Polina Klimovitskaya
 | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
No issues specified. Please specify issues, or remove this template. |
Dr. Polina Klimovitskaya is a Russian actress, director, and Master Acting teacher. She is the founder of Terra Incognita Theater and taught acting at Yale University, New York University, and Michael Howard Studios in New York City.
Education
Klimovitskaya holds a Master of Fine Arts in Directing from State Theater University, Moscow, Russia and a PhD from Yale University.
Actor
Klimovitskaya began her career in the 1960s as an actress in Moscow, studying acting with disciples of Constantin Stanislavski and Yevgeny Vakhtangov. In the United States, she performed at Yale Repertory Theater and played "Mama" in the Academy Award winning film, Molly's Pilgrim (1985).
Director
Klimovitskaya studied directing with the last assistant of the Russian/Soviet director, Vsevolod Meyerhold. She directed productions in Europe and in America, including her BACA Center for the Arts Award winning direction of Ida at the Window. Klimovitskaya directed at the Kennedy Center, and as an artist-in-residence at Mabou Mines, for whom she also wrote the story on which Lee Breuer based his production Red Beads.
In 1981, Klimovitskaya founded Terra Incognita Theater, a not-for-profit theater company in residence at CAVE in Brooklyn.
Teacher
As of 2011 she taught acting in New York City at Michael Howard Studios and Hunter College, and in New Haven, Connecticut at Yale University, where she received a Ruthberg Foundation Award for Innovative Teaching. Over 30 years, Klimovitskaya developed a unique acting approach known as "Kinetic Mind Practice" which she applied at institutions such as New York University, Brooklyn College, Stella Adler Studio, and the National Shakespeare Conservatory.
Klimovitskaya has trained thousands of actors, including notables such as David Hyde Pierce, Kerry Washington, and Zoe Kazan.
As of 2011 she was developing the "Polina Klimovitskaya Acting Center" under the banner of Michael Howard Studios in New York City.
Personal life
Klimovitskaya has one son with Lee Breuer: musician/composer Alex Klimovitsky, lead singer and guitarist of the rock band Three and a Quarter and drummer and lead singer of the rock duo Youthless.