Adam Hanuszkiewicz

Adam Hanuszkiewicz was born on June 16, 1924 in Lwów, Poland (now Lviv, Ukraine). He spent his childhood and youth in his native city, where he attended the Stefan Batory State Gymnasium. He survived the Nazi occupation of Lwów and joined the theater troupe of the Polish Army in July 1944. He made his stage debut as Wacław in The Revenge by Aleksander Fredro. He passed his acting exam in 1946 in Łódź before a commission composed of eminent theater personalities. He worked in various theaters in Rzeszów, Jelenia Góra, Kraków, Warsaw, and Poznań, where he also directed his first play, The Restless Old Age by Leonid Rachmanov. He was a co-founder of the Theater of Television, where he directed his first TV play, The Golden Fox by Jerzy Andrzejewski, in 1955. He was the chief director of the Theater of Television from 1957 to 1963. He was also the director and artistic director of the Powszechny Theater in Warsaw from 1956 to 1968, where he staged many classic and contemporary plays. In 1968, he became the director of the National Theater in Warsaw after the removal of Kazimierz Dejmek, whose production of Forefathers' Eve was considered anti-Soviet. He created many innovative and controversial productions in the National Theater, such as Balladyna by Juliusz Słowacki, which featured modern costumes and motorcycles. He lost the trust of the authorities and was dismissed from his position in 1982. During the martial law, he joined the boycott of television by the acting community. He directed in other theaters in Warsaw, Łódź, and abroad. From 1989 to 2007, he was the director of the New Theater in Warsaw. He died on December 4, 2011 in a hospital in Warsaw due to heart failure. He was buried at the Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw. He was married four times, three times to actresses: Zofia Rysiówna, Zofia Kucówna, and Magdalena Cwenówna. He had three children: Teresa, Piotr, and Katarzyna. He was a recipient of many awards and honors for his artistic achievements, such as the Order of Polonia Restituta, the Order of the White Eagle, the Gold Medal for Merit to Culture, and the Konrad Swinarski Award. He was one of the most influential and controversial figures in Polish theater and culture.