THE KANA THEATRE

Independent theatre of ZYGMUNT DUCZYŃSKI - founder and director of all performances.

The Kana Theatre was established in 1979 by Zygmunt Duczyński (died 15.03.06.). Initially a students' team, gradually developed and gained more and more artistic maturity and organizational independence. Two breakthrough performances of the theatre were based of works of Venedict Erofeev "Moscow-Petushki" (1989) and "Night" (1993) - both presented many times on world renowned stages, and gained excellent reviews in such magazines and "The Times", "Los Angeles Times", "Los Angeles Weekly", "The Scotsman", "Backstage" and many more.

In 1994 "Noc" was prized with the First Fringe and Critics Award at the International Art Festival in Edinburgh. In 1995 in recognition of many years of artistic achievements and activities enriching artistic life of Szczecin, the city mayor granted Zygmunt Duczyński and the Kana Theatre the Artistic Award of the City of Szczecin for 1994.

The group presented themselves many times in all major cities of Poland and took part in all important festivals of alternative theatre and art festivals (among others The International Malta Festival in Poznan, Białostockie Dni Sztuki Współczesnej, International Festival of Jewish Culture, International Festival Reminiscencje in Krakow, Lublin-based Konfrontacje Teatralne). The performance inspired by Vienedict Erofeev works were presented three consecutive years at the International Festival of Art in Edinburgh (in 1995 as the honorable guests) and also, among others, in Moscow, Amsterdam, Berlin, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Santa Ana, Pasadena, San Diego, San Francisco (USA), Cheltenham College (UK), Nitrze (Slovakia), and London (opening of the Visual Theatre Festival in 1995).

Most important realizations of the KANA Theatre:

Być [To Be] - 1978, Spektakl [A Performance] - 1979, Abbadon - 1981, Księga o życiu i śmierci i twórczości Osipa Mandelsztama [The Book of Life and Death of Osip Mandelstam] - 1982, Krótka historia Europy [A Short History of Europe] - 1983, Droga [The Way] - 1984, Czarne światła [Black Lights] - 1985, Bezsenność [Sleeplessness] - 1987, Moskwa - Pietuszki [Moscow Petushki] - 1989, Noc [Night] - 1993, Szlifierze nocnych diamentów [Cutters of night diamonds] - 1996, Ja, Henryk Bilke [Me,Henryk Bilke] - 2000, J.P odkrywa Amerykę [J.P. Discovers America] - 2000, Rajski Ptak [Bird of Paradise] - 2000 (Grand Prix of the Festival of One-man Shows in The Stara Prochoffnia Theatre, Warsaw in 2OO3), Miłość Fedry [Phaedra's Love] - 2002, Widmokrąg [Circle of Spectres] (outdoor performance)- 2003, 2004, "Geist" - 2007 (Main Award voted of the audience at the 16th Meetings of Alternative Theatre KLAMRA 2008 in Toruń).

After Zygmunt Duczyński's death the Kana Theatre team continues creative work directed to establish artistic independence on the basis of gained experience and quest for new forms undertaken by the group.