Born in 1943

In 1963-69, Lupa studied at the Arts Academy in Krakow and at the producer faculty of the State Higher Cinematography School in Lodz; in 1973-77, he studied at the Higher State Theater School in Krakow.       

Lupa worked at the Norvid Theater in Jelenja Gorza, where established a theater laboratory with a group of young actors: they were looking for new theater language and stage techniques.  He acted as director and scene designer at the same time.  At this theater, he staged “The Transparent Room” (1979), “A Supper” (1980), “Returning of Odysseus” by S. Vyspyansky (1981), and “An Unknown Pond” (1982). Since 1984, Lupa has been working at the Stary Teatr (Old Theater) in Krakow.   

Kristian Lupa is the author of the manifest of the “suspended theater” exploring the sphere of unconsciousness; he is the author of “The Utopia and Its Inhabitants” book. Exploring the frontier conditions of the human existence, Lupa frequently turned to creations of writers of the late 19^th – early 20^th centuries: Pshibyshevsky, Vedekind, Leonid Andreyev, Vyspyansky.   His favorite authors are Vitold Gombrovich (“A Wedding,” 1984) and Stanislav Ignacy Vitkevich (“Pragmatics,” 1981, “Machey Korbova and Bellatrice,” 1986, etc.). The producer called these performances “a theater of extension” in his manifest.   In Christian Lupa’s opinion, the theater is a unique opportunity of self-cognition and perfection for a human being.    His performance “Seven Dreams in the Kingdom of Dream” after Alfred Kubin’s novel “On the Other Side” became a peculiar trip into the sphere of unconsciousness (Stary Teatr, Krakow).

In the end of the 1980-1990s, new topics appeared in the creative work of the producer:  ethical problems and issues of human spiritual life in the period of great social and cultural transformations got into the focus of his attention.    “Day Dreamers” by R. Musil (1988), “The Brothers Karamazov” by Fedor Dostoyevsky (1990), “Sketches” from “A Man with no Qualities” after R. Musil’s novel (1990), “Malte” by R.-M. Rilke (1991), “Kalkwerk” by T. Bernhard (1992), and “Sleep-walkers, Ash or Anarchy” by G. Broch (1995).  

Kristian Lupa got involved with writings of the Austrian writer Thomas Bernhard starting with staging of his “Kalkwerk.”  In 1996, he staged two performances after his writings: “Immanuel Kant” (Teatr Polski, Wroclaw) and “Ritter, Dene, Foss” (Stary Teatr, Krakow). Lupa explored irrational mechanisms of human psyche. A performance after Bernhard’s testament “Auslöschung” (2001) occupies a special place in Lupa’s work. It touches issues of the crisis of culture and total hypocrisy penetrating existing forms of culture and its foundation.   

The last decades’ performances addressed the mythological forms of conscience: these were “Presidents’ Wives” by V. Schwab (1999) and “Zaratustra” by F. Nietzsche (2003).   Kristian Lupa’s theater is a theater of philosophical and existentialist reflection focusing on a contemporary person searching agonizingly for his place in this getting more and more inhuman world.   

The Alexandrinsky Theater’s “Seagull” is the first performance staged by Kristian Lupa in Russia.  But this is by far not his first addressing to the Russian literature.  At various times, he staged writings of L. Andreyev, M. Gorky, Fedor Dostoyevsky, and Anton Chekhov. Bulgakov’s “Master and Margarita” (Stary Teatr, Krakow, 2002) and Chekhov’s “The Three Sisters” (Boston, 2006) are among his performances of the last years.

Kristian Lupa is a recognized maitre of the European theater.  He is rightly called the teacher of a whole generation of modern Polish directors.  Since 1983, Lupa has been teaching at the Krakow Theater School; since 1993, he is professor of this school; in 1990-96, he was Dean of the school’s producing department.   

Kristian Lupa has a great number of various prestigious theater awards.  The Polish Highest Konrad Swinarsky Theater Award, Polish Schiller Theater award, and awards of numerous international festivals are among those.  “Sleeper-walkers” was recognized as the best foreign performance in France (Grand Prix) in the 1998-1999 season; Kristian Lupa was awarded with the French Legion of Honor.  In 2001, he was awarded with the Austrian Cross of Honor (1^st degree) “For the Outstanding Merits in the Field of Science and Culture.”  

In 2010, he was honored with the International Stanislavsky Theater Award "For the Contribution to the International Theater Development."