A series of lectures lasting from October 2024 to February 2025 concerning the biographical trend in Polish theater of the 21st century. The lectures are conducted by Dr. hab. Beata Popczyk-Szczęsna, prof. UŚ. Admission is free, reservation of seats is required at bilety@instytut-teatralny.pl.

In Polish theater of the last quarter-century, within the framework of various stage and playwriting practices, a particular kind of interest in biographies by theater creators is noticeable. Productions based on the biographies of specific individuals – those well-known and present in public discourse, as well as those completely forgotten – can be found both in the repertoires of institutional theaters and among the stage initiatives of various associations or project groups.

This series of lectures will be dedicated to dramatic and theatrical works inspired by the biography of a person as a theme, genre, and pretext for performances. It is a significant artistic phenomenon that, due to its intensity and cyclicality, allows us to infer the emergence of a biographical trend in Polish theater of the 21st century.

The theatrical biographism is undoubtedly a sign of the times, as it represents a manifestation of the growing popularity of biographies, both in artistic creation (especially literary or filmic) and in other areas of contemporary social practices. It is also a testament to the contextual, culturally and politically conditioned, relational, and interpersonal dimension of individual existence.

In connection with numerous examples of creating/adapting/reconstructing biographies in theatrical performances, it is necessary to ask questions about the reasons, forms, and reception of this kind of creation. It is also worth considering to what extent this creation correlates with the dynamic socio-cultural transformations in our contemporary culture, as well as – why it constitutes such an important testimony to the functioning of theater as a medium of public affairs, as a platform for confronting different views or revealing the mechanisms shaping individual and collective identity. These very issues will become the subject of reflections in the subsequent lectures planned as part of the series.

Reflection on specific projects and creative strategies of playwrights and directors of individual performances will proceed under the assumption that biographical theatrical practices create a significant trend in the latest Polish theater, constituting both an effect and an impulse for changes (formal, aesthetic, communicative) in the area of Polish stage practices of the 21st century.

𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺 𝘄𝘆𝗸ł𝗮𝗱𝗼́𝘄:

𝟭𝟳.𝟭𝟬 𝗼 𝟭𝟴:𝟬𝟬 | Lecture I “Polish Theater of the 21st Century in the Context of the Biographical Turn. Introduction”
𝟭𝟰.𝟭𝟭 𝗼 𝟭𝟴:𝟬𝟬 | Lecture II “Biogramat and Biotheater – New Dramatic and Theatrical Forms or Genre Hybrids...?”
𝟭𝟮.𝟭𝟮 𝗼 𝟭𝟴:𝟬𝟬 | Lecture III “Archive of Life – Transformations Part I [Personalistic Aspect of Biographical Practices]”
𝟭𝟲.𝟬𝟭 𝗼 𝟭𝟴:𝟬𝟬 | Lecture IV “Archive of Life – Transformations Part II [Biographies as Pretexts – Revisions and Reconstructions]”
𝟭𝟯.𝟬𝟮 𝗼 𝟭𝟴:𝟬𝟬 | Lecture V “Biographical Practices and the Performatization of Theater – Performances of (Auto)Biography”

Beata Popczyk-Szczęsna 🎤
Dr. hab. prof. UŚ., works at the Institute of Cultural Studies of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Silesia. A researcher of contemporary drama and theater. She deals with the theory and practices of reading dramatic texts, Polish stage dramaturgy, biography in 21st-century theater, and the issues of experience in literature and performing arts. Author of the books: “The Character of Judas in Polish Drama of the 20th Century. Struggles with Reference” (2003); “Polish Dramaturgy after 1989” (2013); “Repetitions and Returns. On the Dramaturgy of Janusz Głowacki” (2015). Co-editor of collective volumes: “Drama and Experience” (2014), “Writing for the Stage – Narratives of Contemporary Theater” (2019). A member of the Polish Society for Theater Research, the Polish Cultural Studies Society, and the European Association for the Study of Theatre and Performance (EASTAP). She participated in the work of the Artistic Commission of the VI and VII editions of the Competition for the Staging of Works of Old Polish Literature “Living Classics,” organized by the Zbigniew Raszewski Theater Institute (2020-2021).