BOGUSLAWSKI, WOJCIECH

born April 9, 1757, Poznan, Pol. died July 23, 1829, Warsaw actor, director, and leading playwright of the Polish Enlightenment. After studying singing and joining the court of the bishop of Krakw, Boguslawski became a soldier and in 1778 an actor. Between 1783 and 1814, he directed the Polish National Theatre in Warsaw; later he worked in Lww and toured with his company, performing both Polish and foreign plays. Boguslawski is considered by many to be the father of the Polish theatre. He wrote more than 80 plays, mostly comedies adapted from writers of western Europe, and greatly raised the status of the acting profession. His best-known and most popular original play is Cud mniemany, czyli, Krakowiacy i grale (1794; The Pretended Miracle or Krakovians and Highlanders), a patriotic comic opera based on national folklore.