski\u2019s documentary video projections, which function as a living, cinematic archive.Enveloped in an immersive soundscape and <strong>original composition by Natan Kryszk<\/strong>, 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&#8217;s independent theater&nbsp; (where he previously founded <strong>East River Commedia<\/strong> and directed the<strong> undergroundzero festival<\/strong>). 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:28px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Written and with video by <strong>Piotr Armianovski<\/strong><br>Director\/co-creator <strong>Paul Bargetto<\/strong><br>Performer\/co-creator <strong>Michael Rubenfeld<\/strong><br>From <strong>FestivALT<\/strong> and <strong>Teatr Trans-Atlantyk<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:39px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:19px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\"><strong>About the Artists<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:24px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Piotr Armianovski<\/strong> 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\u2014memory, displacement, and the social fabric of everyday life in Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Raised in Donetsk and later based in Kyiv, Armianovski\u2019s 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 \u201chome.\u201d His acclaimed works, including <em>Me and Mariupol<\/em> and <em>A Balance of Sadness and Joy<\/em>, blend personal testimony with documentary realism, creating intimate portraits of places and people caught between destruction and resilience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Armianovski has exhibited widely, including a 2023 solo exhibition <em>History of Relations<\/em> 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:24px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Paul Bargetto<\/strong> 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\u20132010), co-founded the League of Independent Theater, and directed the undergroundzero festival (2007\u20132014) across venues such as PS 122, Collective:Unconscious, and The Living Theatre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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 <em>Every Minute Motherland<\/em> with choreographer Maciej Ku\u017ami\u0144ski, <em>Album Karla H\u00f6ckera<\/em> with Teatr Trans-Atlantyk, and commissions for the Staatsballett Wiesbaden and Tanz Linz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:24px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Michael Rubenfeld<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Born in Winnipeg and trained at the National Theatre School of Canada, Rubenfeld began his career in Toronto\u2019s independent theatre movement, where he became a central figure in the development of contemporary performance. As co-artistic director of SummerWorks, Canada\u2019s largest juried performance festival, he focused on fostering experimental, political, and cross-disciplinary work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since relocating to Warsaw, Rubenfeld has increasingly focused on projects that explore Jewish-Polish history, diasporic memory, and trauma. Works such as <em>We Keep Coming Back<\/em> reflect Rubenfeld\u2019s hybrid approach\u2014part 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:24px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Natan Kryszk<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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\u2019s music is marked by an attention to atmosphere, geography, and the unspoken emotional currents beneath a text.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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 <em>If I Had a Gun, I\u2019d Take Them All Down<\/em>, Kryszk\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\"><strong>About the 2026 Rehearsal for Truth International Theater Festival<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Rehearsal for Truth International Theater Festival, honoring V\u00e1clav Havel, is a showcase of contemporary European theater organized each year in New York City. Conceived in 2017 as a shared endeavor of the <a href=\"https:\/\/havelcenter.org\/\">V\u00e1clav Havel Center (VHC)<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bohemianbenevolent.org\/\">Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association (BBLA)<\/a>, 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.<br><br>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\u2019s theatrical zeitgeist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:17px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p><em>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.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"344\" src=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-01-142158-1024x344.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-20951\" srcset=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-01-142158-1024x344.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-01-142158-300x101.jpg 300w, https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-01-142158-768x258.jpg 768w, https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-01-142158.jpg 1285w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong><br><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Saturday, June 20, 2026 at 7:00\u202fPM 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\u2019d Take Them All Down is a gripping [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":202,"featured_media":20953,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-performing-arts"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>&#039;If I Had a Gun I\u2019d Take Them All Down&#039; directed at the Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival - Instytut Polski w Nowym Jorku<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"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\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"pl_PL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"&#039;If I Had a Gun I\u2019d Take Them All Down&#039; directed at the Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival - Instytut Polski w Nowym Jorku\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Saturday, June 20, 2026 at 7:00\u202fPM 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\u2019d Take Them All Down is a gripping [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"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\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Instytut Polski w Nowym Jorku\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-01T18:23:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-02T15:03:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-01-134442.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1019\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"684\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"stypulkowskaa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Napisane przez\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"stypulkowskaa\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Szacowany czas czytania\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minut\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"event\",\"@id\":\"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\/\",\"url\":\"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\/\",\"name\":\"'If I Had a Gun I\u2019d Take Them All Down' directed at the Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"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\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":[\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-01-134442.jpg\",\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-01-134442-300x201.jpg\",\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-01-134442.jpg\",\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-01-134442.jpg\"],\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-01-134442.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-01T18:23:33+02:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-02T15:03:18+02:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/#\/schema\/person\/c732b2695ee92026d080eec35471c7f1\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"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\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"pl-PL\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"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\/\"]}],\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"startDate\":\"2026-06-20\",\"endDate\":\"2026-06-20\",\"eventStatus\":\"EventScheduled\",\"eventAttendanceMode\":\"OfflineEventAttendanceMode\",\"location\":{\"@type\":\"place\",\"name\":\"\",\"address\":\"\",\"geo\":{\"@type\":\"GeoCoordinates\",\"latitude\":\"\",\"longitude\":\"\"}},\"description\":\"Saturday, June 20, 2026 at 7:00\u202fPM Bohemian National Hall321 East 73rd Street, New York, NY, 10021Tickets are free, but please RSVP.