Iwona Kempa

Iwona Kempa (born 1967, Poland) is a theatre director and graduate of theatre studies department of the Jagiellonian University, as well as the department of theatre directing at the PWST National Academy of Theatre Arts, Cracow. In the course of her studies, she made her debut in the Powszechny Theatre in Łódz with Bogusław Shaeffer’s Quartett (1994). In 2003–2006 she worked as director in the Wilam Horzyca Theatre in Toruń, and in 2006–2012, as its artistic director. Since 2012 she has been working in the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre in Cracow as a deputy director and artistic director of Małopolski Ogród Sztuki (MOS/ Małopolska Garden of Arts), opened as part of the theatre in 2012. Since the beginning, Kempa has shaped its artistic programme. The venue hosts numerous enterprises, including international ones, such as performances, concerts, the International Modern Dance Festival „Kroki”, film screenings within the Cracow Film Festival, and exhibitions.

She has realized over 40 performances. Among the most prized there were: Endgame by Samuel Beckett (1998), Cripple of Inishmann (1999) and The Lonesome West (2002) by Martin MacDonagh, The Beach by Peter Asmussen (2006), I Promise to Love You and Be Faithful to You (Házassagon innen és túl) by János Háy (2009), The Labor of Life by Hanoh Levin (2011), About Love by Lars Norén (2012), In the Name of Love by Peter Turrini (2015). Since 2013, she has taught in the PWST National Academy of Theatre Arts, Cracow, since 2014 as a Ph.D., and since 2016 as Dean of the Dramatic Directing Department.