In 1978, he graduated from the Acting Department of The Leon Schiller National Higher School of Film, Television and Theatre in Łódź. Having completed his studies, he took up teaching at the Puppet Arts Department in Białystok (a branch of the Aleksander Zelwerowicz National Academy of Dramatic Art in Warsaw), then he co-operated with AST National Academy of Theatre Arts in Kraków, where he presented his graduation productions at the Acting Department in the years 1985-1990. One of them – Ferdydurke written by Witold Gombrowicz – was awarded Grand Prix at the European Festival of Theatre Schools in Lyon in 1987. He has worked at the Aleksander Zelwerowicz National Academy of Dramatic Art in Warsaw since 1991. In 2014, he became a professor of theatre.
On the threshold of his career at the beginning of the 1980s, he worked at the Aleksander Węgierka Dramatic Theatre in Białystok, where he directed Jonasz i Błazen (editor’s translation: Jonasz and the Jester) by Jerzy Broszkiewicz (1981) and together with Maciej Wojtyszka Ivona, Princess of Burgundia by Witold Gombrowicz (1982). A few years later, he directed there The Chairs by Eugène Ionesco (1987). Futhermore, he returned to the stage in Białystok at the end of the 1990s, where he worked as a theatre programme consultant in the years 1999-2002 and directed plays, including Tango by Sławomir Mrożek (2001) and The Morality of Mrs Dulska by Gabriela Zapolska (2001).
Śmigasiewicz has worked on the stages of many theatres, including Powszechny Theatre, Polish Theatre, and Ateneum Theatre, Helena Modrzejewska National Stary Theatre, Juliusz Słowacki Theatre, Bagatela Theatre and Theatre Scena STU, Polish Theatre in Wrocław, Kalambur Theatre, Nowy Theatre in Poznań, Teatr Animacji, and Witold Gombrowicz Miejski Theatre in Gdynia.
He continued to cooperate with Maciej Wojtyszka, which lead to directing a play together – Brawling in Chiogiia by Carlo Goldoni (1983, Powszechny Theatre in Warsaw), full of situational and sometimes even grotesque humour, and The Stormy Life of Lasik Roitschwantz by Ilya Ehrenburg (1989, Ateneum Theatre in Warsaw) – funny, joyful and also, at the same time, reflective. On the stage of the Aleksander Zelwerowicz National Academy of Dramatic Art in Warsaw, he stage-managed Saint Joan by George Bernard Shaw (1984), a play narrating the trial of Joan of Arc.
He has worked with dramatical texts of many epochs: the classics, modern drama, and the latest pieces. He is the creator of the stagings of The Middle-Class Gentleman by Molière (1992, Witold Gombrowicz Miejski Theatre in Gdynia), The Merchant of Venice (1996, Ateneum Theatre in Warsaw) and Macbeth (2000, Bagatela Theatre in Kraków) by William Shakespeare. In the latter, the titular role was performed by Aleksandr Domogarov, who learnt Polish especially for this role; the director wanted to present the protagonist as the Other. Śmigasiewicz also directed Oedipus Rex by Sophocles (2000, Juliusz Słowacki Theatre in Kraków), The Slaughterhouse by Sławomir Mrożek (The Helena Modrzejewska National Stary Theatre in Kraków), Right You Are (If You Think So) by Luigi Pirandello (1993, Ateneum Theatre in Warsaw), A Memoir of the Warsaw Uprising by Miron Białoszewski (1994, Powszechny Theatre in Warsaw), Murlin Murlo by Nikolai Kolyada (2002, Białostocki Lalek Theatre), Wrong Side Up by Petr Zelenka (2004, Powszechny Theatre in Łódź), Kto Otworzy Drzwi? (Who Will Open the Door?) by Nedah Nezdanah (2006, Bagatela Theatre in Kraków).
Witold Gombrowicz has a special place in Śmigasiewicz's work, serving as his main inspiration. Śmigasiewicz directed numerous plays based on Gombrowicz's works – mostly dramas, but also adapted prose. Śmigasiewicz's doctoral dissertation was about the Polish writer, too, titled Aktor w Teatrze Gombrowicza (The Actor in Gombrowicz’s Theatre).
His adventure with Gombrowicz's works started with Ferdydurke presented in the Wilam Horzyca Theatre in Toruń in 1984. He got back to it several times a few years later, including his works presented at the AST National Academy of Theatre Arts in Kraków in 1987, Nowy Theatre in Poznań in 1991, Powszechny Theatre in Warsaw in 1993, Witold Gombrowicz Miejski Theatre in Gdynia in 1993, Powszechny Theatre in Łódź in 2001, Nowy Theatre in Słupsk in 2006).
Śmigasiewicz also prepared Hulajgęba based on Gombrowicz's Ferdydurke and Diaries (2003, Bagatela Theatre in Kraków). He returned to Ivona, Princess of Burgundia a couple of times – after its staging in Białystok, he directed it together with Wojtyszka in the Ateneum Theatre in Warsaw in 1994 and then, four years later it was presented in a special place, Scena Letnia Teatru Miejskiego w Gdyni (Summer Stage of the Witold Gombrowicz Miejski Theatre in Gdynia). In a coastal setting, on a narrow strip of the beach, a stage making use of the sea was created.
