Kazimierz Braun | |
---|---|
Born | |
Children | 3, including Grzegorz Braun |
Academic background | |
Education | Poznań University (BA, PhD) Aleksander Zelwerowicz National Academy of Dramatic Art in Warsaw (MA) |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Theatre |
Institutions | University at Buffalo University of Wrocław New York University Swarthmore College University of California, Santa Cruz |
Kazimierz Braun (born June 29, 1936) is a Polish director, writer, and scholar.[1]
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.
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),[2] Tadeusz Różewicz (19 shows),[3] William Shakespeare (12 shows in Polish and English),[4] 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.
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).
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:[5]
Additionally: Books—interviews:
In total, in 1967-2023, Kazimierz Braun published 78 books.