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The 2013/2014 season – summary

The 2013/2014 season in Powszechny Theatre has just ended. This is a good opportunity to sum it up. This season we played 346 shows for 75,600 spectators. As one of very few theatres in Poland we were playing till the middle of July. Incomes (tickets and others) amounted to 3,074,275 zloties. This was a very intensive time for our Theatre.

 

On our two stages we produced altogether thirteen previews (six previews of Reading Theatre for people with poor eyesight and blind included):

- Boeing, Boeing by Marc Camoletti, directed by Giovanny Castellanos

- Tu-wim, directed by Jerzy Jan Połoński and Jarosław Staniek (first preview)

- Release Carp by Piotr Bulak, directed by Krystyna Meissner (first preview)

- Mars: The Odyssey, directed by Paweł Miśkiewicz (first preview)

- The Truth (La Vérité) by Frank Zeller, directed by Marcin Sławiński

- My Dad’s a Birdman by David Almond, directed by Andrzej Jakubas (first preview)

- Carbon Monoxide by Aleksandra Listwan (concept and performance), directed by Ula Kijak.

This season’s previews of Reading Theatre for people with poor eyesight and blind were directed by Ewa Pilawska who has always directed plays in the project on a voluntary basis:

- Divine Romance by Michał Walczak

- Renewal by Maciej Wojtyszko

- A Night in Provence by Robin Hawdon

- My Dad’s a Birdman by David Almond

- Double Double by Eric Elice and Roger Reese

- Promise ad Dawn (La Promesse de l'aube) by Romain Gary.

 

In March and April the XXth, jubilee edition of International Festival of Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant took place with „The Masters” as its theme. As Krystian Lupa said during one of the Festival’s discussions, every artist should have his master because the artist’s identity is the result of getting to know the best works. You cannot become an artist just like that – all early fascinations come from works by others.

We are sure it is not only the artist who needs the master.That is why we have been trying to present the best and the most important spectacles to our spectators. This year they saw eight performances (three previews specially prepared for the Festival – among them world preview produced by DAKH Theatre from Kiev) and two exhibitions. They could also take part in panel discussions. The houses were more than full – the audience amounted to 103 percent. We are very pleased because of that for the spectacles demanded a lot of sensitivity and involvement from the audience.

We have always said the spectators are the most important part of the theatre. That is why they always chose the best spectacle, the best actor and the best actress of the Festival. This year the prizes went to: „Battle of Warsaw 1920” produced by National Old Theatre from Cracow, Marta Ścisłowicz for her role in „Tsarina Katherine” produced by the Stefan Żeromski Theatre in Kielce and Grzegorz Małecki for his role in „Constellations” produced by Polonia Theatre in Warsaw.

The Theatre’s social involvement is worth mentioning here. Our initiatives: Spectacle for the unemployed, Spectatle for pensioners and Child in a Situation have been continued throughout the season. Preview of My Dad’s A Birdman was a part of the Child in a Situation project and we invited children from the unemployed families to the theatre. This season we also produced 86 free classes within the Theatre education project. For one week we opened our Big Stage to the Logos Theatre and the Christian Culture Festival.

This season we started new initiatives. In May A Seniors’ Week in Powszechny Theatre took place (as part of Senioralia 2014 in Łódź). During the week a new series of meetings with Łódź actors (Masters of Łódź theatres) was introduced. We organized drama workshops (curator: Roman Pawłowski) for the participants of Playwright Competitions for Comedy Writers„Komediopisanie” („Comedywriting”). The project Frivolous media (curator: Weronika Szczawińska) has also been continued.

Our foreign trips and participation in many festivals were an important part of this season. Tu-wim produced for the Small Stage (the play became a part of a celebration of Julian Tuwim’s Year) was a huge success in Stuttgart, London and in Sibiu – in International Theatre Festival, one of the most important theatre festivals in Europe. Winter Trip, acknowledged to be one of the most important plays of 2013, was presented during XII Premiere Festival in Bydgoszcz, 6. International Theatre Festival Boska Komedia (Divine Comedy) in Cracow, 34. Warsaw Theatre Meetings, XXII International Theatre Festival Kontakt (Contact) in Toruń and in July the spectacle was presented during Open’er Festival in Gdynia.

We are proud of many awards; it needs to be mentioned here the Bronze Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis for our director Ewa Pilawska who was decorated by a representative of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage during the Festival’s inauguration and the audience gave our director standing ovation.

So much for the past season. Thank you very much for it.

Ewa Pilawska and the Powszechny Theatre team 


BIP