There, Śmigasiewicz created a skilful play examining the conflict between authenticity and artificiality, the clash between man and culture. The latest version of the above-mentioned play was presented in Białystok in 1999. What is more, Śmigasiewicz mounted Cosmos twice – in 1995 in Powszechny Theatre in Radom and in 1998 in Bagatela Theatre in Kraków. In 1999 he decided to stage The Marriage in Wojciech Bogusławski Theatre in Kalisz, a play he prepared four times more later on: in 2002 in Bagatela Theatre in Kraków, in 2003 in Bałtycki Dramatyczny Theatre in Koszalin, in 2004 in The Aleksander Zelwerowicz National Academy of Dramatic Art in Warsaw, in 2004 in Nowy Theatre in Słupsk. He also directed plays in the Witold Gombrowicz Miejski Theatre in Gdynia – Operetta (2000) and Trans-Atlantyk, the latter staged on a beach in Orłowo (2004). With well-guided actors, typical for Śmigasiewicz's Gombrowicz performances, the works presented in Gdynia were a play on Polishness.
His latest performance, based upon Gombrowicz's works was Pornografia in the Powszechny Theatre in Warsaw (2008).
Śmigasiewicz co-operated with actors from the Montownia group – an independent theatre group derived from a theatre school in Warsaw. They created many interesting interpretations, such as Śleboda, Czyli Cenniejsi Jesteście Niż Wróble by Kazimierz Przerwa- Tetmajer (1997), Wspólny Pokój (One-Room Tenants) written by Zbigniew Uniłowski (1998) and Trans-Atlantyk (2000), light and full of mockery.
In recent years, Śmigasiewicz has searched for a diverse repertoire. Not only has he directed a Broadway hit, the musical Wystarczy Noc (A Night Is Enough; original American title: They're Playing Our Song) by Neil Simon and Marvin Hamlisch (2005, Bagatela Theatre in Kraków), as well as Shakespeare’s Hamlet (2007, Nowy Theatre in Poznań) with the main role astonishingly performed by Paulina Chruściel. In 2006 in Powszechny Theatre in Łódź, he directed a comedy about political correctness, L'inscription by Gérald Sibleyras, and in 2007 in Bagatela Theatre in Kraków – Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. One of the best and latest plays by Śmigasiewicz include Memoir by John Murrell, a story about the last years of Sara Bernhardt's life, in which Maia Komorowska and Wiesław Komasa perfectly played their parts and acted as partners (2005, Współczesny Theatre in Warsaw) and Uncle Vanya by Anton Czechow (2006, Nowy Theatre in Poznań).
Some other examples of plays directed by Śmigasiewcz are The Pocket Atlas of Women by Sylwia Chutnik, telling the story of residents of a tenement house dating back to the Warsaw Uprising (Powszechny Theatre in Warsaw, 2009) and the ridiculous The Trial by Franz Kafka, treated as a black comedy, staged on a beach in Orłowo with Stefan Iżyłowski performing the part of Józef K. (Witold Gombrowicz Miejski Theatre in Gdynia, 2009).
In 2010 Śmigasiewicz staged The Lesson – two one-act-plays by Eugene Ionesco which present how seemingly simple situations can turn into pure absurdity.
In the same year, he directed The Middle-Class Gentleman by Molière in the Adam Mickiewicz Theatre in Częstochowa, and The Marriage by Witold Gombrowicz in the Witold Gombrowicz Miejski Theatre in Gdynia, then, in 2011 – Histrionics by Thomas Bernhard in the Zygmunt Hübner Powszechny Theatre in Warsaw.
More of Śmigasiewicz's works were adaptations of literary classics, for example Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekov (2011, Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński Bagatela Theatre in Kraków and 2016 Polski Theatre in Bielsko Biała), Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (2012, Zygmunt Hübner Powszechny Theatre in Warsaw), Beckett, based upon the Irish writer's works (Jan Kochanowski Powszechny Theatre in Radom), as well as Revenge by Aleksander Fredro (Och-Theatre in Warsaw).
In 2013 he directed Hodinovy Hotelie by Pavel Landovsky and Death by Woody Allen – a bitter comedy about a man whose neat life turns into a nightmare. His latest works include Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry (2014, Bagatela Theatre in Warsaw), Przenikanie (Permeation) (Jan Kochanowski Powszechny Theatre in Radom), Sąsiedzi (Neighbours) by Michał Białucki (2015, Wanda Siemaszkowa Theatre in Rzeszów), The Imaginary Invalid by Molière (2017, Wanda Siemaszkowa Theatre in Rzeszów), whereas in Edward Dziewoński Kwadrat Theatre in Warsaw – Open Season by Michael McKeever (2017) and Cosi e`la vita (2018).
Śmigasiewicz has also worked for Teatr Telewizji, directing television plays. He made Emeryt (Pensioner) by Bruno Schulz with Jan Peszek playing the main role (1988), Diaboliade by Mikhail Bulgakov (1989), Death by Woody Allen (1991) and Madame Molière by Jean Anouilh (1995).
He also made a thirty-minute-long fiction film, Chwila (Moment), in 1989 as part of film cycle titled Kawalerka (Studio Flat).