The Baj Pomorski Theater - History

History

The Baj Pomorski Theater was started thanks to Irena Pikiel-Samorewiczowa – an artist, painter, and repatriate from Vilnius who had come to Bydgoszcz in April 1945 possessing a document from The Ministry of Arts and Culture (dated April 1, 1945), entitling her to organize the first puppet theater in Pomerania. It was supposed to be a younger brother of Warsaw's Baj Theater, hence the name Baj Pomorski. The Bydgoszcz theater was situated in the city's slaughterhouse, which had functioned as a German marionette theater during Nazi occupation. On October 28, 1945 it performed its premiere for children – Ewa Szelburg-Zarembina's Little Wandering Taylor. The conditions of Bydgoszcz's stage did not, however, meet the needs of the young puppet theater. Therefore, I. Pikiel very willingly accepted the proposal for moving the headquarters of Baj Pomorski to Toruń. As early as April 1946 the Theater had been granted a building at 9 Piernikarska Street, which had previously belonged to the German Castle Theater during the war. It is in this beautiful location near the ruins of the Castle of The Teutonic Knights that the Theater has been performing till today – extending to the past sixty years.

The first actors of Baj Pomorski were students from The University of Nicholas Copernicus who, under the guidance of experienced actors and directors, took part in theatrical clinics and thereby unearthed the arcana of puppet animation. Work conditions were not easy. The theater had humble equipment at its disposal, yet it was actively involved in on-the-road performances not only in Pomerania, but also throughout nearly all over Poland. By then Baj Pomorski had already achieved its first success. In 1947, Joanna Piekarska, an artist and director, became the theater's artistic manager. She directed the performance entitled She-Cat's House which received 3rd prize at the 1st Festival of Russian and Soviet Plays in Warsaw in 1950. This achievement, as well as the theater's extensive activity, contributed to the nationalization of Toruń's puppet stage. At that time this meant that, on one hand, the institution would gain financial stability, while on the other, certain liberties for creativity, so inherent in pioneering activities, would have to cease.