Barbara Michera

After graduating from high school (1977), she was not accepted to the Leon Schiller National Film School in Łódź. She worked at the Association of Polish Journalists. In 1980, she began studying at the Faculty of History at the University of Warsaw (archaeology and ethnography renamed as ethnology and anthropology of culture). She took part in the work of the Independent Students’ Union and in opposition activities, e.g.: the underground movement newspaper was printed in her house. During her studies she did a year-long acting internship at the STU Theatre in Kraków. Her intention to continue working in the theatre was changed by the decision to have her first child. She approached motherhood with equal passion as she did her theatrical plans, as evidenced by her creations in the form of subsequent children. After graduating, she became interested in various forms of alternative education – she discovered trends and ways of teaching that were unknown in Poland at the time, participated in workshops and conferences. In 1992, she became a teacher in a school created within the Social Educational Society. From 1998 she studied artistic pedagogy at the University of Poznań. From 1993 to 2002 she ran an authorial kindergarten. She interrupted her work due to an illness that changed her life. In 2016, she moved to Warmia, and two years later, she took part in the Shrovetide workshop of the Other Theatre School, turning a symbolic circle. She first came to Węgajty shortly after finishing her studies. The first workshop of the Other Theatre School was like coming home for her. Since February 2018, she has taken part in three more full IST workshop cycles and guest performances of the Węgajty Theatre in Poland and abroad. She co-created the performances: Solstices (2018), Carefree (2019), Hiatus (2020). That is how she speaks about the Węgajty Theatre: "In a way, I've been heading to this place for most of my life, and while I still feel like a guest here, it's a lot to me". She is also an activist.