The Ateneum Theatre in Warsaw is a Polish dramatic theatre founded in 1928. It resides in a building erected a year earlier in the interwar Poland as headquarters for the Professional Union of PKP Railway Workers with offices upstairs. After World War II, the severely damaged structure was restored to its former glory with public funds. The state-run theatre reopened in 1951; named after its first and already famous prewar director Stefan Jaracz.
Entrance to Ateneum Theatre
Dir. Stefan Jaracz
Stefan Jaracz was a Polish actor and theater producer. He served as the artistic director of Ateneum Theatre in Warsaw during the interwar period (1930–32), and within a short period raised its reputation as one of the leading voices for Poland's new intelligentsia, with groundbreaking productions of Danton's Death by Georg Büchner (1931), The Captain of Köpenick by Carl Zuckmayer (1932), as well as popular Ladies and Husars by Aleksander Fredro (1932) and The Open House by Michał Bałucki.
Stefan Jaracz in the 1930s
Tadeusz Olsza (left) and Stefan Jaracz playing Konstanty Kurczek in 1936 film Jego wielka miłość (His one great love)
Statue of Stefan Jaracz in Łódź, Poland