Zenon Kruszelnicki

Zenon holds an MFA in acting and directing. He was a participant in the Lincoln Center Directors Lab. He is a lifetime member of The Actors Studio and an ongoing guest director at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts. In 2004 he professionally coached Willem Dafoe. At the same year he collaborated with the Wooster Group on a new production entitled "Poor Theater". He recently co-produced a documentary about the making of Andrzej Zulawski's 1982 cult classic "Possession" starring Sam Neill and Isabelle Adjani. He is a member of the International Federation of Actors (FIA), Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, SAG and ZASP. Zenon graduated in 2000 with an M.F.A in Theater Directing from the Actors Studio Drama School at the New School University in New York. Prior to directing, he received his M.F.A. in Acting from The National Academy of Drama in Poland. During his studies, he worked with Rena Mirecka and Zygmunt Molik, both actors at Jerzy Grotowski's Laboratory Theater on improvisation within structure, montage of physical action, plastic exercises, and vocal production. Zenon's work is based on overcoming psychological barriers, discovering sources of energy in the human body, physical and vocal training. From 1998 to 2000 he was the Liberace Scholar awarded by the Liberace Foundation for the Performing and Creative Arts. In October 1999 he received The Candle of Understanding Award in the Production of Talking Books from The Jewish Braille Institute of America. Zenon is an Acting Coach, Theatre Director, Actor and Acting Teacher in New York. His thesis dissertation was "Characteristics of Kathakali Theatre." As part of the research for his thesis he traveled to India to study the places, origins, and the living culture of Kathakali. Zenon speaks Polish, Russian, English, German, and Italian.