In 2017, to spark discussion and stimulate the exchange of knowledge, the Zbigniew Raszewski Theater Institute initiated a platform for researchers of Central-Eastern European theatre. The group’s task in 2017 was to prepare an anthology presenting a panorama of the theatre avant-garde of Central-Eastern Europe, taking into account its diversity in an international context and the interdisciplinary dimension of this phenomenon. Since 2018, the platform has been working on A Lexicon of the Central-Eastern European Interwar Theatre Avant-garde (in English), which will be a summary of the research project financed by the National Programme for the Development of Humanities entitled „Reclaimed Avant-garde. Polish and Central-European theatre avant-garde”.
Tania Arcimovich is a PhD Candidate at the International Centre for the Study of Culture in the Justus-Liebig-Universität, Germany. She graduated from the Belarusian State Academy of Arts in Minsk, within the Department of the History of Theatre, and received a Masters in Sociology, focusing on Cultural Studies, from the European Humanities University (Vilnius, Lithuania). She has written several articles about Belarusian modern theatre published in various Belarusian and foreign magazines and book series. Tania Arcimovich is author of the
book ‘Belarusian Experimental Theatre in the Thaw period. Between Modernism and Avantgarde’ (European Humanities University, Vilnius, 2020) published in Russian.
Martin Bernátek is an Assistant Professor, area head of theatre studies, and a vice-chair in the Department of Theatre and Film Studies at Palacký University, Olomouc, Czech Republic. His research is located on the intersection of performance and media studies, and focuses on issues of theatre space. Interest in the historical inquiry into hybridizations of performing arts, visual arts, and cinema in Central Europe resulted in the dissertation ‘Screening Practices in Theatres Before World War I’ (published in Czech, 2016). During the last five years, he took part in a research project on the history of Czech theatre photography (Arts and Theatre Institute, Prague), and the legacy of the Prague linguistic circle within the field of theatre theory (Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic). He is a member of the editorial board of the ArteActa journal for performing arts and artistic research (Academy of Performing Arts in Prague), as well as a member of the European Association for the study of theatre and performance. He co-organizes the international Josefov summer school in the East-Bohemia Fortress Josefov (alongside Masaryk University and the University of Warsaw).
Alexandra Chiriac is an art historian specializing in marginalized histories of twentieth century design and performance, with a specific focus on identity, gender, and ethnic minorities. Currently she is a Leonard A. Lauder Fellow for Modern Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, with a project on the visual and material culture of modernity. Chiriac holds a PhD from the University of St. Andrews on modernism in stage and interior design in Interbellum East-Central Europe, and has published on Romanian, Russian, and Jewish design and performance history. Among her publications are ‘Ephemeral Modernisms, Transnational Lives. Reconstructing Avant-Garde Performance in Bucharest’ in the Journal of Romanian Studies (2020), ‘Romanian Modernism and the Perils of the Peripheral’ in the volume Borders of Modernism edited by Massimiliano Tortora and Annalisa Volpone (2019), ‘The Magical and the Mechanical: M.H. Maxy, Iacob Sternberg and the Bukarester Idishe Theater Studio’ in The History Journal of the Jews in Romania (2017), and ‘Fedor Lopukhov and The Bolt’ in Studies in Theatre and Performance (2016).
Wojciech Dudzik is a theatrologist and cultural expert, Professor at the Section for Theater and Performance at the Institute of Polish Culture at the University of Warsaw, member of the Polish Committee of Cultural Studies at the Polish Academy of Sciences, and President of the Polish Society for Theater Research. He is the author of the publication: ‘Karnawały w kulturze’ (Carnivals in Culture) (2005), and anthologies: ‘Świadomość teatru. Polska myśl teatralna drugiej połowy XX wieku’ (Consciousness of the Theater. Polish Theatrical Thought of the Second Half of the 20th Century) (2007, German edition 2011), ‘Karnawał. Studia historyczno-antropologiczne’ (Carnival. Historical and Anthropological Studies) (2011), and ‘Paradoksy maski. Antologia’ (Paradoxes of the Mask. An Anthology) (2018), and the volumes: ‘Struktura w antystrukturze. Szkice o karnawale i teatrze’ (Structure in Anti-Structure. Studies about Carnival and Theater) (2013), ‘W poszukiwaniu stylu. Teatr Narodowy 1924–1939’ (In Search of Style. National Theater 1924–1939) (2015), ‘Maska w kulturze współczesnej Europy. Teorie i praktyki’ (The Mask in the Culture of Contemporary Europe. Theories and Practices) (2020); co-editor of the academic textbook ‘Antropologia widowisk’ (Anthropology of Spectacles) (2005, 2010), and the online ‘Encyclopedia of Polish Theater’ www.encyklopediateatru.pl.
