Mark Krawczyk

About me:

If you want to be my friend just know that my last name is Krawczyk. That should suffice in allowing you to add me. Sorry for putting the extra security up, but I'm tired of Spammers constantly adding me.

Litwo! Ojczyzno moja! ty jestes jak zdrowie Ile cie trzeba cenic, ten tylko sie dowie, Kto cie stracil. Dzis pieknosc twa w calej ozdobie Widze i opisuje, bo tesknie po tobie.

- od Pan Tadeusz...because I miss Poland sometimes.



I dream in technicolor and live in vibrant, over-saturated HD.

Here's a brief primer as to who I am...

I'm an actor/writer/teacher living and working in the Baltimore/DC Metroplex area. I'm originally from New Jersey and have been living on and off in Maryland since 1998, when my immediate family moved here and I began studying theatre at Towson University.

AS A PERFORMER...

I received my BS in Theatre from Towson University in 2003, and also had the opportunity to work and study at Dartington College of Arts in Devon, England for almost a year and half, from 2001 until 2002.

During my studies in England I was a founding member of a theatre company called Without Gas, which toured festivals and theatres in towns and cities throughout England, Poland, and Slovakia. In 8 short months we enjoyed a great deal of activity and success being invited to festivals by people who admired our work, and even once being commissioned to create a new piece for a festival in Poland in 2002. However, life plans changed and I returned to America in the Fall of '02 to finish my degree at Towson.

Shortly after returning I received a scholarship offer to study for an MFA in Acting at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.

I received my degree from SMU in 2006, and since graduating I have performed with the Utah Shakespearean Festival, The Shakespeare Theatre in Washington DC, Everyman Theatre in Baltimore, and I'm about to begin rehearsals in January for a new play at Imagination Stage in Bethesda, Maryland. I've also had the pleasure and privilege of having worked with the Young Playwrights Festival at Baltimore's CenterStage, having devised a new piece with the Edinburgh Fringe First Award Winning company Highway Diner at Edinburgh's Traverse Theatre, as well as occasionally having done staged readings with The Baltimore Playwrights Festival.

AS A WRITER...

I have been writing and co-writing plays/short scenes/performance pieces since I was a teenager in New Jersey. Some of my "younger work" was exhibited in several theatre festivals in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, even once at Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, PA.

In college I was a member of Catalyst Theatre Company, a social issues theatre company that was devoted to creating scenes and plays that dealt with issues that directly related to the daily lives and social issues encountered by college aged students. I was a performer with this company, as well as a writer and an editor for many of the company's scenes and plays. Among the plays I worked on was most notably the play "Counterbalance," which was a play researched, devised, written, and performed entirely by company members, and was based on the massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado.

Other past writing projects also included writing and editing for my various works at Dartington College of Arts with various student groups, and the now defunct Without Gas Theatre company. Last year I performed a solo piece called "Coffee, coffee, coffee!" with The Utah Shakespearean Festival's REACH Cabaret in Cedar City, Utah, during the 2006 Summer Season. At season's end I was also voted as one of the favorite acts of the season and asked to perform in the REACH Cabaret's "Best of..." night.

Most recently I've been writing short pieces, and ten minute plays, and have just submitted my most recent play, RED LINE, to The Source Theatre Festival in Washington DC, for performance consideration for this year's festival.

AS A TEACHER...

I first taught Acting I for Majors at Towson University as a Junior teaching assistant.

Later I was a Lecturer at Southern Methodist University, teaching Acting I to non-major acting students.

I am now an adjunct theatre professor at my undergrad alma mater, teaching Acting I yet again to non-major acting students at Towson U, while I seek out acting opportunities in the Baltimore/DC area.

I've also been a teacher/lecturer in workshops on devising, improvising, and writing performance pieces throughout Poland and Slovakia while a member of Without Gas Theatre Company. I also did get a chance to teach Shakespearean acting techniques with the students' education program at The Utah Shakespearean Festival.

Still, I am more than just an internet profile...but then again...aren't we all?

And yourself?

Discovery
by Wislawa Szymborska

I believe in the great discovery.
I believe in the man who will make the discovery.
I believe in the terror of the man who will make the discovery.

I believe in the pallor of his face,
the nausea, the cold sweat on his lip.

I believe in the burning of notes,
the burning of them to ashes,
the burning of every last one.

I believe in the scattering of numbers,
the scattering of them with no regret.

I believe in the quickness of the man,
the precision of his movements,
his uncoerced free will.

I believe in the smashing of the tablets,
the pouring out of the liquids,
the extinguishing of the ray.

I assert that all will work out,
and that it will not be too late,
and that things will unfold in the absence of witnesses.

No one will find out, of that I am sure,
neither wife nor wall,
nor even bird, for it may well sing.

I believe in the stayed hand,
I believe in the ruined career,
I believe in the wasted labor of many years.
I believe in the secret taken to the grave.

For me these words soar above all rules.
They seek no support in examples of any kind.
My faith is strong, blind, and without foundation.