Kana Theatre Team is constantly conducting search within a scope of various theatrical forms and languages. Theatre realizes indoor and outdoor plays, performances, and theatrical actions. In plays they try to ask important and current questions, often confronting personal experience with reality. They often reference literature (but also their own texts, or, among others, online blogs), counterpointing the power of the text with inapparent image, sound, movement and music. They eagerly use irony and humor, pop culture elements, simultaneously posing uneasy diagnosis. Kana is a form of an original theatre – personal decision by those who create it to fulfill themselves through art.

 

The team took part in all more important festivals in Poland, and presented their plays on worldwide stages (e.g. USA and Japan). They received lots of awards, the latest being Grand Prix on International Prize “The Naked Theatre” by Teresa Pomodoro in Milan (2021), and Szczecin’s City Artistic Award  for crucial artistic achievements in 2021.

 

The last theatre team working with Zygmunt Duczyński. After his death in 2006, the team, together with Arkadiusz Buszko, completed the production titled "Geist". Subsequent performances were directed by artists invited by the team: Mateusz Przyłęcki (“Lailonia”, “Mother: The Project”, “Father: The Project”, "Autotherapy"), Jolanta Denejko (“Unspeakable”), The Krepsko Theatre (“Hotel Misery deLuxe”), The Akhe Theatre (“Gap Filling”), Krzysztof Popiołek ("Population density", "Possible worlds"). 

 

Janusz Turkowski realized his artistic path in Kana for more than 20 years. He’s one of the important creators of document theatre and he presented his works on prestigious festivals, a.o., USA, Israel, Japan, Austria, Holland, UK.

 

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1979-2006

 

Kana Theatre was founded by Zygmunt Duczyński (died 15.03.06) in 1979. At first theatre operated as a student theatre, later it gradually gained bigger artistic maturity and organizational independency. Crucial for theatre’s existence were two plays based on Venedict Yerifeyev’s works “Moscow-Petushki” (1989) and “Night” (1993) – both plays were presented on prestigious, worldwide stages, and received incredible reviews in magazines such as “The Times”, “Los Angeles Times”, “Los Angeles Weekly”, “The Scotsman”, “Backstage”, and many others.

 

In 1994 the play “Night” received First Fringe and Critics Award on Edinburgh International Festival. In 1995 the president of Szczecin City awarded Zygmunt Duczyński and Kana Theatre with Szczecin’s City Artistic Award for year 1994 as a recognition of yearslong artistic achievements and actions enriching Szczecin’s artistic life.

 

The team performed in all bigger Polish cities and took part in all more important searching theatres and art festivals (a.o. Malta Festival Poznań, Contemporary Art Days in Białystok, Jewish Culture Festival, International Festival Reminiscence in Kraków, Theatre Confrontations Festival in Lublin). They performed thrice on Edinburgh International Festival (in 1995 as a honorary guest), and also in Amsterdam, Berlin, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Santa Ana, Pasa Dena, San Diego, San Francisco (USA), Cheltenham College (UK), Nitra (Slovakia), and Londyn (opening of Visual Theatre Festival in 1995) with the plays inspired by Venedict Yerifeyev’s stories.

 

 

The most important Kana’s works (1979-2006):

 

“Be” – 1978, “Play” – 1979, “Abbadon” – 1981, “The book of life and death and artistry of Osip Mandelsztama” – 1982, “Short history of Europe” – 1983, “Road” – 1984, “Dark lights” – 1985, “Insomnia” – 1987, “Moscow-Petushki” – 1989, “Night” – 1993 (First Fringe and Critics Award on Edinburgh International Festival), “Night diamond grinder” – 1996, “I, Henry Bilke” – 2000, “J.P. discovers America” – 2000, “Kingbird” – 2000 (Main Award at Polish Monodrama Festival in old Prochoffnia in Warsaw in 2003), “Phredra’s Love” – 2002, “The circles of spectres” (outdoor performance) – 2003, 2004.