Małgorzata Dziewulska deals with contemporary staging and its relationship with the audience and collective imagination in historical, social, and political contexts. She is the author of numerous publications and books, such as: ‘Teatr zdradzonego przymierza’ (The Theatre of the Betrayed Covenant) (1985), ‘Artyści i pielgrzymi’ (Artists and Pilgrims) (1995), and ‘Inna obecność’ (Another Presence) (2009). In the 70s and 80s, she was a co-founder of the Puławy Theatre Studio, and a collaborator of the Jerzy Grotowski Laboratory. She has lectured at the Department of Theatre Studies in the Jagiellonian University, was part of the Res Publica monthly team, and has produced opera performances. In the 90s, she belonged to the literary management of the Stary Theatre in Krakow, and thereafter was the literary manager of the National Theatre in Warsaw under the management of Jerzy Grzegorzewski. Since 1994, she has been a lecturer at the Theatre Academy in Warsaw, firstly at the Faculty of Theatre Studies, and currently in the Directing Department. At the Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute she conducted her own seminars: ‘Profecja i promocja’ (Prophecy and Promotion), and ‘Pracownia Kantorowska’ (The Kantor Workshop).
Dorota Fox is a Doctor of Humanities in the field of Literary Studies, and Habilitated Doctor in the field of Cultural Studies; Assistant Professor at the Institute of Culture Sciences at the University of Silesia, Poland. She is a member of the Polish Association for Theatre Research and the Polish Association for Culture Studies. Her research interests focus on the history of theatre criticism, theatre of the interwar period, and forms of stage art. She is the author of the monographs: ‘Kabarety i rewie międzywojennej Warszawy. Z prasowego archiwum Dwudziestolecia’ (Cabarets and Revues of Interwar Warsaw. From the Press Archive of the Interwar Period) (2007), and ‘Czasopiśmiennictwo teatralne w Polsce w latach 1918–1939’ (Periodicals of Theatre in Poland 1918–1939) (2013).
Ewa Guderian-Czaplińska (1962–2020), Professor at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland. She worked at the Institute of Theatre and Media Arts of Adam Mickiewicz University from 2017–2019, and was director of the Institute. She dealt with the theatre of the
interwar period, contemporary theatre and drama, and theatre criticism. She is the author of the publications: ‘Szara strefa awangardy. O dramatach Awangardzistów krakowskich’ (Grey Area of the Avant-garde. On the Dramas of Krakow Avant-gardists) (1998), ‘Teatralna Arkadia. Poznańskie teatry dramatyczne 1918–1939’ (Arcadia of Theatre: Poznań Drama Theatres, 1918–1939) (2004), a new study of Anna Świrszczyńska’s dramas ‘Orfeusz’ (Orpheus) (2013), co-editor of the anthology ‘Awangarda teatralna w Europie ŚrodkowoWschodniej. Wybór tekstów źródłowych’ (Avant-garde Theatre in Central and Eastern Europe. A Selection of Source Texts) (2018), editor of several theatrological books, and has written for the journals Didaskalia and Dialog.
Anca Hațiegan is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Theatre and Film of the BabeșBolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. She specializes in the history of Romanian theatre. She completed her PhD in Philology at the Babeș-Bolyai University with a thesis titled ‘Theatricality and The Novel Under the Communist Regime’ (2008). Her academic interests focus on the history of Romanian theatre, the history of actresses, women and theatre, theatre and nation, theatre and Communism, theatre and literature, and theatricality among others. She is the author of ‘Dimineața actrițelor’ (Dawn of The Actresses) (Polirom, Iași, 2019) and ‘Cărțile omului dublu. Teatralitate și roman în regimul comunist’ (The Books of The DoubleMan. Theatricality and The Novel Under the Communist Regime) (Limes, Cluj, 2010). She is currently working on another book focusing on the biography and career of Romanian theatre and film director Liviu Ciulei.
Zoltán Imre, PhD (Queen Mary College, University of London, 2005) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Comparative Literature and Culture, Eötvös University, Budapest, Hungary. His publications include various books and articles on Hungarian and European theatre.
