Michał Zdunik (b. 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), adapted, published and staged in France (Lalki/Les poupées, Universitaires du Mirail, translation: Kinga Joucaviel), Origami (2011, inspired by Wacław Berent’s Ozimina, world premiere: 12th Days of Dramaturgy, J. Szaniawski Drama Theatre in Wałbrzych, dir. T. Węgorzewski), Until the Very End (world premiere at the Polish Radio Theatre, PR I, dir. Julia Mark) and A Detailed Theory of Life and Death (published in ‚Dialog’, 5/2018 and the anthology Poland is a Myth, premiere at the Polish Radio Theatre, German translation: Saskia Herklotz, published in the anthology Polen ist ein Mythos) and The Formula for the Area of a Triangle (2020, Nowy Teatr in Słupsk, dir. Jan Hussakowski).
He directs plays and puppet shows (productions based on works by T. Różewicz at OPT Gardzienice: 2015: Mother Leaves, 2016: Witnesses, or Our Little Stability, 2020: Ibsen’s Nora, Scena Polska, Tešinske Divadlo in Cieszyn, 2021: Hromowa’s Ninth Lunar Day, Adam Mickiewicz Theatre in Częstochowa, 2021: The Return of Bukowski and Zdunik, Municipal Theatre in Gliwice, 2022: Dark Night. Stories by Franz Kafka at the Ochota Theatre in Warsaw, Beloved based on her own text, Rampa Theatre in Warsaw, 2025: Tarnowska’s Wniebogłos at the Wierszalin Theatre in Supraśl, Lem’s Solaris at the Polish Theatre in Wrocław, Kapral’s Dad at the Kubuś Theatre in Kielce), radio plays on Polish Radio, Channel Two and Radio Białystok (2017: Gate 0, 2018: A Detailed Theory of Life and Death, 2020: The Forest, 2021: Requiem for Stanisław Wyspiański and Morning, 2023: Katyn. De profundis, 2024: Voices of Darkness, 2026: Innocence based on his own texts, 2019: Things I Didn’t Throw Away by Wicha, 2020: Silence by Rusek, Ba! by Kass, 2021: Maeterlinck’s The Intruder in his own translation, 2022: Zaremba’s Praski Rejtan, Kassa’s Pled, Maeterlinck’s The Blind in his own translation, 2023: Shadow based on Żeromski, Różewicz’s Mother Leaves, 2024: Fosse’s A Dream of Autumn, The Canal based on Stawiński, Bielecki’s She Slipped Off the Chair, 2026 Berent’s Ozimina), television productions (2018: Kuczok’s Great Forefathers’ Eve, the WFDiF ‘Teatroteka’ series), operas (2017: Francesco Cavalli, Il Giasone, TCN – AT Warsaw) and concerts (2016: Goodnight based on his own script, Gorzkie Żale – Nowe Epifanie Festival).
He has also directed numerous staged readings and audio dramas for Audioteka. His work has been presented at many festivals, including ‘Dwa Teatry’ (Two Theaters), Nowe Epifanie, Teatroteka Fest and the ‘Interpretacje’ Festival of Directing
In 2018, he won the Talanton Award for the best debut play broadcast on Radio Jedynka. The citation read: ‘For his ability to write about the unseen. For creating his own style, which blends tradition with modernity.’ Meanwhile, the radio play A Detailed Theory of Life and Death won the Krzysztof Zaleski Honorary Award for work that rejects stereotypes and facile novelties, rooted in memory and history, and addressing contemporary issues at the 19th Polish Radio and Television Theatre Festival “Two Theatres – Sopot 2019”. At the 20th Polish Radio and Television Theatre Festival “Two Theatres – Zamość 2021”, the screenplay adapting Marcin Wicha’s text Things I Haven’t Thrown 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 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 – for the screenplay, an adaptation of the text, and for the music; the radio play itself was also honoured with three awards (for two supporting roles and the sound design). He also received the “Dumni z powstańców” award for the radio play.
He is also a five-time semi-finalist in the Gdynia Drama Award (2012, 2018, 2020, 2023, 2024). The television drama Great Forefathers’ Eve won a 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, which he wrote, directed and composed the music for, was entered into the international Prix Italia 2024 competition as the representative of Polish radio in the ‘Music Programme’ category, and also qualified for the final of the Grand Prix Nova festival in Bucharest, and in 2026 it took part in the UK International Radio Drama Festival in Canterbury. In 2026, his play The Unfinished Violin Concerto was selected as one of three Polish plays recommended for translation into foreign languages as part of the Eurodram project (Eurodram is a European network for drama in translation).
He composes music for stage plays and radio dramas, and is also the author of musical arrangements.
He is an essayist and cultural critic, writing on literature, music, film and theatre. He has published his writings in, among others, 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 journals and in anthologies. In 2017, he published a monograph entitled Teoria polskiego dramatu postsakralnego na przykładzie twórczości Stanisława Wyspiańskiego i Tadeusza Różewicza (Theory of Polish Post-Sacred Drama: 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, as well as on the teaching of Polish language and literature, at the Faculty of Polish Studies at the University of Warsaw; he taught at a sixth-form college offering the International Baccalaureate programme; and he has frequently led workshops on literary studies and radio drama (most recently at Babeș and Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania).
He has received scholarships from, amongst others, the Minister of Science and Higher Education, the Rector of the University of Warsaw and the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, and was the recipient of the City of Warsaw’s Arts Scholarship.
(June 2026)
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