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Iwo Gal ran an actor’s studio in Cracow. One day I read an announcement that they were recruiting so I went and was accepted. I was there for a few months, from April until I got angry with Gal and went to Lodz to the pre-war PIST [Panstwowy Instytut Sztuki Teatralnej: State Institute for Theater Arts], which later became PWST [Panstwowa Wyzsza Szkola Teatralna: State Higher Theater School].
State Institute for Theater Arts was founded in Warsaw before the war, the only school of the kind in Poland. There were also little studios, usually run by well-known actors, but PIST was the only higher school where you could get an education in theater arts. The creator and soul of the Department of Directing was Leon Schiller [(1887 – 1954), theater director, critic and theorist].
After the war, PIST was reactivated in Lodz, since Warsaw was in ruin. So I went to Lodz to take my exams. When I arrived I found out it was too late. The exams were over. I was inconsolable. I was leaving the office, tearful and sniffling, when I was approached by Aleksander Zelwerowicz himself [(1877–1955), actor, director]. Obviously I had no idea whom I was talking to. He asked me why I’m crying, so I said I was late, and he told me to come the next day. I was added to the list of candidates, then I passed the exam, went to school, and graduated.
The first theater in which I was engaged as an actress was in Katowice. It had a branch in Opole which was run by Irena and Tadeusz Byrscy. I liked those two so much, they seemed so different, so anti-routine that I declared I wanted to go to Opole to join them. Everybody thought I was crazy, but I went anyway. After a year they lost that place and I was engaged in Cracow, in Slowacki Theater.
State Institute for Theater Arts was founded in Warsaw before the war, the only school of the kind in Poland. There were also little studios, usually run by well-known actors, but PIST was the only higher school where you could get an education in theater arts. The creator and soul of the Department of Directing was Leon Schiller [(1887 – 1954), theater director, critic and theorist].
After the war, PIST was reactivated in Lodz, since Warsaw was in ruin. So I went to Lodz to take my exams. When I arrived I found out it was too late. The exams were over. I was inconsolable. I was leaving the office, tearful and sniffling, when I was approached by Aleksander Zelwerowicz himself [(1877–1955), actor, director]. Obviously I had no idea whom I was talking to. He asked me why I’m crying, so I said I was late, and he told me to come the next day. I was added to the list of candidates, then I passed the exam, went to school, and graduated.
The first theater in which I was engaged as an actress was in Katowice. It had a branch in Opole which was run by Irena and Tadeusz Byrscy. I liked those two so much, they seemed so different, so anti-routine that I declared I wanted to go to Opole to join them. Everybody thought I was crazy, but I went anyway. After a year they lost that place and I was engaged in Cracow, in Slowacki Theater.
Period
Location
Poland
Interview
Noemi Korsan-Ekert