Grzegorz Jarzyna leaves TR Warszawa after 25 years. Principal: This is an unprecedented event

In response to the protest of TR Warszawa actors and actresses, Grzegorz Jarzyna undertook to resign from the position of deputy director for artistic affairs and not to take part in the competition for the director of this institution. In this way, he wants to “settle the conflict and open a space for understanding within the team, and to secure the continuation of the artistic work of the theater”. We asked Natalia Dzieduszycka, the current director of TR Warszawa, for a comment on this matter.

Director of TR: I declare full openness to cooperation

Actors and actresses protest against “the harmful and incompetent management of the team by the management of TR Warszawa”. In their protest, they emphasize that the situation at TR Warszawa has become so tense that over the past two years, nearly 30 people “tired of tensions, intimidated and mentally burned out”, who have been co-creating the theater for decades, have left the group. They exchanged, among others “Coordinator of the TR Warszawa Education Team, theater employee for 26 years; audience manager, work experience: 12 years; video producer, work experience: 16 years”. They add that they have been trying to solve the situation for over a year, but although in January a vote of no confidence in the management and its plenipotentiaries was also submitted, mediation and further attempts at talks did not help. Now they are demanding replacement of the entire management and its representatives.

This solution was chosen by Grzegorz Jarzyna. We asked the director of TR how the team reacted to this information. She passed on to us:

It’s too early to talk about it. Grzegorz’s statement is an unprecedented event. TR has been equated with him, his artistic vision for the last 25 years. We are all aware of this.

Monday’s statement surprised me. I was not consulted as managing director. I am starting a series of talks with the Team about this matter, among other things.

She also informed us about her further plans in the current situation:

I declare full openness to cooperation with the Team. On the table there is a proposal to establish a Program Council of the TR. I conduct talks both inside and outside the theater in order to, on the one hand, resolve the conflict that hinders our work, and on the other, take care of the program line and the unique brand of TR.

At the same time, he also emphasizes that he does not agree with the opinion of Grzegorz Jarzyna that the current “conflict is at this point insoluble”: – I look at the situation through the eyes of a culture manager. Conflicts in teams happen and we are responsible adults. There is no way out, she said.

Natalia Dzieduszycka joined the TR Warszawa team in September 2017 – then she was the deputy director of TR Warszawa for organizational and financial affairs, later she was also acting director of TR Warszawa. She took up the position of director in August 2019.

Anna Rochowska in an interview with “Krytyka Polityczna” explained: “We do not think they are angry, but that they missed the moment when they could leave with honor. Natalia Dzieduszycka could say: I have done my task, I have repaired the finances, thanks to which the theater has got back on its feet. “- she said and added that the point is also that the actors should not” crawl through the stage “anymore. “It is about breaking this violent pattern of thinking, which is so deeply embedded in the phenomenon of power,” she emphasized.

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