Michał Zdunik
theatre director - playwright - composer
Michał Zdunik (born 1990) is a playwright, director, essayist and composer of theatre music. He
graduated in Polish Studies from the University of Warsaw (2015) and in Directing from the
Aleksander Zelwerowicz Theatre Academy in Warsaw (2019).
He is the author of plays, including Lalki (2010, published in Dialog 7-8/2010, world premiere at
the Witkacy Theatre in Zakopane), translated, published and produced in France (Lalki/Les
poupéss, Universitaires du Mirail, translation: Kinga Joucaviel), Origami (2011, inspired by Wacław
Berent's Ozimina, world premiere: XII Days of Dramaturgy, J. Szaniawski Drama Theatre in
Wałbrzych, dir. T. Węgorzewski), Aż do samego końca (Until the Very End, world premiere at the
Polish Radio Theatre, PR I, dir. Julia Mark) and szczegółowa teoria życia i umierania (A Detailed
$eory of Life and Death, published in Dialog, 5/2018 and the anthology Polska jest mitem (Poland is
a Myth), premiere at the Polish Radio Theatre. German translation: Saskia Herklotz, published in
the anthology Polen ist ein Mythos) and Wzór na pole trójkąta (2020, Nowy Teatr in Słupsk, directed
by Jan Hussakowski).
He directs dramatic performances (performances based on the works of T. Różewicz at OPT
Gardzienice: 2015: Matka odchodzi [Mother Departs], 2016: Świadkowie albo nasza mała stabilizacja
[Witnesses or Our Little Stabilisation], 2020: Nora by Ibsen, Scena Polska, Tešinske Divadlo in
Cieszyn, 2021: Dziewiąty dzień księżycowy by Hromova ($e Ninth Lunar Day) Adam Mickiewicz
Theatre in Częstochowa, 2021: Powrót by Bukowski and Zdunik ($e Return), Municipal Theatre in
Gliwice, 2022: Noc Ciemna. Short Stories by Franz Ka(a at the Ochota $eatre in Warsaw), Beloved
based on his own text, Rampa Theatre in Warsaw), radio plays at the Polish Radio Theatre and
Radio Białystok (2017: Gate 0, 2018: A Detailed $eory of Life and Death, 2020: Forest, 2021: Requiem
for Stanisław Wyspiański and Morning, 2023: Katyń. De profundis, 2024: Voices of Darkness based on
his own texts, 2019: $ings I Didn't $row Away by Wicha, 2020: Silence by Rusek, Ba! by Kass, 2021:
$e Intruder by Maeterlinck in his own translation, 2022: Praski Rejtan by Zaremba, Pled by Kass,
$e Sightless by Maeterlinck in his own translation, 2023: Cień based on Żeromski, Matka odchodzi
[Mother Departs] by Różewicz, 2024: Sen o jesieni [Dream of Autumn] by Fosse, Kanał by Stawiński),
television performances (2018: Kuczok's Pradziady, the ‘Teatroteka’ series by WFDiF), operas (2017:
Francesco Cavalli, Il Giasone, TCN – AT Warsaw) and concerts (2016: Good Night based on his own
script, Gorzkie Żale Festival – Nowe Epifanie). He has also directed numerous performative
readings and audio series. His works have been presented at many festivals, including Dwa Teatry,
Nowe Epifanie, Teatroteka Fest and the Interpretacje Festival of Directing Art.
In 2018, he won the Talanton Award for the best dramatic debut on Radio Jedynka. The
justification read: For the ability to write about what cannot be seen. For creating his own style that
combines tradition with modernity. In turn, the radio play Szczegółowa teoria życia i umierania (A
Detailed $eory of Life and Death) won the Krzysztof Zaleski Honorary Award for work that rejects
stereotypes and easy novelties, rooted in memory and history, concerning contemporary issues at
the 19th Polish Radio and Polish Television Theatre Festival ‘Two Theatres – Sopot 2019’ [Dwa
Teatry]. At the 20th Polish Radio and Television Theatre Festival ‘Two Theatres – Zamość 2021’, the
script, which is an adaptation of Marcin Wicha's text Rzeczy, których nie wyrzuciłem ($ings I Didn't
$row Away), was awarded. In 2024, at the 21st Polish Radio and Television Theatre Festival ‘Two
Theatres – Sopot 2024’, he received an award for the music for the radio play Głosy ciemności
(Voices of Darkness). In 2025, at the 22nd Polish Radio and Television Theatre Festival ‘Two
Theatres – Sopot 2025’, he received two awards for the radio play Kanał (The Canal) – for the
script, which was an adaptation of the text, and for the music; the radio play itself received three
additional awards (for two supporting roles and acoustic production). .
He is also a five-time semi-finalist for the Gdynia Drama Award (2012, 2018, 2020, 2023, 2024). The
television play Pradziady won the Bronze Remi at the 53rd WorldFest International Film Festival in
Houston in the Independent Shorts – Dramatic – Adaptation category. In 2024, the radio play
Głosy ciemności (Voices of Darkness), which he wrote, directed and composed the music for, was
submitted to the international Prix Italia 2024 competition as a representative of Polish radio in
the category ‘Programme about music’ and also qualified for the final of the Grand Prix Nova
festival in Bucharest.
He composes music for dramatic performances and radio plays, and is also the author of musical
arrangements.
He is an essayist and cultural critic, writing about literature, music, film and theatre. His texts
have been published in Dwutygodnik, Ruch Muzyczny and Teatr, as well as in opera and festival
programmes and exhibition catalogues. His academic texts have appeared in literary and cultural
studies periodicals and anthologies. In 2017, he published a monograph entitled Teoria polskiego
dramatu postsakralnego na przykładzie twórczości Stanisława Wyspiańskiego i Tadeusza Różewicza
($e $eory of Polish Post-Sacred Drama as Exemplified by the Works of Stanisław Wyspiański and
Tadeusz Różewicz) (Publisher: Faculty of Polish Studies, University of Warsaw).
For several years, he taught courses on the history of Positivism and Young Poland literature and
Polish language teaching at the Faculty of Polish Studies at the University of Warsaw, taught at a
high school with an international baccalaureate programme, and conducted numerous literary
and radio drama workshops.
He was a scholarship holder of, among others, the Minister of Science and Higher Education, the
Rector of the University of Warsaw, and the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, as well as a
laureate of the Artistic Scholarship of the Capital City of Warsaw.
e-mail: michal.zdunik@gmail.com
Promotional materials (biographical note, complete list of publications, photographs)
The radio play Voices of Darkness, together with the English translation of the script – listen
For more materials in English, please contact me by email.
