Kazimierz Braun (born June 29, 1936) is a Polish director, writer, and scholar.
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Education
Braun was born in Mokrsko Dolne. He earned a master's degree in Polish literature from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań in 1958 and a master's degree in directing from the Aleksander Zelwerowicz National Academy of Dramatic Art in Warsaw in 1962. He earned a Ph.D. from Adam Mickiewicz University in 1971. He completed a habilitation in theatre studies at the University of Wrocław in 1975 and a habilitation in directing at the Warsaw theatre academy in 1988.
Career
Braun became a tenured professor at the University at Buffalo in 1989. In 1992, he received the title of Professor of Humanities from the President of Poland, based on a 1984 resolution of the University of Wrocław that had been delayed during the Communist period.
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 artistic director of Teatr im. Juliusza Osterwy, Lublin from 1967 to 1971, and general and artistic director there from 1971 to 1974. From 1975 to 1984, he was general and artistic director of Teatr Współczesny, Wrocław. He was removed from the Wrocław position in 1984 during the Communist period; Encyklopedia Teatru Polskiego identifies his 1983 adaptation of Albert Camus's The Plague as the immediate cause of the authorities' decision.
Since 1985, Braun has lived and worked in the United States, where he has directed productions at professional theatres including the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis and the Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles, while also teaching and directing at several universities. His best-known directorial works include plays by Cyprian Norwid (15 theatre and television productions), Tadeusz Różewicz (19 shows), William Shakespeare (12 shows in Polish and English), and Adam Mickiewicz (two shows). 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 (Dr. Monika Braun, a writer and academic; Grzegorz Braun, a politician; and Dr. Justyna Braun, an academic) and eight grandchildren (Anna, Joanna, Aniela, Zofia, Elżbieta, Aleksander, Helena, and Jerzy).
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 (Sławomir Mrożek), Gdańsk
1962: The Ring of a Great Lady (Cyprian Norwid), Warsaw
1962: Two Theatres (Jerzy Szaniawski), Warsaw
1963: The Caucasian Chalk Circle (Bertolt Brecht), Gdańsk
1963: Romeo and Juliet (William Shakespeare), Warsaw
1965: The Wedding (Stanisław Wyspiański), Toruń
1967: November's Night (Wyspiański), Gdańsk
1968: Hamlet (Shakespeare), Lublin
1968: Kleopatra and Cezar (Norwid), Lublin
1970: Interrupted Act (Tadeusz Różewicz), Lublin
1970: Behind the Wings (Norwid), Kraków
1971: The Ashes (Stefan Żeromski), director's adaptation, Television Theatre
1972: The Deliverance (Wyspiański), Lublin
1973: The Old Woman (Różewicz), Lublin
1977: Operetta (Witold Gombrowicz), Wrocław
1978: The Forefathers' Eve (Adam Mickiewicz), Wrocław
Scholarly books (selection)
1967: Teofil Trzciński (with Zofia Reklewska-Braun), 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 (with Zofia Reklewska-Braun), Wyd. Uniw. Rzeszowskiego
2013: My Różewicz's Theatre, Wyd. Uniw. Rzeszowskiego
2014: My Norwid's Theatre, Wyd. Uniw. Rzeszowskiego
Novels, plays, poetry and translations (selection)
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 (expanded edition), 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 (with Zofia Reklewska-Braun), Bernardinum, Pelplin
2016: The Alarm Bell, Volumen, Warszawa
2018: A Rehearsal of the Apocalypse, Wyd. A. Marszałek, Toruń
2021: Paderewski's Children. Paderewski Returns (a bilingual edition), Inst. Dziedzictwa I Myśli Narodowej, Warszawa
2022: Zagłada, Wydawnictwo Capital, Warsaw
Awards and honors
1963: Best Director, Caucasian Chock Circle (Brecht), Toruń Theatre Festival
1964: Best Director, Enchanted Circle (Rydel), Television Theatre Festival
1965: Best Director, Actor (Norwid), Television Theatre Festival and Kalisz Theatre Festival
1966: Best Director, The Wedding (Wyspiański), Toruń Theatre Festival
1970: Best Director, Interrupted Act (Różewicz), 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 (Gombrowicz), International Theatre Festival, Sitges, Spain
1980: Golden Fredro Award for Director, Birth Rate (Różewicz), Wrocław
1980: Japanese Foundation Award
1984: Golden Fredro Award for Director, The Plague (Camus), Wrocław
1985: Independent Culture Award, Poland
1990: Guggenheim Foundation Award, United States
1996: Director, Best Production in Buffalo, A Man for All Seasons (Bolt)
1997: Chivalry Cross of the Polish Order of Merit