Jury of SP 2016

Prof. MgA. Karel Makonj, Deputy Head of the Department of Alternative and Puppet Theatre at DAMU

Karel Makonj was born in 1947 in Prague. He studied Directing and Dramaturgy at the Department of Puppetry at the Theatre Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. During his studies he founded the The Led Theatre Company, which found shelter due to cooperation withe of State Theatre Studio in Reduta on Narodni street (productions for adults) and Albatros Club (productions for children). After the administrative dissolution of the theatre he worked as a director in a number of puppet theatres (Naive Theatre, Central Puppet Theatre, Central Puppet Theatre, Theatre of Spejbl and Hurvinek), in 1978 - 1981 and then again in 1989 he worked as a director and dramaturge in the Alfa Theatre. Then he assumed the position of the Director of the Minor Theatre in Prague. Since 2000 he has worked as a teacher at the Department of Alternative and Puppet Theatre in Prague. He has also worked as a director abroad (Poland, Denmark, the former Yugoslavia, Austria) and published in theatre periodicals (Divadlo/Theatre, Disk/Disc, Loutkar/Puppeteer) and in 2007 he published a collection of his theoretical studies called From puppets to objects.

 

Irena Marečková

Irena Mareckova studied at the Department of Alternative and Puppet Theatre at DAMU. Since 1980, she has artistically realized more than a hundred productions. She has also participated in international projects (Germany, Switzerland, France, Japan, Poland, Hungary, Estonia). She collaborates with puppet theaters (directors Josef Krofta, Karel Makonj, Tomas Dvorak, Wlodzimierz Felenczak, Karel Brozek Vlastimil Peska), motion theater (director Ctibor Turba) and drama and opera (directors Zbynek Srba, Vladimir Strnisko, Hana Buresova). As a pedagogue of Stage Design at DAMU, she has developed joint projects between scenographers of the Department of Alternative and Puppet Theatre (DAMU) and students of the Department of Nonverbal Theatre and Comedy (HAMU) in Prague and students of Drama Education for the Deaf (JAMU) in Brno. She has participated as juror in a lot of theatre festivals. Between 2004 and 2007 she led scenography workshops at the National Festival Puppeteers' Chrudim and in 1998 – 2006 she realized the artistic shape of the Biennale Skupa's Plzen.

František Váša

Frantisek Vasa is a puppeteer, animator and actor. He studied at the Department of Alternative and Puppet Theatre at DAMU in Prague and at the International Institute of Puppetry in Charleville - Mesiéres. In 1978 - 1982 he worked at the Alfa Theatre in Pilsen, since 1984 he has focused on animated film. As a puppeteer, he performed in more than 30 productions of the Alfa Theatre, he collaborated on other projects with Petr Kavan, or Jarmila Enochova. As an actor, he is inextricably linked to the Sklep Theatre Company. Throughout his filmmaking career, he worked with Bretislav Pojar, Jiri Barta, Lubomir Benes and Vlasta Pospisilova. His creative contribution can be found for example in movies and series In the Attic, Jaja and Paja or Pat and Mat. As a co-creator of Autopohadky, he also directed excellent film The Fisherman Marsicek (O rybari Marsickovi).

Eva Kyselová

She studied Theatre Studies at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava (VSMU) and doctoral studies in the Theory and Practice of Theatre Creation at the Theatre Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (DAMU). Since 2013 she works as a lecturer at the Department of Theory and Criticism at DAMU where she leads seminars on the history of world and Czech theatre, and as an external lecturer at the Department of Arts Management. She is active in the fields of theatre reflection and criticism, focusing on current trends in drama and alternative theatre, and she cooperates with Czech and Slovak theatre periodicals.

Ewan McLaren

Ewan McLaren is a live arts curator, producer and director. Since 1992 he has contributed to developing the Czech independent live arts scene. Following eight years as a freelance director in many different Prague repertory theatres, Ewan worked as apprentice producer with Daniel MacIvor's dada kamera company in Toronto and the One Yellow Rabbit company in Calgary and produced Calgary's High Performance Rodeo Festival of Innovative Performance for two years.  He has produced and co-organized many independent performance projects and events in Prague, ranging from work for the Prague Quadrennial and Tanec Praha to Motus, producers of the Alfred ve dvore Theatre. With Miroslav Bambusek he is co-creator of the Energy Pathways cycle (2009 - 2013), a site-specific project on the history of working with energy resources in Central Europe, including Miner's Day (Zdar Buh!) at the Michal Mine in Ostrava (2009), for which he and co-director Bambusek received the Czech Theatre News Award. Ewan currently works as an artistic director of the Alfred ve dvore Theatre and a dramaturge of Prague Bazaar Festival.