Modrzejewska i Zapolska. Wokół prapremiery Jesiennym wieczorem

This article describes Gabriela Zapolska’s and Helena Modjeska’s creative collaboration on the world premiere of Jesienny Wieczór (The Fall Evening), which took place in 1903 on the stage of the Juliusz Słowacki Theater in Krakow. Their partnership will be examined in two respects: first, as a means to learn about the state of the Cracovian theater during its penultimate year under Józef Kotarbiński’s direction; and second, as a case study of the changing attitudes towards acting at the turn of 20thcentury. Both actresses were aware of the role of theater in public life, and they joined the discourse surrounding the art of acting as it gradually stopped being defined only as an imitative craft, with the actor starting to be conceived of as an original, inventive creator. The collaboration between the two serves as proof of Modjeska’s involvement with Polish theater, and the artist’s influence on the state of Polish theater in general.