Kazimierz Braun



Kazimierz Braun (born June 29, 1936) 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 (13 shows), 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 filmmaker, writer and right-wing extremist; and Dr. Justyna Braun, an academic) and five granddaughters (Anna, Joanna, Aniela, Zofia, and Elżbieta).

Credits
Between 1961 and 2016 Braun directed 155 of 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: Caucasian Chock 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
 * 1979: Birth Rate (Różewicz), director's adaptation, Wrocław
 * 1982: The Forefathers' Eve (Mickiewicz), director's adaptation, Wrocław
 * 1982: Twelfth Night (Shakespeare), Wrocław
 * 1983: The Plague (Albert Camus), director's adaptation, Wrocław
 * 1984: The Trap (Różewicz), Wrocław
 * 1986: Rhinoceros (Eugène Ionesco), Minneapolis
 * 1987: The Hunger Artist (Różewicz), Buffalo
 * 1988: The Shoemakers (Witkacy), Los Angeles
 * 1989: King Lear (Shakespeare), Buffalo
 * 1990: Immigrant Queen (Braun), Toronto
 * 1991: As You Like It (Shakespeare), Buffalo
 * 1995: Tango (Sławomir Mrożek), Knoxville, Tennessee
 * 1996: A Man for All Seasons (Robert Bolt), Buffalo
 * 1999: Richard III (Shakespeare), Buffalo
 * 2003: Europe (Jerzy Braun), Tarnów
 * 2004: Paderewski's Children (Braun), Buffalo
 * 2006: The Fall of a Stone House (Brandstaetter), Tarnów
 * 2006: Card Index Scattered (Różewicz), Buffalo
 * 2008: The Tales of Pola Negri (Braun), Toronto
 * 2010: The Book of Christopher Columbus (Paul Claudel), Steubenville, Ohio
 * 2011: Father Maximilian's Cell (Braun), Tarnów
 * 2012: Ordonka's Mysteries (Braun), Toronto
 * 2012: The Power and the Glory (Graham Greene), director's adaptation, Buffalo
 * 2014: The Tempest (Shakespeare), Buffalo
 * 2016: Norwid Returs (Braun), Tarnów

Scholarly books

 * 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
 * 2015: Direccion teatral: Arte, etica, creatividad, Universitado Nat. Aut., Mexico
 * 2019: The Bright Light of Gietrzwałd (with Zofia Reklewska-Braun), Wyd. Osuchowa
 * 2019: The Great Reform of Theater (with Justyna Braun), Mellen Press, Lewiston
 * 2020: Theatricality of Life, Wyd. A. Marszałek
 * 2022: The Second Reform of Theatre (expanded edition), Wyd. Volumen
 * 2023: Cyprian Norwid on Frederyk Chopin and His Music, (translations and essays), Literary Waves, London

Novels and plays
Additionally: Books—interviews: In total, in 1967-2023, Kazimierz Braun published 78 books.
 * 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: Dramas 2022, Wyd. A. Marszałek, Toruń
 * 2022: Anticipation. Poetry, 3DOM, Częstochowa
 * 2023: The Pyramid. Memoires, Volumen, Warszawa
 * 1989: The Languages of the theatre, with Tadeusz Różewicz, Wyd. Dolnośląskie, Wrocław
 * 1993: A Torn Courtain, conversation Stanisław Bereś, Wyd. Aneks, London

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
 * 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