Venue
PWST National Academy of Theatre Arts, Big Stage
The history of PWST National Academy of Theatre Arts in Kraków, Branch in Wrocław (Poland) began in 1972 with the founding of the Puppetry Department. In 1979, the Acting Department was created and since then dramatic actors have been able to study in Wrocław as well. The Puppetry Directing Programme was launched in 2006. Since the early nineties, PWST has conducted two-year postgraduate Children and Youth Directing Programmes aimed at humanities graduates who work with young people in school and community theatre groups.
The programme of studies at the Puppetry Department and the Acting Department consists of 9 semesters, mostly including practical courses in the fundamentals of acting. Students learn about the stages of creating a scenic presence and building a role, participate in courses including classical and contemporary scenes, speech training, elocution, as well as verse, prose and song interpretation. The curriculum also includes musical training and body training: dance, rhythm, mime, stage movement and acrobatics. Most of the courses in the puppetry department involve puppetry acting and acting with mask, which is also considered a puppet theatre technique. The staff of both departments consists of experienced actors and directors working at Wrocław’s Puppet Theatre, Polski Theatre, Współczesny Theatre, Henryk Tomaszewski Wrocław Mime Theatre and Wrocław Opera as well as professors of the University of Wrocław.
