...Gdansk
Posted on 10/27/2003 10:49:31 AM PST by knighthawk
WASHINGTON - First lady Laura Bush joined with Poland's first lady to help rebuild a historic Shakespearean theater in the Baltic port city of Gdansk.
Bush and Polish first lady Jolanta Kwasniewska attended as guests of honor at a fund-raising dinner Sunday night to celebrate the launch of the American Friends of the Gdansk Theatre Foundation.
The two first ladies gave a toast to mark the planned revival of the theater.
Mrs. Kwasniewska asked her American counterpart to help with the $6 million project when Bush accompanied President Bush to Krakow in May, according to Charles Krause, head of the foundation.
The original Fortune Theatre, built around 1610, was the first public theater in Poland. Sponsors of the project hope to create an internationally renowned cultural center.
Krause said the support from the two first ladies is a sign of the strong relations between the United States and Poland.
"The two first ladies will be there because they are trying to highlight the close ties between the two countries and ... their belief that culture plays an important part in any relationship," Krause said.
His group hoped to raise at least $50,000 at the gala. Plans are to start construction of the rebuilt theater in 2005.
Britain's Prince Charles is patron of the Gdansk Theatre Foundation, which commemorates the theater built by members of a British colony who lived in Gdansk in the early 17th century.
Polish Fundraiser... Isn't this were attendees are in a round room and told to put their donations in the corner? Then several days later they go home with their checks.
You're both wrong. At a Polish fundraiser, everyone takes their wallets out of their pockets and holds them over their heads.
...Gdansk
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