They presented a manifesto calling for unity and solidarity among actors nationwide.
During a dress rehearsal on Tuesday for The Weavers, a new production directed by Maja Kleczewska, actor Marcin Gaweł held up a sign reading "I am a theater actor. I earn the minimum wage."
He delivered the manifesto on behalf of the theater's actors and the local branch of the Union of Polish Stage Artists.
The document calls on full-time actors at Poland’s public theaters to unite against salaries that amount to the country’s minimum wage.
"We cannot and do not want to work for minimum wage anymore," the manifesto states. "We do not want our pensions to be calculated based on the lowest possible salary."
The actors said that their protest is not directed at theater directors or local authorities, which oversee public theaters, but at the prime minister and the culture minister.
"The Polish state cannot condemn full-time theater actors to a life below human dignity," they wrote.
The group is demanding an increase in wages from the minimum wage to the national average salary, arguing that this would have a negligible impact on public coffers, as only about 1,700 people would be offered pay raises.
Speaking to reporters, Gaweł said that the actors decided to address the culture ministry directly because it has the power to adjust their wages.
"Right now, regardless of how long someone has worked in a theater, they all receive the same base salary—the national minimum wage," he said. "On top of that, there is a small performance bonus."
Gaweł added that even after decades in the profession, experienced actors receive only a modest extra fee for performances, state news agency PAP reported.
"If an actress with several decades of experience performs in a physically and emotionally demanding three-hour play and gets a little over PLN 200 [EUR 48, USD 50] for it, that is, in today’s reality, a wage below human dignity," he said.
The Silesian Theater actors have launched their protest by publishing the manifesto and collecting signatures for a petition demanding fair wages.
Gaweł did not rule out further action if their demands are not addressed.
The timing of the protest was deliberate, coinciding with the upcoming premiere of The Weavers, a play about rebellion and social inequality.
The production is set to premiere on Friday. Its director has expressed her support for the actors' demands.
The Weavers, written by Gerhart Hauptmann, tells the story of 19th-century Silesian textile workers who revolted against factory owners, demanding better wages and working conditions.
Their 1844 protest was the first major workers' revolt in modern European history and a precursor to the Revolutions of 1848.
Hauptmann's play, regarded as his greatest work, earned him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1912.