Paweł Łysak

In 1998, together with Paweł Wodziński, I founded the “towarzystwo teatralne” [Theatre Association], and from 2000 to 2003 we co-directed the Polish Theatre in Poznań. From 2006 to 2014, I headed the Hieronim Konieczka Polish Theatre in Bydgoszcz and seven editions of the Prapremiery Festival (2007–2014). Since September 2014, I have been the director of the Zygmunt Hübner Powszechny Theatre in Warsaw and vice-president of the Association of Theatre Directors. I was the coordinator of the civic Congress of Culture 2016. I am a member of the curatorial team of the Forum Przyszłości Kultury [Future of Culture Forum] and a co-founder and board member of the Guild of Polish Theatre Directors.

In 2010, I curated the Bydgoszcz project in the bid for the European Capital of Culture 2016 title. From 2011 to 2014, I was the Coordinator of the Civic Cultural Council of Bydgoszcz. From 2012 to 2016, I was the Chairman of the Council for Artistic Institutions at the Minister of Culture and National Heritage.

I am the recipient of prestigious awards and distinctions, including the Golden Cross of Merit awarded for notable achievements in promoting Polish culture (2015), the Annual Award of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage in the Theatre category (2012), and the Polityka Passport in the Theatre category (“for consistently building an ambitious repertoire, for combining successive premieres with discussions and initiatives that activate the audience, the theatre and the city”, 2008). I was also awarded the Casimirus Magnus medal of the Kazimierz Wielki University (2014). I am a finalist in the survey conducted by Gazeta Wyborcza daily, in which the people of Bydgoszcz voted for the most notable citizens of Bydgoszcz of the past 25 years. In addition, for directing the play V (F) ICD-10. Transformations [V (F) ICD-10. Transformations], I was awarded a distinction at the 16^th National Competition for the Staging of Polish Contemporary Drama (2010) and a prize at the 10^th National Festival of Contemporary Drama “Rzeczywistość Przedstawiona” in Zabrze (2010). I also received the Andrzej Szwalbe Laurel (2009), the Gazeta Wyborcza Felix Award for People of Success (2008) and the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodeship Marshal’s Award (2008).

I made my debut as a director with the play Roberto Zucco by Bernard Marie Koltès (Dramatyczny Theatre in Warsaw, 1992). I worked at the Osterwa Theatre in Lublin, where I produced, among others, Antigone in New York by Janusz Głowacki (1993), The Cherry Orchard by A. Chekhov (1997), Chairs by E. Ionesco (1998). In addition, I also staged Euripides’ The Bacchae (Adam Mickiewicz Theatre, Częstochowa, 1995), Stanisław Wyspiański’s Sędziowie [Judges] (Polish Theatre, Warsaw, 1998), among others plays. As part of the “towarzystwo teatralne”, I produced a staging of Mark Ravenhill’s Shopping and Fucking (Rozmaitości Theatre, Warsaw, 1998) and Marius von Mayenburg’s Fire in the Head (1999). During my time as the director of the Polish Theatre in Poznań, I directed, among others, Noc Helvera [Helver’s Night] and Helmucik [Little Helmut] by Ingmar Villqist, The Constant Prince by Juliusz Słowacki, Freiheit-Freedom based on Leon Kruczkowski’s work and Terrorism by the Presnyakov Brothers.

In 2005, I produced Anton Chekhov’s Ivanov at the Stefan Jaracz Theatre in Łódź, followed three years later by William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. At the Polish Theatre in Bydgoszcz, I directed Stanisława Przybyszewska’s award-winning Sprawa Dantona [The Danton Case] in 2008 and Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov in 2009. As part of the Goethe-Institut international project “After the fall. Europe after 1989”, the premiere of V (F) ICD -10. Transformacje, written by Artur Pałyga, took place in 2009 (Polish Theatre in Bydgoszcz). In 2011, I directed Bertolt Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera, in 2012, Małgorzata Sikorska-Miszczuk’s Popiełuszko, and in 2013, Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard. I directed a series of eight monodramas based on the texts by Artur Paługa collected in the series entitled Bydgoszcz Stories and presented at the Bydgoszcz theatre in 2014. In 2019, I staged Trump i pole kukurydzy [Trump and the Cornfield] in 2019. At the Powszechny Theatre in Warsaw, I directed the following plays: Krzyczcie, Chiny! [Shout, China!] based on the work of Sergei Tretyakov (2015), Kuroń. Pasja według św. Jacka [Kuroń. Passion According to St. Jacek] by Małgorzata Sikorska-Miszczuk (2017), Jak ocalić świat na małej scenie? [How to Save the World on a Small Stage?] (2018), Heart of Darkness based on Joseph Conrad’s novel (2021), and Przedwiośnie [The Spring to Come] by Stefan Żeromski (2023). In May 2024, I directed Waiting for Godot, based on Samuel Beckett’s play at the Fredro Theatre in Gniezno. I also directed Opowiem wam bajkę [Let Me Tell You A Story], a play based on the fairy tales of Zofia Lorentz and the memories of people who were children during the Warsaw Uprising (Warsaw Uprising Museum, 2010).

I often work in the Polish Radio Theatre. I have directed radio plays (at the 7^th and 13^th editions of the “Two Theatres – Sopot” Festival of the Polish Radio Theatre and Polish Television Theatre, I was awarded a prize for directing radio plays: Witamy w krainie [Welcome to this Land] based on the prose of Marek Nowakowski (2007) and Prorok Ilja [Prophet Ilya] based on the drama by Tadeusz Słobodzianek (2013). In 2011, at the same festival, I was awarded the Grand Prix for the radio play Somosierra by Paweł Sztarbowski, which I directed.