Jerzy Zoń

Co-founder and director of the KTO Theatre since 1978.
Author of pioneering shows and monumental outdoor productions, seen by over 3,000,000 spectators in over 40 countries on five continents.

He has been awarded the Gold Cross of Merit, the Silver Cross of Merit, the Gloria Artis medal, the Honoris Gratia medal, and the Medal for Merit to Culture. He is a laureate of the Stanisław Wyspiański Theatre Award granted for special achievements in theatre.

Zoń is the creator of the characteristic non-verbal theatre language, which became the trademark of the KTO Theatre and the source of its international successes.

Creator and director of the ULICA Festival held since 1988.

Director, scriptwriter and producer of large outdoor productions and international theatre projects, among them:

>> ARCADIA

– The creators and actors of the play ARCADIA were the laureates of the 12th edition of the Krakow Theatre Award named after Stanisław Wyspiański.
– The play ARCADIA was recognized by Gazeta Wyborcza Kraków as one of the 5 most important theatrical events of 2022.
– The play ARCADIA was the winning performance at the Grudziądz Spring Theatre Festival 2023.
– The play ARCADIA became one of the 15 final performances in the TEATR POLSKA 2023 program.
– The play ARCADIA received the main prize at the AMPLIFIER Festival in Banská Štiavnica, Slovakia, in 2023.

>> CHORUS OF ORPHANS
– Special Award for the Best Performance of the Festival and the Best Director Award at the 35th Fadjr International Theatre Festival in Tehran, Iran 2017
– Best Director Award at the 21st White Tower International Theatre Festival in Brest, Belarus 2016
– Premiul Tony Bulandra Award for the best performance of the Babel Fast Festival in Targoviste, Romania 2016
– SPASKO award for the most moving performance of the 21st PUF International Festival Theatre in Pula, Croatia 2015

>>> PEREGRINUS
– Premiul Tony Bulandra Award for the best street performance at Babel Fast in Targoviste, Romania 2016
- performed over 100 times at festivals around the world

>>> THE BLIND
– nominated for the Total Theatre Award 2012 in Edinburgh in the Physical/Visual Theatre category
– presented at over 60 festivals in 15 countries

>>> THE FRAGRANCE OF TIME
– presented at more than 60 festivals in 15 countries, including Austria, Brazil, France, Spain, Holland, Iran, South Korea, Lithuania, Romania and Italy

>>> CANTATA
– the Millenium New Year Eve show broadcasted by the BBC to over 120 countries
>>> Hello Mr Jo for the French theatre Jo Bithume
>>> Vivat Academia celebrating the 600th anniversary of the renewal of the Krakow Academy
>>> Biała-Czerwona (White and Red) for the 100th anniversary of Poland regaining independence
>>> Kronika Polska celebrating Poland’s accession to the European Union
>>> Productions commemorating the 25th anniversary of the establishment of Solidarity – Kronika in Gdańsk, Zapis in Kraków
>>> Refugees – a theatre installation as part of the celebrations for the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in Leipzig, 2009 – over 300,000 participants

Creator and co-creator of several dozen stage productions and street performances emblematic of Polish theatre, among others:
>>> The Mirror – FAMA Grand Prix – Neptune’s Trident in 1984.
>>> The Apocryphe – the Buława Hetmańska Audience Award of the Zamość Theatre Summer 1992
>>> I’ll Sell the House in Which I Can Live No More – the Buława Hetmańska Audience Award of the Zamość Theatre Summer 2013
>>> The Garden of Delight – considered the most important event of the 4th edition of Krakow Theatrical Reminiscences in March 1980. Equally highly rated at the Festival of Debuting Theatres START’80 in Kielce, where it received the main award (directed by Adolf Weltschek)
>>> Mazepa – the Buława Hetmańska Audience Award in 2003.

Involved in the creation of Krakow’s artistic projects, among others:
– Theatre Nights – since 2007
– Poetry Nights – since 2011

Between 1974 and 1980, an actor at the STU Theatre, performing in the legendary productions of Krzysztof Jasiński, including Sennik polski, Exodus, Pacjenci and Operetka. 
In the years 1988-1992 he was the general and artistic director of the C. K. Norwid Theatre in Jelenia Góra, where he directed, among others, Walpurgis Night by V. Yerofeyev, Monachomachia by I. Krasicki and Kontedans by B. Rudnicki.

Graduate of Polish Philology of the Jagiellonian University.