
Brendan Majewski, Karina Majewski, (Karina holding Brendan), Cormac Majewski, James Majewski (James holding Cormac), Erin K. McAtee, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Fr. Joseph Michael Fino, CFR, Claire Kretzschmar
CV NEWS FEED // A Catholic artist community is bringing Karol Wojtyła’s “The Jeweler’s Shop” to life in a production that will premiere this weekend in New York City.
Wojtyla – later Pope St. John Paul II – wrote “The Jeweler’s Shop”, a play about love and marriage, in 1960. According to the National Catholic Register, in the play, “Wojtyła explains that love is the decisive factor on the road to destiny where a man and a woman meet.” The story focuses on three couples who face various challenges in their relationships, and a central scene occurs in front of a jeweler’s store.
“The Jeweler’s shop points to the sacrament of marriage and empowerment of conscience which affords its stability and conclusiveness,” according to the Register.
New York-based non-profit Arthouse2B is bringing this story to the center stage this month. Arthouse2B Artistic Associate James Majewski directed the production.
“The Jeweler’s Shop” will premiere at 8 p.m. June 7 at St. Vincent Ferrer Priory in the Upper East side of Manhattan, New York. The show will also run on June 8 and 9, and June 14 through 16. Those interested in attending can purchase tickets here.
Wojtyla wrote the play about 20 years after he co-founded the Rhapsodic Theater during World War II. Majewski explained in an emailed preview of the Director’s Note written for the play that the Rhapsodic Theater was founded “as an act of resistance against Nazi occupation.”
“Circumstances demanded clandestine performances in private homes for small audiences,” the Director’s Note continues. “A generation of artists formed by these conditions would go on to develop a dramatic aesthetic that lent itself to such minimalist presentations.”
Similarly, Arthouse2B’s production of the play will take place in the front rooms of a priory.
Majeweski explained in the Director’s Note that the location for the play’s performance was not simply chosen for aesthetic reasons, but also because it’s a place where “cultural conditions in which such contradictions as ‘virtual reality’, ‘artificial intelligence’, and ‘social distance’ have come to predominate.”
He continued, “It is our view that, in such an environment, it is the responsibility of theater artists—apostles of the live event—to remove artifice and mediating spectacle, and instead to aggressively reassert what is most essential to the theatrical moment: the relationship between actor and audience.”
“And while the Rhapsodic Theater styled itself a ‘theater of the word,’ eschewing dramatic gesture, we have chosen to emphasize the body and its movement together with the word,” he continued:
After all, Wojtyla himself well-understood the body’s capacity for communication, its eloquence, its rich meaning and signification. This is the same man who later wrote Love and Responsibility and, as John Paul II, Theology of the Body.
Majeweski added that Arthouse2B’s production of “The Jeweler’s Shop” uses a new adaptation, without changing the dialogues.
Arthouse2B’s approach to “The Jeweler’s Shop” is reflective of the artist group’s broader mission.
Arthouse2B was co-founded by Erin McAtee and ballet dancer Claire Kretzschmar. McAtee shared with CatholicVote in an email interview that they created the Catholic artist community “as a direct response to widespread isolation and disillusionment experienced by artists.” They especially sought to help foster community for Catholic artists in New York City during the 2020 lockdowns.
Arthouse2B events originally were promoted by word-of-mouth, but the community has since become a network of hundreds of artists, McAtee wrote.
“The camaraderie fostered at our events between artists and non-creatives alike, coupled with intimate hospitality, creates a space for meaningful engagement and contributes to our aim of the renewal of our culture,” she continued:
Today, creatives from New York City and beyond seek Arthouse2B for spiritual and artistic nourishment amongst an artistic landscape that neglects Catholic faith and tradition, and within the Church where the value of the artistic vocation has room to grow.
Arthouse2B’s goal is to be a self-sufficient organization “where artists are supported financially, artistically, and spiritually,” McAtee said. They also hope to expand their physical space to include art studios, a Catholic chapel, a performance hall, and more.
McAtee noted that Arthouse2B is a non-profit organization that seeks “to serve artists in a full-time capacity and evangelize the culture in New York City through beauty.”
Those interested in donating to Arthouse2B can learn more here.
