Agnieszka Glińska
A conscious experience of change is a powerful generator and trigger of vital and creative energy. In my 50s I am undergoing the most profound change in my life: I am changing careers. I am moving away from the sublime realm of theatre, of creating new worlds, to assist people. This means stepping out of the imaginary world and into the real world. I have spent more than 30 years working in the theatre, now I would like to do something ‘real’. This process has many dimensions, one of which is supporting artists. I organise workshops for actors to strengthen their mental condition and help them access their inner and creative potential. My dream is to create a psychological and psychiatric support centre for artists, actors, and directors. During the residency, I will be involved in describing this process, as well as testing a workshop model, with a particular focus on how I can use my theatrical experience in psychotherapeutic work.
I hold a PhD in Theatre Arts and am a psychotherapist in training at the School of Psychotherapists at the Institute of Integral Gestalt Psychotherapy in Kraków, Poland. As a psychotherapist, I work with the Feminoteka Foundation and the Konteksty centre of psychotherapy. I have also been running my practice for six months now. For three decades, I worked as a theatre director and actress; I graduated from the Acting Department and the Theatre Directing Department of the State Theatre Academy in Warsaw. Since my debut in 1993, I have directed more than one hundred theatre and television plays. I have also completed the “Ekran” (The Screen) international course at the Andrzej Wajda Master School of Film Directing and postgraduate Polish-Jewish Studies at the Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences. I have taught acting for over twenty years, and currently work as a professor at the Academy of Theatre Arts in Kraków. From 2012 to 2015, I was the artistic director of the Studio Theatre in Warsaw. I run development workshops for actors, as well as individual support and coaching sessions and psychological consultations for creatives and artists.