Last week, the Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute announced the winners of the 24th National Competition for Staging Contemporary Polish Plays.

The Grand Prix went to the Opole Theatre of the Puppet and the Actor for their production Zagubiony chłopiec [The Lost Boy] written by Artur Pałyga and directed by Paweł Passini. Passini also won the directing prize. Zagubiony chłopiec is aimed at 10-year-old and older spectators and explores the virtual world of gaming and cyberspace.

Jan Czapliński, Magda Fertacz, and Marta Guśniowska got awards for their plays: Bzik. Ostatnia minuta [The Craze. Last Minute] and SIENKIEWICZ SUPERSTAR (Czapliński), Puppenhaus. Kuracja [Puppenhaus. The Therapy] (Fertacz), and Marvin (Guśniowska). Maja Kleszcz got a prize for music to Ewelina Marciniak’s stagings of Bzik. Ostatnia Minuta at the Współczesny Theatre in Szczecin.

Bzik. Ostatnia minuta [ The Craze. Last Minute] by Jan Czapliński, dir. by Ewelina Marciniak, Teatr Współczesny w Szczecinie, Photograph by Natalia Kabanow.

Bzik. Ostatnia Minuta [ The Craze. Last Minute] by Jan Czapliński, dir. by Ewelina Marciniak, Teatr Współczesny w Szczecinie, Photograph by Natalia Kabanow.

Acting prizes went to Krystyna Janda, Matylda Baczyńska, Justyna Wasilewska, Sara Celler-Jezierska, Agnieszka Żulewska, and Dawid Żłobiński.

One of the judges, Jacek Sieradzki (an eminent Polish theatre critic) said in his closing notes:

“This competition was created to encourage Polish authors to write and Polish theatres to stage contemporary Polish plays–we do not have this problem anymore. We are finishing this theatre season and, at the same time, we are finishing a great effort by theatres.”

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This post was written by Kasia Lech.

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