Kazimierz Braun


Kazimierz Braun is a Polish director, writer, and scholar.

Education

Braun was born in Mokrsko Dolne. He earned a master's degree in Polish literature from Poznań University in 1958 and a master's in directing from the Aleksander Zelwerowicz National Academy of Dramatic Art in Warsaw in 1962. He earned a Ph.D. in letters from Poznań University in 1971, a habilitation in theatre from Wrocław University, and a habilitation in directing from the Warsaw School of Drama in 1988.

Career

Braun became a tenured professor at the University at Buffalo in 1989. He made his debut as a professional theatre director in 1961, and as a professional television director in 1962. He has directed works at the Polish Theatre in Warsaw, Teatr Wybrzeże in Gdańsk, the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre in Kraków, and Teatr Solskiego in Tarnów, as well as in Canada, Germany, Ireland, and the United States. He was the artistic director of Teatr Osterwy in Lublin from 1967 to 1971, and general and artistic director there from 1971 to 1974. He was general and artistic director of the Contemporary Theatre in Wrocław from 1975 to 1984, but was fired by the Communist authorities because of his oppositional activities.
Since 1985, Braun has lived and worked in the United States. He has directed at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, the Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles, the Chicago Actors Ensemble, and Kavinoky Theatre in Buffalo. His best-known directorial works include plays by Cyprian Norwid, Tadeusz Różewicz, William Shakespeare, and Adam Mickiewicz. He has taught at the University of Wrocław, New York University, Swarthmore College, the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the University at Buffalo.
Braun has translated works from English, French, and Italian into Polish, and from Polish, French, and Russian into English.

Personal life

Braun's father, Juliusz Braun, was a lawyer, professor of ecology, Catholic activist, and political prisoner under Joseph Stalin. His mother was Elżbieta Korwin-Szymanowska. They both died in 1990.
Braun is married to Zofia Reklewska-Braun, a writer and theatre historian. They have three children and five granddaughters.

Credits

Between 1961 and 2016 Braun directed 155 theatre productions in Poland, the United States, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, Germany and other countries, including:
  • 1961: Karol / ''On the Sea / Strip-tease, Gdańsk
  • 1962: The Ring of a Great Lady, Warsaw
  • 1962: Two Theatres, Warsaw
  • 1963: Caucasian Chock Circle, Gdańsk
  • 1963: Romeo and Juliet, Warsaw
  • 1965: The Wedding, Toruń
  • 1967: November's Night, Gdańsk
  • 1968: Hamlet, Lublin
  • 1968: Kleopatra and Cezar, Lublin
  • 1970: Interrupted Act, Lublin
  • 1970: Behind the Wings, Kraków
  • 1971: The Ashes, director's adaptation, Television Theatre
  • 1972: The Deliverance, Lublin
  • 1973: The Old Woman, Lublin
  • 1977: Operetta, Wrocław
  • 1978: The Forefathers' Eve, Wrocław
  • 1979: Birth Rate, director's adaptation, Wrocław
  • 1982: The Forefathers' Eve, director's adaptation, Wrocław
  • 1982: Twelfth Night, Wrocław
  • 1983: The Plague, director's adaptation, Wrocław
  • 1984: The Trap, Wrocław
  • 1986: Rhinoceros, Minneapolis
  • 1987: The Hunger Artist, Buffalo
  • 1988: The Shoemakers, Los Angeles
  • 1989: King Lear, Buffalo
  • 1990: Immigrant Queen, Toronto
  • 1991: As You Like It, Buffalo
  • 1995: Tango, Knoxville, Tennessee
  • 1996: A Man for All Seasons, Buffalo
  • 1999: Richard III, Buffalo
  • 2003: Europe, Tarnów
  • 2004: Paderewski's Children, Buffalo
  • 2006: The Fall of a Stone House, Tarnów
  • 2006: Card Index Scattered, Buffalo
  • 2008: The Tales of Pola Negri, Toronto
  • 2010: The Book of Christopher Columbus, Steubenville, Ohio
  • 2011: Father Maximilian's Cell, Tarnów
  • 2012: Ordonka's Mysteries, Toronto
  • 2012: The Power and the Glory, director's adaptation, Buffalo
  • 2014: The Tempest, Buffalo
  • 2016: Norwid Returs '', Tarnów

