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Run Nawrocki Run! Escape from Banff Prison
20 June, 2022 at 08:00 – 4 July, 2022 at 17:00 EDT
Commemorating June 20, the anniversary of the end of Canada’s WW1 internment of Ukrainians coast-to-coast, and World Refugee Day
Les Pages Noires Productions and Babushka Theatre present
The return streamed performances of
Run Nawrocki Run! Escape from Banff Prison
Written & performed by Norman Nawrocki
Music by Norman & Vivian Nawrocki
The return streamed performances of Mon., June 20 to Mon., July 4, 2022
A Ukrainian Canadian WW1 story of courage—dream, resist, escape
Benefit screenings for humanitarian aid for Ukraine & Ukrainian refugees
Acclaimed Montreal playwright/actor/musician Norman Nawrocki blends Canadian history, emigration, racism, wartime hysteria, Ukrainian folkloric medicinal rituals, music and legend together with family memoire into this compelling tale about hope, courage and resistance. The eye-opening Run Nawrocki Run! Escape from Banff Prison runs from June 20-July 4 on Nawrocki’s YouTube channel. The show streams for free with donations to Fundacja Folkowisko Foundation gratefully appreciated.
The show brings to light the little-known but shamefully true WW1 incarceration and exploitation of 9,000 mostly Ukrainian Canadian immigrants in forced labour camps across Canada. Nestor, an unemployed Ukrainian Canadian citizen, is nabbed by the police, imprisoned and forced to do slave labour in a federal concentration camp near Banff Alberta. Despite the brutal, tortuous conditions, he rebels, dreams and conspires to escape. This was Canada’s first coast-to-coast internment operation; June 20 honours the anniversary of its end and is also World Refugee Day.
“One day we’re citizens living free, and then we’re enemies and aliens. Overnight, everything changes.” — Nestor
Run Nawrocki Run! Escape from Banff Prison pays tribute to one of Nawrocki’s relatives who successfully escaped from Castle Mountain in Banff National Park, the most inhumane of the 24 internment camps. The play is a joyous call to rebellion. Nestor, prisoner of war #158, is inspired and inspires, and despite all the odds, he never loses hope. He demonstrates what’s possible; how to find the courage within us all to work with others for our collective freedom.
“An important story to tell & to remember.”—David Gray, CBC Calgary Eyeopener
Run Nawrocki Run! Escape from Banff Prison
Streaming for FREE- June 20 (7:30 EDT) to July 4 (midnight EDT)
On Norman Nawrocki’s YouTube Channel
Benefit for humanitarian aid for Ukraine & Ukrainian refugees
Donations (with tax receipt) to Fundacja Folkowisko Foundation gratefully appreciated
www.facebook.com/events/2795498610746716 linktr.ee/normannawrocki
Run Nawrocki Run! Escape from Banff Prison was made possible in part by a grant from the Endowment Council of the Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund