Photo courtesy of Dzieci

Dzieci (djyeh-chee) is an international experimental theatre ensemble dedicated to a search for the "sacred" through the medium of theatre.

Using techniques garnered from theatre masters across all areas, Dzieci aims to create a theatre which engages in personal transformation as well as public presentation.

The ensemble balances work on performance with work of service, through creative and therapeutic interactions in hospitals and other institutional settings. Dzieci believes helping others generates a profound healing effect that not only serves the patient but also strengthens the ensemble's work.

The hymns, chants, and folk tunes Dzieci sings in performance are coated by the experience of singing those same songs at the bedsides of the sick and dying, with children in psychiatric hospitals, and for wide variety of disadvantaged populations.

Their signature piece, Fools Mass has been presented as a rite of worship for over a decade at  various religious and spiritual gatherings.

The edition of The Encyclopedia of Religion, has this to say about Dzieci’s Fools Mass:

The performers wear the vestments, not of priests but of medieval bedlam idiots who are called upon by circumstance to celebrate a Mass even though they do not know how. Moving easily between the sublime and the ridiculous, drawing its audience through laughter toward participation and contemplation, the work resists being categorized as either theater or religion, becoming both at once in an event experienced by many as transformative. As they stand beside these grotesque characters in prayer, worshipers begin to participate in the liturgy with new understanding.

They will be offering performances on:
Saturday, December 5, 3pm - Cathedral of Saint John the Divine
Sunday, December 13, 7pm - St. John-St. Matthew-Emanuel Lutheran Church
Thursday, December 17, 7:30pm - Union Theological Seminary
Friday, December 18, 7:30pm - The Old Stone House
Sunday, December 20, 11am - The Cell Theatre Company

Read more about this unusual group at Focus on Dzieci

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