Ketevan Kintsurashvili, PhD, is an art historian specializing in modern and contemporary art. Currently she teaches at the University of Georgia. From 1978–2012, she worked as a Senior Researcher and Professor at the Institute of Georgian Art, the Tbilisi State Art Academy, and the University of Theatre and Film. She is the author of more than twenty monographs on David Kakabadze, Kirill & Ilia Zdanevich, Niko Pirosmani, Petre Otskheli, Koka Ignatov, and others. She has also authored a textbook on 20th century avant-garde art, and numerous articles and catalogs. She has taught and conducted research work at Mount Holyoke College, Yale University, and Balliol College (United Kingdom). She is a Fellow at the Open Society Foundations, International Research Exchange (RSEP/IREX), Salzburg Global Seminars, Oxford Colleges Hospitality Scheme, Fulbright Scholars Exchange, and other programs. Kintsurashvili has given presentations at conferences and seminars arranged among others by The University of Chicago, Malmö Art Academy, Regents College (London), Jacobs University (Bremen). She was also speaker at the AICA XLVII International Congress in Seoul/Suwon, and a National Curator for Georgia during the 12th Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space.
Višnja Kačić Rogošić is an Assistant Professor at the University of Zagreb. She serves on the editorial board of the Croatian Theatre Journal, and is an associate of the Miroslav Krleža Institute of Lexicography. She published a book ‘Group Devised Theatre’ (2017). She was a Fulbright Fellowship Program scholar in 2010–2011 (CUNY, New York City, USA). She is a member of the Croatian ITI Center, and part of the executive committee of the Croatian Association of Theatre Critics and Theatre Scholars.
Anna Korzeniowska-Bihun holds a doctoral degree as graduate of the Faculty of Theatre Studies at the The Aleksander Zelwerowicz National Academy of Dramatic Art in Warsaw, Poland (1997), and in Ukrainian Studies from the Faculty of Applied Linguistics at the University of Warsaw (2004). Translator of Ukrainian literature, and of films from Ukrainian, Belarusian, Russian, and English. She is the author of articles on Ukrainian theater for Teatr monthly, and scientific publications on Ukrainian drama. She is the editor of the collection ‘Współczesna dramaturgia ukraińska. Od A do Ja’ (Contemporary Ukrainian Dramaturgy. From A to Me) (2018), and the Polish edition of theatrical writings by Łeś Kurbas (2021).
Dariusz Kosiński is a Professor of the Institute of Polish Studies at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. Former research director of the Grotowski Institute in Wrocław (2010–2013); member of the editorial board of Jerzy Grotowski’s collected texts. Former research director= of the Raszewski Theatre Institute in Warsaw (2014–2018). Author of the history of Polish theatre and performances ‘Performing Poland’ (2010, English translation 2019), and several books about Jerzy Grotowski including ‘Grotowski. Przewodnik’ (Grotowski. A Guide) (Wrocław, 2009). Since 2016 he has been a leading researcher of the international research project ‘Reclaimed Avant-Garde. Theatre Avant-Garde of the Central-Eastern Europe.’ He is also active as a theatre critic of the important Polish political and cultural weekly Tygodnik Powszechny.
Małgorzata Leyko is a Professor at the Drama and Theatre Department of the University of Łódź, Poland. Her primary research deals with German language theatre from the 19th to 21st century, Jewish theatre in Poland, Polish-German theatre relations, and theatre theories from the beginning of the 19th century. From this field she has authored ‘Reżyser masowej wyobraźni. Max Reinhardt i jego teatr dla pięciu tysięcy’ (The Director of Mass Imagination. Max Reinhardt and His Theatre for Five Thousand) (2002), ‘Teatr w krainie utopii’ (Theatre in Utopia) (2012), and numerous articles and dissertations. She is the editor of ‘Łódzkie sceny żydowskie’ (The Jewish Theatres in Łódź) (2000), and ‘Teatr masowy – teatr dla mas’ (The Mass Theatre – Theatre for the Masses) (2011), and is co-editor of several books published in Poland and Germany including ‘Teatr żydowski w Polsce’ (Jewish Theatre in Poland) (1998) with prof. Anna Kuligowska-Korzeniewska. An important aspect of her scientific background are her translations from German, including Christopher Balme’s ‘Wprowadzenie do nauki o teatrze’ (The Cambridge Introduction to Theatre Studies) (with prof. Wojciech Dudzik, 2003, second edition, 2005), and subsequent volumes of the ‘Theatroteka’ series: ‘Scena przyszłości’ (The Theatre of the Future) by G. Fuchs (2005), ‘O teatrze i aktorze’ (On the Theatre and the Actor) by M. Reinhardt (2006), ‘O cudowności u Shakespeare’a’ (On the Miraculous in Shakespeare) by L. Tieck (2006), ‘Ekspresjonizm w teatrze niemieckim’ (Expressionism in the German Theatre) by herself and Wojciech Dudzik (2009), and ‘Eksperymentalna scena Bauhausu’ (The Experimental Scene of the Bauhaus) by O. Schlemmer (2010). She has also translated dramas by Peter Turrini, Gert Jonke, and Arthur Schnitzler into Polish.