Scholarly books

  • 1967: Teofil Trzciński, PIW, Warsaw
  • 1971: Cyprian Norwid's Theatre Without Theatre, PIW, Warsaw
  • 1972: Theatre of Communion, Wyd. Literackie, Kraków
  • 1975: New Theatre in the World, WaiF, Warsaw
  • 1979: The Second Reform of Theatre, Ossolineum, Wrocław
  • 1982: Theatre Space, PWN, Warsaw
  • 1984: The Great Reform of Theatre, Ossolineum, Wrocław
  • 1994: Polish Theatre 1939-1989, Semper, Warsaw
  • 1996: A History of Polish Theatre 1939-1989, Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut
  • 2000: Theatre Directing, Mellen Press, Lewiston, New York
  • 2003: A Concise History of Polish Theatre, Mellen Press, Lewiston
  • 2005: A Concise History of American Theatre, Wyd. UAM, Poznań
  • 2010: Lady Designer, Jadwiga Pożakowska, Muzeum Narodowe, Gdańsk
  • 2011: Brothers Adamowicz, Wyd. Uniw. Rzeszowskiego
  • 2013: My Różewicz's Theatre, Wyd. Uniw. Rzeszowskiego
  • 2014: My Norwid's Theatre, Wyd. Uniw. Rzeszowskiego
  • 2015: Direccion teatral: Arte, etica, creatividad, Universitado Nat. Aut., Mexico
  • 2019: The Bright Light of Gietrzwałd, Wyd. Osuchowa
  • 2019: The Great Reform of Theater, Mellen Press, Lewiston
  • 2020: Theatricality of Life, Wyd. A. Marszałek
  • 2022: The Second Reform of Theatre, Wyd. Volumen
  • 2023: Cyprian Norwid on Frederyk Chopin and His Music,, Literary Waves, London

Novels and plays

  • 1989: The Monument, Instytut Literacki, Paris
  • 1993: Helena: The Story of Modjeska, High Park Press, Toronto
  • 1996: Farewell to Alaska, PAX, Warszawa
  • 1996: The Story of Norwid: A One-Man Drama, Bernardinum, Pelplin
  • 1999: Day of Witness, Wyd. 4K, Bytom
  • 2003: A Bird on Stilts: Short Stories, Wyd. A. Marszałek, Toruń
  • 2005: Day of Witness, Wyd. Św. Wojciecha, Poznań
  • 2006: Radiation, Archiwum Emigracji, Toruń
  • 2008: Ten Days in People's Poland, Norbertinum, Lublin
  • 2011: Maximilianus, Wyd. Bratni Zew, Kraków
  • 2011: Tarnów's Wind of Freedom, Wyd. Biblioteka Publiczna, Tarnów
  • 2013: Good Priests, Bernardinum, Pelplin
  • 2016: The Alarm Bell, Volumen, Warszawa
  • 2018: A Rehearsal of the Apocalypse, Wyd. A. Marszałek, Toruń
  • 2021: Paderewski's Children. Paderewski Returns, Inst. Dziedzictwa I Myśli Narodowej, Warszawa
  • 2022: Dramas 2022, Wyd. A. Marszałek, Toruń
  • 2022: Anticipation. Poetry, 3DOM, Częstochowa
  • 2023: The Pyramid. Memoires, Volumen, Warszawa
Additionally: Books—interviews:
In total, in 1967-2023, Kazimierz Braun published 78 books.

Awards and honors

  • 1963: Best Director, Caucasian Chock Circle, Toruń Theatre Festival
  • 1964: Best Director, Enchanted Circle, Television Theatre Festival
  • 1965: Best Director, Actor, Television Theatre Festival and Kalisz Theatre Festival
  • 1966: Best Director, The Wedding, Toruń Theatre Festival
  • 1970: Best Director, Interrupted Act, Kalisz Theatre Festival
  • 1971: Medal for Merit to Culture, Poland
  • 1976: Medal for Educational Theatre, Poland
  • 1978: Gold Cross of Merit, Poland
  • 1979: Award for the Mise-en-Scène, Operetta, International Theatre Festival, Sitges, Spain
  • 1980: Golden Fredro Award for Director, Birth Rate, Wrocław
  • 1980: Japanese Foundation Award
  • 1984: Golden Fredro Award for Director, The Plague, Wrocław
  • 1985: Independent Culture Award, Poland
  • 1990: Guggenheim Foundation Award, United States
  • 1996: Director, Best Production in Buffalo, A Man for All Seasons
  • 1997: Chivalry Cross of the Polish Order of Merit
  • 2001: Aurum Literary Award, Toronto
  • 2001: Fulbright Program, United States
  • 2003: Turzański Foundation Award, Canada
  • 2004: Minister of Education Award, Poland
  • 2005: Polish-American Congress Annual Award
  • 2005: Medal for Merit to Culture, Poland
  • 2005: Officer's Cross of the Polish Order of Merit
  • 2007: Medal for Merit to Culture, Poland
  • 2011: Golden Owl Award, Austria
  • 2011: Commander's Cross of the Polish Order of Merit
  • 2016 Commander's Cross of the Order Polonia Restituta