Małogorzata Sikorska-Miszczuk graduated from the Faculty of Jouranalism and Political Science at the University of Warsaw, where she also earned a degree in gender studies. She also completed a screenwriting programme at the Łódź Film School. She has received grants from the Polish ministry of culture and CEC Artslink.
Theatre credits incude: Śmierć Człowieka-Wiewiórki [The Death of the Squirrel Man], Szajba [Loose Screws], Katarzyna Medycejska [Catherine Medici], Burmistrz [The Mayor], Walizka [Suitcase], Człowiek z Polski w czekoladzie [A Man from Poland in Chocolate], Zaginiona Czechosłowacja [Lost Czechoslovakia], Żelazna kurtyna [Iron Curtain], Madonna, Bruno Schulz: Mesjasz [Bruno Schulz: Messiah], Popiełuszko, Liść, na którym mieszkasz, nazywa się Europa, ale to za mało, by żyć [The leaf you inhabit is called Europe but it's too little to live], Szeherezada [Scheherazade], Kobro, Album Karla Hoeckera [The Album of Karl Hoecker], Pasja według św. Jacka [Saint Hyacinth's Passion], Yemaya – Królowa Mórz [Yamaha: Queen of the Seas] and Niezwykła podróż Pana Wieszaka [The Incredible Journey of Mr. Coathanger], a children's play.
She also wrote the feature film Tytus, Romek and A’Tomek Versus the Thieves of Dreams (2003), co-authored the multilingual play Europa (2013), and devised the libretto for an opera after Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain (2015). She is a screenwriter for the TV series Usta Usta [Mouth to Mouth] and Polish versions of The Nanny and Sesame Street.
Her plays have been staged by: Jan Klata, Andrzej Chyra, Paweł Łysak, Marcin Liber, Piotr Kruszczyński, Iwona Siekierzyńska, Natalia Korczakowska, Michał Zadara, Anna Trojanowska, Maria Spiss, Dorota Ignatjew, Nina Guehlstorff, Katharine Noon, Paul Bargetto, Wawrzyniec Kostrzewski, Martyna Majewska, Abraham Vallejo, and more.
Her plays have been translated in to English, German, French, Spanish, Swedish, Serbian, Slovenian, Croatian, Czech, Slovak, Russian, Romanian, Ukrainian, and Turkish. Her works have been staged and stage read in Poland, Austria, Germany, France, Sweden, the UK, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Russia, Romania, Belgium, Spain, Turkey, Mexico, and the USA.
Her accolades include an honorary mention for the play Śmierć Człowieka-Wiewiórki at the ulrike competition (TR Warszawa, Warsaw, Poland, 2006) and the 13th Competition for the Best Staging of a Contemporary Polish Play (Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute, Warsaw, Poland, 2007). For Walizka she received the Grand Prix and Audience Award at the Metafory Rzeczywistości Competition (Polski Theatre, Poznań, Poland, 2008); Grand Prix and Critics’ Award at Teatroteka Fest (2017); and the French Prix Godot (2017). A radio play based on her Walizka won the Grand Prix of the Dwa Teatry Polish Radio and Television Festival (Sopot, Poland, 2009) and the Prix Bohemia (2012). Walizka also received the Grand Prix of the 15th Competition for the Best Staging of a Contemporary Polish Play for the best dramatic text (2009) and was named the best play at the Dwa Teatry Festival (Sopot, Poland, 2015). Its staging for Polish Television won the festival’s Grand Prix (dir. Wawrzyniec Kostrzewski). Szajba won Second Prize and Critics' Award at the R@aport Festival (2009); Madonna was named the best play inspired by Aleksander Fredro’s Zemsta (Szaniawski Theatre, Wałbrzych, Poland, 2009); while Burmistrz reached the finals of the R@port Dramaturgy Competition in Gdynia, Poland (2010) and the Stueckemarkt competition in Berlin, Germany (2011). Staged by the Schauspielhaus Wien, Bruno Schulz. Mesjasz was named one of the best contemporary European plays by the European Theatre Convention (2012). Popiełuszko won the Gdynia Dramaturgy Award (2012), while Kraj, w którym obywatelom uciekły serca zostawiając listy won the Ferdinand Vanka Award (2013). The radio play Liść, na którym mieszkasz nazywa się Europa, ale to nie wystarczy, by żyć received Second Prize in a competition held by Polish Radio’s Programme 2 and ZAIKS (2013) and was nominated for the Prix Europa (2015). Kobro received the Plaster Kultury Award (2014) and the Special Złota Maska Award (2015). Burmistrz was named the best dramatic text at the Competition for the Best Staging of a Contemporary Polish Play in 2016.
As a dramaturge Małgorzata Sikorska-Miszczuk worked alongside director Marcin Liber to stage ID for Współczesny Theatre, Szczecin, Poland (2008), Herbert – rekonstrukcja poety (2008), Oratorium – Piekło nasze (2010), III Furie for Helena Modrzejewska Theatre, Legnica, Poland (2011), and Macbeth (Współczesny, Szczecin, 2011).
In the opera field, she worked with Andrzej Chyra on his staging of Shostakievich’s The Gamblers (Baltic Opera, 2013) and wrote the libretto for Paweł Mykietyn’s opera The Magic Mountain, which opened at the Malta Festival, Poznań, Poland in 2015.
In the 2016/2017 season, Ms Sikorska-Miszczuk worked as dramaturge with Mariusz Treliński on his production of Korngold’s Die tote Stadt at the Teatr Wielki – Polsih National Opera. In the 2017/2018 season she will provide dramaturgic support to Andrzej Chyra while he develops his production of Bizet’s Carmen for the Wielki.
(photo: Agata Schreyner, Archives of the Malta Festival, Poznań)
