We recently connected with Karolina Kwaśniak and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Karolina, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

A recent meaningful project I worked on was an original opera-theater piece “Umbra” composed by Elliot Menard and directed by Héctor Alvarez. It was a special project for me, because I was able to combine my acting, singing and movement skills in one performance.

“Umbra” is based on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. It explors grief and asks the question: how does grief transform (us)? I played the part of Hermes – the messenger of the Olimpian gods who travels with Orpheus and Eurydice from the underworld to the world of the living. Originally, my part does not appear in the score, but when I joined the creative team, the director and composer decided I would be the perfect fit for it and added it to the story.

Aside from acting and singing, the director gave me the artistic freedom to choreograph a 10-minute movement piece to one of the songs from the opera and incorporate it in the performance. We worked with Rainer Maria Rilke’s “Sonnets to Orpheus” as inspiration for the choreography. I really enjoyed and valued creating my own movement score and drew from my instinct rather than thinking about the movements intellectually. This added an additional layer to my performance and allowed me to deepen the arch of my character and express myself more deeply.

In March 2025 we opened “Umbra” in Highways Performance Space in Los Angeles and there are talks of performing it again in the future.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

It’s hard for me to say when my artistic journey began, because from an early age I loved to dance and perform on stage. As a kid I trained opera singing and later, as a teenager, I wanted to pursue it professionally so I continued my training in the F. Chopin Secondary State Music School in Warsaw. Even though I was determined to become an opera singer, over the years of my studies I experienced a lot of negative and unhealthy teaching methods and after more than 10 years of training I felt burnt out and my self esteem was extremely low.

Acting was a part of my curricular studies and those classes always felt very liberating and just so much fun. It was an escape from the uptight and very serious classical training that didn’t allow mistakes and expected you to sound perfect. Acting was raw, it wanted to see the flaws of humanity and celebrated being truthful. It felt closer to my heart and gave me space to express the wildest and most vulnerable parts of myself.

It took me many years to rebuild my confidence and I tried different things in my life, for example I did my BA in Music Production at The Academy of Music in Łódź, but back in 2019 I finally understood that acting was the thing I always wanted to pursue, but was terribly scared of. The choice of attending a summer acting workshop in New York that same year was a result of many signs from the universe that tried to nudge me in the direction of acting over the years: watching “Call Me By Your Name” by Luca Guadagnino alone in the movie theater in Warsaw or talking to my mentor at the Academy of Music, who gave me the needed permission to have the guts to just do what I want and see value in my choices.

After a 7-week acting course at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York I got into The Baza Theater Acting Studio in Warsaw and decided I wanted to study acting in the States. I finished my BA, directed a music video, met my current partner and got into the MFA Acting Program at California Institute of the Arts.

I graduated last year and since have worked professionally both in theater and film. I am currently in rehearsals for a greek tragedy “Raja Oedipus” which will open on June 14th at the 1st Gamelan Festival in Los Angeles and am preparing for a couple of upcoming film projects.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

There are many aspects of this craft that are rewarding, but the one that has the most value for me is being able to have an impact on others and make them feel something. My acting goal is to create characters that are complicated, truthful and relatable. I want to show different aspects of humanity and with that encourage people to accept their complexity. Art can change peoples lives. I know this, because it has changed my life and as an artist I want to give that to others.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

During my opera singing training I faced an expectation of sounding perfect and being a “perfect” performer. Every note had to be flawless and there was no space for any mistakes. I really had to unlearn this approach and understand that is an unreal expectation. During my MFA studies I came across teachers that celebrated mistakes. It took guts and courage to go on stage and not be perfect, to show vulnerability and to understand that the process of making art needs mistakes, because thanks to them we learn and grow and allow for the process of discovery.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.karolinakwasniak.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karo_kwasniak/