ACTRESS BEATA POZNIAK

Beata Pozniak relishes challenge. Never content to nap on the laurels and accolades European audiences have lavished upon her for various film, theater and television performances, Pozniak has been driven by her own desire for expansion to move on, experiment and experience. Whether it's behind the camera, dancing, painting, illustration (an admiration for Joseph Campbell is intrinsic in her marvelous visual explorations of heroes, myths and archetypes) or most recently, sculpting, no endeavor is left unconquered.

Pozniak's entree to acting began in her native Poland where she attended the plum role of Mary Featherstone in the Warsaw stage production of Alan Ayckbourn's comedy, How the Other Half Loves. "For the first time in the history of Polish Theater, there were lines starting at 5 AM to get tickets, and at black market prices." The play's unbelievably successful run finally ended when Pozniak moved to the States where now her current passion is her performance group, Theatre Discordia. Through her research into poetry, fairytales, dreams, children's stories and "rediscovering the archetypes, Pozniak stages productions that transcend performance-art-as panderism to the "intellectual" crowd. There is an element of humor, the laughter of recognition" - a brilliant juxtaposition of the hilarious and the pedantic.

In a very Campbellian sense, Pozniak has embarked upon her own "hero's journey". "I would like to touch everything," she states simply. "I just enjoy the process of learning. I hope it never stops."

EXPOSURE , by Erin Culley, Apr/May 1991. Photo by Charles Belongie.