Jerzy Grotowski (1933-1999) - film director, art theoretician, extraordinary drama tutor, reformer of the art of acting. Founder and director of the innovative Theatre of the Thirteen Rows, later known as the Laboratory. He also won acclaim for his direction of the classics of Polish theatre, like Mickiewicz's "Forefathers' Eve" (1961), Wyspiański's "Acropolis" (1962), and Słowacki's "Kordian" (1962), as well as Marlowe's "Dr. Faustus" (1963), "Książę niezłomny" (The Constant Prince), a Calderon play in a Polish adaptation by Słowacki, (1965) and "Apocalypsis cum Figuris" (1968). After 1983 he worked in the USA, later in Italy, where in Pondera he established a theatre centre which conducted a research programme. After 1985 he was a professor at the College de France, Paris, where he lectured on drama. UNESCO declared the year 2009 the Year of Jerzy Grotowski. Jerzy Grotowski received many titles and awards, e.g. doctors honoris causa of Chicago University (1985) and University of Wrocław (1991).