\\nThe work is also being presented:June 16th, 2026 at 8:00 PMJACK20 Putnam Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11238Tickets are free, but please RSVP.\\nIf I Had a Gun, I\u2019d 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\u2014examining both the physical architecture of a city under siege and a psychological landscape of memory, resistance, and survival.\\nThe 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\u2019s and Bogrov\u2019s steps through the capital, moving physically across a space transformed by Armianovski\u2019s 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. \\nWritten and with video by Piotr ArmianovskiDirector\/co-creator Paul BargettoPerformer\/co-creator Michael RubenfeldFrom FestivALT and Teatr Trans-Atlantyk\\nAbout the Artists\\nPiotr 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\u2014memory, displacement, and the social fabric of everyday life in Ukraine.\\nRaised in Donetsk and later based in Kyiv, Armianovski\u2019s 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 \u201chome.\u201d 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.\\nArmianovski 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\u2019s 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.\\nPaul 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\u20132010), co-founded the League of Independent Theater, and directed the undergroundzero festival (2007\u20132014) across venues such as PS 122, Collective:Unconscious, and The Living Theatre.\\nSince 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 Ku\u017ami\u0144ski, Album Karla H\u00f6ckera with Teatr Trans-Atlantyk, and commissions for the Staatsballett Wiesbaden and Tanz Linz.\\nMichael 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.\\nBorn in Winnipeg and trained at the National Theatre School of Canada, Rubenfeld began his career in Toronto\u2019s independent theatre movement, where he became a central figure in the development of contemporary performance. As co-artistic director of SummerWorks, Canada\u2019s largest juried performance festival, he focused on fostering experimental, political, and cross-disciplinary work.\\nSince 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\u2019s hybrid approach\u2014part 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.\\nNatan 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.\\nHis 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\u2019s music is marked by an attention to atmosphere, geography, and the unspoken emotional currents beneath a text.\\nAs 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\u2019d Take Them All Down, Kryszk\u2019s 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.\\nAbout the 2026 Rehearsal for Truth International Theater Festival\\nRehearsal for Truth International Theater Festival, honoring V\u00e1clav Havel, is a showcase of contemporary European theater organized each year in New York City. Conceived in 2017 as a shared endeavor of the V\u00e1clav 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\u2019s theatrical zeitgeist.\\nProduced by Fundacja Teatru Trans-Atlantyk and Festivalt, with support from the Adam Mickiewicz Institute and the Polish Cultural Institute New York. 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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\u2019d Take Them All Down is a gripping [&hellip;]","og_url":"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\/","og_site_name":"Instytut Polski w Nowym Jorku","article_published_time":"2026-06-01T18:23:33+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-06-02T15:03:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1019,"height":684,"url":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-01-134442.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"stypulkowskaa","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Napisane przez":"stypulkowskaa","Szacowany czas czytania":"8 minut"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"event","@id":"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\/","url":"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\/","name":"'If I Had a Gun I\u2019d Take Them All Down' directed at the Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"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\/#primaryimage"},"image":["https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-01-134442.jpg","https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-01-134442-300x201.jpg","https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-01-134442.jpg","https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-01-134442.jpg"],"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-01-134442.jpg","datePublished":"2026-06-01T18:23:33+02:00","dateModified":"2026-06-02T15:03:18+02:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/#\/schema\/person\/c732b2695ee92026d080eec35471c7f1"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"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\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"pl-PL","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["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\/"]}],"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","startDate":"2026-06-20","endDate":"2026-06-20","eventStatus":"EventScheduled","eventAttendanceMode":"OfflineEventAttendanceMode","location":{"@type":"place","name":"","address":"","geo":{"@type":"GeoCoordinates","latitude":"","longitude":""}},"description":"Saturday, June 20, 2026 at 7:00\u202fPM Bohemian National Hall321 East 73rd Street, New York, NY, 10021Tickets are free, but please RSVP.\nThe work is also being presented:June 16th, 2026 at 8:00 PMJACK20 Putnam Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11238Tickets are free, but please RSVP.\nIf I Had a Gun, I\u2019d 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\u2014examining both the physical architecture of a city under siege and a psychological landscape of memory, resistance, and survival.\nThe 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\u2019s and Bogrov\u2019s steps through the capital, moving physically across a space transformed by Armianovski\u2019s 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. \nWritten and with video by Piotr ArmianovskiDirector\/co-creator Paul BargettoPerformer\/co-creator Michael RubenfeldFrom FestivALT and Teatr Trans-Atlantyk\nAbout the Artists\nPiotr 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\u2014memory, displacement, and the social fabric of everyday life in Ukraine.\nRaised in Donetsk and later based in Kyiv, Armianovski\u2019s 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 \u201chome.\u201d 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.\nArmianovski 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\u2019s 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.\nPaul 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\u20132010), co-founded the League of Independent Theater, and directed the undergroundzero festival (2007\u20132014) across venues such as PS 122, Collective:Unconscious, and The Living Theatre.\nSince 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 Ku\u017ami\u0144ski, Album Karla H\u00f6ckera with Teatr Trans-Atlantyk, and commissions for the Staatsballett Wiesbaden and Tanz Linz.\nMichael 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.\nBorn in Winnipeg and trained at the National Theatre School of Canada, Rubenfeld began his career in Toronto\u2019s independent theatre movement, where he became a central figure in the development of contemporary performance. As co-artistic director of SummerWorks, Canada\u2019s largest juried performance festival, he focused on fostering experimental, political, and cross-disciplinary work.\nSince 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\u2019s hybrid approach\u2014part 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.\nNatan 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.\nHis 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\u2019s music is marked by an attention to atmosphere, geography, and the unspoken emotional currents beneath a text.\nAs 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\u2019d Take Them All Down, Kryszk\u2019s 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.\nAbout the 2026 Rehearsal for Truth International Theater Festival\nRehearsal for Truth International Theater Festival, honoring V\u00e1clav Havel, is a showcase of contemporary European theater organized each year in New York City. Conceived in 2017 as a shared endeavor of the V\u00e1clav Havel Center (VHC) and Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association (BBLA), the festival honors the legacy of Czech playwright, dissident and political thinker Vaclav Havel. 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