Teatr Ateneum w Warszawie | |
 Entrance to Ateneum Theatre | |
 Interactive map of Ateneum Theatre in Warsaw | |
| Address | ul. Jaracza 2 street Warsaw Poland |
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| Coordinates | 52°14′12″N21°01′55″E / 52.23680°N 21.03202°E /52.23680; 21.03202 |
| Public transit |  Centrum Nauki Kopernik |
| Owner | PKP |
| Type | Dramatic theatre |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 1928 |
| Reopened | 1951 |
| Website | |
| Theatre website | |
TheAteneum Theatre inWarsaw (Polish:Teatr Ateneum im. Stefana Jaracza w Warszawie) is a Polishdramatic theatre founded in 1928. It resides in a building erected a year earlier in theinterwar Poland as headquarters for the Professional Union ofPKP Railway Workers with offices upstairs. After World War II, the severely damaged structure was restored to its former glory with public funds. The state-run theatre reopened in 1951; named after its first and already famous prewar directorStefan Jaracz.[1]
TheAteneum Theatre began as anexperimental stage with strong socio-political profile, under an Avant-garde-inspired nameThe Outpost of Spoken Word (Placówka Żywego Słowa). Itsartistic manifesto was influenced by the mainly proletarian Warsaw neighbourhood ofPowiśle in which it was established.[1]
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Two years into its existence, theartistic direction of Ateneum was taken over by popular actorStefan Jaracz (1930). He worked there until the Nazi-Sovietinvasion of Poland, sharing his responsibilities withLeon Schiller in 1932–33 season,[2] and withKarol Adwentowicz (1934). Together, they raised the theatre's reputation as one of the leading voices for Poland's newintelligentsia.[3] The groundbreaking performances includedThe Street Scene byElmer Rice (1930),Danton's Death byGeorg Büchner (1931),Senat Szaleńców byHolocaust victimJanusz Korczak (1931), theTsar Lénine byFrançois Porché (1932), and in the vein of politicalZeittheater of the time,The Captain of Köpenick byCarl Zuckmayer (1932) andRoar China! bySergei Tretyakov (1933); not to mention the popularLadies and Husars (Damy i Huzary) byAleksander Fredro (1932) andThe Open House byMichał Bałucki.[4][5]
The neighbourhood of Powiśle was almost completely destroyed by Nazi German bombardment during theWarsaw Uprising of 1944. The theatre was consumed by fire. It was practically rebuilt after the liberation, based on design by Wiktor Ballogh,[6] with due consideration for its original look. The grand reopening took place on 22 July 1951, with the première ofIntervention by Lev Slavin in the spirit ofsocialist-realist doctrine imposed by the Communist Party inStalinist Poland.[1] For the next forty years the theatre was under the direction ofJanusz Warmiński (1922–1996) who managed to outlive and outgrow the Soviet system beyond therevolutions of 1989. Almost all prominent Polish actors performed at Ateneum throughout its existence includingJadwiga Andrzejewska, prof.Aleksander Bardini,Henryk Bista,Zbigniew Cybulski,Edward Dziewoński,Jerzy Duszyński,Tadeusz Fijewski,Adam Hanuszkiewicz,Gustaw Holoubek,Emil Karewicz,Bogumił Kobiela,Jan Kociniak,Agnieszka Osiecka,Aleksandra Śląska, andRoman Wilhelmi among others.[6]
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