Maria Nowotarska

Founder & Actress, Salon Poezji, Muzyki i Teatru

Maria Nowotarska – upon graduating from the Ludwik Solski State Drama School in Kraków, she became an actress at the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre in Kraków. Her artistic achievements include a number of significant roles in both dramatic and comedic repertoires. She has collaborated with prominent Polish directors, including E. Axer, K. Braun, K. Dejmek, B. Dąbrowski, B. Korzeniowski, R. Niewiarowicz, and R. Zioło. She has also appeared in Polish films, portraying such characters as Andrzejowa Korczyńska in Nad Niemnem (By the Niemen), Tekla Ostrowska in Między ustami a brzegiem pucharu (Between Lip and Cup), and Orkan’s Mother in Kolory kochania (Colors of Love). In Television Theatre, she has performed in numerous acclaimed productions, including The Barbarians, Tartuffe, Ivanov, The Maple Brothers, The Forgotten Devil, and Mary and Magdalene.

Having arrived in Canada in 1990 with such vast experience, she became a co-creator of theatre life in Toronto. She serves as the founder, artistic director, screenwriter, director, and actress of the Salon of Poetry, Music and Theatre under the Polish-Canadian Music Society. The Salon’s repertoire features a pantheon of the greatest Polish poets, ranging from Kochanowski to Szymborska and Twardowski. Alongside Agata Pilitowska, she created a cycle of plays about great Polish female emigrants, written specifically for these actresses and directed by Kazimierz Braun: Helena: A Play about Modrzejewska, American Dreams, Tamara L. (about Tamara de Lempicka), Radiation (a play about Maria Skłodowska-Curie), The Tales of Pola Negri, and The Secrets of Ordonka. These plays have been translated into seven languages and performed by M. Nowotarska and A. Pilitowska in theatres worldwide.

At the same time, Maria Nowotarska conducts educational work at the Acting Studio operating alongside the Salon, preparing youth of Polish descent for the stage. She is a laureate of awards from the Adam Mickiewicz Foundation and the Turzański Foundation. In 1995, she was named „Woman of the Year” for her artistic activities; in 2000, she was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of Merit; in 2004, she received the „Meritorious for Polish Culture” badge; in 2006, the „Gloria Artis” Medal; in 2011, the „Golden Owl” statuette for achievements in theatre (Vienna), as well as the Gold Medal of the American Institute of Polish Culture and the „Złoty Polonus” award.