Joanna Koc

The first conscious fascination with acting began in the Salesian middle school located on Wodna Street in Lodz. Vis a vis the park to which the Lodz Film School is adjacent. At that time she played in a play in which she played the role of the Devil In turn, the first role she played on the professional stage of the Kazimierz Dejmek Theater in Lodz was that of Maria in the musical play “Pastoral” by Leon Schiller. This playful dissonance is not coincidental, balancing between the sacred and the profane, the distinctive and the “beautiful” is the denominator she tries to seek in the roles she plays. The time of the high school, in turn, is Kopernika Street in Lodz. The XXI High School is located almost “through the wall” with the PWSFTViT Studio Theater. Coincidence? It was the exceptional graduation performances of the students, which she watched as part of the repertory as well as the world’s most beautiful festival “Festival of Theater Schools” that made her fall in love with theater and had an addictive effect on her young sensibility. In later years, being already a student of the Acting Department, spending hours and often nights in the atmospheric interior of the theater, she heard school bells and the bustle of the students of the high school she once attended.
In the fourth year of her studies, she stood on the dream stage of the Studio Theater for the first time. I came across a wonderful directing lineup. My first diploma was Vasili Sigariev’s “Plastelina”, directed by Malgorzata Bogayevskaya. In it I played a Woman who has gone mad and is desperately looking for love. When it comes to working on the line of actor-director. Dream. It was the same with the work on the following diplomas titled. “Twilight” by Mariusz Grzegorzek and “Equus” directed by Waldemar Zawodzinski. Three personalities of directors, completely dedicated to their work, knowing which direction they are going while listening to the actor and being open to his suggestions. I learned a lot while working on my diploma performances and, above all, while playing them in front of an audience. Similarly, right after “school” taking my first steps on professional stages, I became convinced of this self-evident truth that we learn the most about acting…. by playing and practicing the profession on a regular basis. This continuous learning, fortunately, continues uninterrupted to this day. . The first role I played already as a full-time actress of the Lubuski Theater company in Zielona Gora was Kitty in the play “Anna Karenina”, directed by Michal Kotanski. It was a role she had dreamed of playing since her college days. This desire came true at the beginning of my professional path, I received the director’s award for her debut in the 2011/2012 theater season. Treating this as a good omen. This first role was followed by other important ones, each performance, each work whether playing first or second fiddle, or court surrounded by a king is a learning and developing experience. There are already dozens of them detailed description is in the attached resume. The actress has also participated in many television productions and short films , (including “Trees die from their roots” directed by Franciszek Berbeka, she also starred in the Television Theater in a play entitled “Vocation” directed by Pawel Woldan.

It is worth mentioning that the actress has received many individual awards for her work, and has participated in award-winning performances. These are:

2008 r. – Grand Jury Prize at the Vgik Festival in Moscow, for the performance entitled. “Sandbox,” PWSFTViT
2010 r. – Grand Prix of the international festival of theatrical schools “Encounter” in Brno, for the performance titled. “Twilight”
2010 May- Team Award of the President of the City of Lodz for the play “Plastelina”; at the XXVII Festival of Theater Schools in Lodz.

– Director’s Award for a successful debut in the 2011/2013 theater season, Lubuski Theater in Zielona Gora. Debut in the play “Anna Karenina”, directed by Michal Kotanski.
2013 – Two-time Journalists’ Award for the best actress in the 2012/2013 and 2016/2017 seasons, Lubuski Theater in Zielona Gora

2017 r. Student Parliament Award for the most popular actress of the Lubuski Theater

2016 r. Awards for the play “When the Dream Comes. A Love Tragedy” directed by Pawel and Katarzyna Wolak at the National Festival of Contemporary Art “Rzeczywistość Przedstawiona” in Zabrze:
– Grand Prix- audience award for the best performance of the Festival;
-Youth Jury Award- for the best performance of the Festival.
– Second Prize of the Festival- awarded by the Jury for the performance “When the dream comes”.

2017 r. Journalists’ Award for the best performance of the Lubuskie Theater in the 2016/2017 season “Statements/Bear”.
2022 “Leon 2022”, the play “Gusła” directed by Grzegorz Bral the best play of the last three seasons according to viewers and journalists.
The play made it to the prestigious Fringe Festival in Edinburgh.

The actress devoted her doctoral thesis to the issue of educating young viewers and theatergoers. She put forward the thesis that investment in young readers, viewers and listeners will result in mature consumers of culture.
She puts this conviction into practice and it was born out of it. She has many years of experience in conducting theatrical and acting workshops for various social groups. Children, teenagers, adults, acting students. She also conducts “Shakespeare and management” acting workshops in English for leaders and managers studying at America’s largest technology university MBA. She also has experience in teaching acting classes at two universities of the Leon Schiller National Film, Television and Theater School in Lodz and the G. and K. Bacewicz Academy of Music in Lodz. Bacewicz in Lodz, at the Musical Department. Her motto is “to open”, to embolden and give wings”.

“Joanna Koc is one of the actresses constantly looking for new ways, a new language of acting interpretation”.

this excerpt from the recommendation was quoted by Professor Wieslaw Komasa in his review of her doctoral thesis.
She puts this statement into practice along with a great fascination with various acting techniques, of which she is particularly fond of improvisation. She eagerly participates in workshops (a list of them can be found in her CV).

And above all, she tries not to forget and put into action the words spoken by her beloved author, Anton Chekhov

“If you want to work on your art, work on your life.”