Agnieszka Marianna Truskolaska (1755 – 30 November 1831) was a Polish actress, opera singer and theatre director. She was one of the most admired female artists of her time in Poland. Agnieszka Truskolaska was born in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

, and was one of the first female stars of the Polish theatre. When the first Polish-speaking theatre opened with Polish actors of both genders in 1765, there was a severe shortage of female actors. The first Polish actresses were

Wiktoria Leszczyńska Wiktoria may refer to: Places *Wiktoria, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland People with the given name *Wiktoria Johansson (born 1996), or simply Wiktoria, Swedish singer *Wiktoria Goryńska (1902 – 1945), Polish painter and graphic artist *Wiktoria K ...

and

Antonina Prusinowska Antonina Prusinowska, or ''Pruszanowska'', or ''Prosinowska'' (fl. 1767), was a Polish stage actress. She was the first native actress in Poland. Prusinowska was employed as a member of the pioneer group of actors engaged upon the foundation of th ...

, who took part in the first play and ran the theatre in 1765–67 before they could retire with a great pension. Truskolaska married Thomas Truskolaski, actor and director of a theatre troupe, in 1770, and was active in his troupe from 1774. She debuted at the theatre in Warsaw as an actress in 1777 and as a singer in 1779. In 1780–83, she founded and managed a theatre in Lwów with her spouse and the actor

Kazimierz Owsiński Kazimierz (; la, Casimiria; yi, קוזמיר, Kuzimyr) is a historical district of Kraków and Kraków Old Town, Poland. From its inception in the 14th century to the early 19th century, Kazimierz was an independent city, a royal city of the C ...

, before they returned to the capital, where they often performed at the

National Theatre, Warsaw The National Theatre () in Warsaw, Poland, was founded in 1765, during the Polish Enlightenment, by that country's monarch, Stanisław August Poniatowski. The theatre shares the Grand Theatre complex at the Theatre Square in Warsaw with anothe ...

. In the 1790s, she was a star on the stage of the national theatre in Warsaw. As a widow, she managed her late husband's theatre troupe in 1797–99. Her daughter also became a known actress, excelling in tragedy. In 1803 she gave up her career as an actress. Her most memorable performances were: ''

Mérope ''Mérope'' (original French title: ''La Mérope Française'') is a tragedy in five acts by Voltaire. The text is a reworking by Voltaire of the Italian tragedy ''Merope'' (1713) by Scipione Maffei, dating from 1736/1737. The play premiered in 17 ...

'' (1792) and '' Horace'' (1802).

References

* http://portalwiedzy.onet.pl/41750,,,,truskolaska_agnieszka_marianna,haslo.html (in Polish) * https://web.archive.org/web/20080513024654/http://www.pinn.net/~sunshine/czech/poles1.html 1755 births 1831 deaths 18th-century Polish–Lithuanian actresses 18th-century Polish–Lithuanian opera singers Polish stage actresses 19th-century Polish actresses 19th-century Polish women opera singers {{Women's-History-stub