Marianna A. Stránská, PhD.

Marianna is an artist based in Prague. She works as a set designer, costume designer and dramatist, for theatre and film directors in the Czech Republic, France, Slovenia and the USA. As an active artist she has developed her sketching and drawing skills on a professional level. Since 2008 she is director and author of the visual concept for The Nomadic Theatre Žebřiňák of which she is co-founder and chairwoman, under a family association Stransky Art Company. Has created installations and interactive exhibitions and is a member of the creative group Orbis pictus aneb….

Since she was little she wanted to be an artist. She grand father was a writer, her father and mother architects

marianna.stranska@gmail.com

www.mariannastranska.cz

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

RECENTLY she received her doctorate in Alternative and Puppet Theatre and Its Theory. She gained two years of experience teaching a BA course at the Academy of Performing Arts (DAMU) in Prague. And also she tutored several students to prepare them for HE and the Master’s degree in Stage and Costume Design.

EDUCATION

2009 BA from the Academy of Performing Arts (DAMU), Prague, at the Department of Alternative and Puppet Theatre, specialising in Stage Design and puppet design.

2012 MA at The Prague Academy of Performative Arts (DAMU) at the Department of Alternative and Puppet Theatre, specialising in Stage Design and Puppet Design.

2019 PhD in Alternative Theatre, Puppet Theatre and Its Theory.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Applied art research

Costume design for opera, film and devised performances

Dramaturgy for documentary film

Conceiving projects with the Žebřiňák Travelling Theatre

Moderator at Scout institute in Prague, video interviews Nebát se

Academic research

‘The Art of Participation: The Audience as a Special Component in the Act of Art.’

Doctoral thesis, Theatre Faculty, Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, Prague 2019

Research into the phenomenon of the Art of Participation, ranging from the fine arts to ‘social practice’, and elevating the audience to be a creative component of the artwork. The thesis places the issue of the Art of Participation in the world context and in the broader context of the development of theatre and fine arts. It describes the author's practices and trends which has been heading towards the dramaturgical strategy focused on the viewer's animation.

SEMINARS AND TALKS

2015 Author of PQ/QR.CZ, a project presented at Shared Space: A Spatial Curation Symposium

2019 ‘Art of Participation or Social Practice’, a research presentation at Střed zájmu: Publikum pohledem studenta (Centre of Interest: The Audience from the Student’s Perspective), Creative Europe, NAMU, Prague

2017–19 Several talks and discussions about the documentary film The White World according To Daliborek – at Karlovy Vary, KineDoc, IDFA, OSLOPix, and also in Russia, Austria and Germany.

AS HEAD OF WORKSHOPS AND PRODUCTIONS

2019 Creative Sewing Workshop: Costume Design – held in a private studio in collaboration with the tailor/dressmaker Kamila Šárková

2014–17 Leader and director of a theater company Žebřiňák Nomadic Theater

2009–19 Private tutoring to prepare students to apply for HE in the Arts

EXPERIENCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Assistent to Docent Petr Kalfus, a tutor in the Theatre Faculty at DAMU, Prague (for two years during the PhD course).

Taught the course ‘The Role of Stage Design in Theatre’ for first-year students at the Department of Alternative and Puppet Theatre (for two years during the PhD course).

Tutor to first-year students in the Documentary Film Department at the Film and Television School of the Academy of Performing Arts (FAMU), Prague (one semester during the PhD course).

PROFESSIONAL RELATIONS

Four years of experience in designing and making costumes for opera houses, including the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, the Novaya Opera in Moscow, the Lausanne Opera House, the Maribor Opera House, Prague State Opera and the National Theatre in Prague, and also develop contacts with the Royal Opera House in London.

Theatre festivals in the Czech Republic, France, Switzerland, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.

Documentary film festivals, including the International Documentary Festival in Amsterdam, the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, and the Jihlava Documentary Festival.

Local production manager in collaboration with ProHelvetia for the Swiss contribution at the Prague Quadrenialle in 2015 and 2019.

Close professional relations with the Prague Quadrenialle, the Academy of Fine Arts (Prague), the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design (Prague), the Academy of Performing Arts (Prague), the Academia Theatro Dimitri (Switzerland), the Real Esquela del Arte Dramatico (Madrid), Saint Martin’s College (London) and the Royal Opera House (London, Oliver Mears).

WORK

2016–present Costume design for opera (at the Mariinsky Theater, Prague State Opera House, Lausanne Opera House, Opera houses in Bari and Maribor).

2007–present Set designer, costume designer and puppet designer for theatre and film directors in the Czech Republic, France, Slovenia and the USA.

2014–present Dramatist and dramaturgist for documentary films and performance projects

Current projects

2022 costume design for The Tales of Hoffmann at the Novaya Opera in Moscow, directed by Arnaud Bernard

2021 costume design for Carmen at Novaya Opera in Moscow, directed by Arnaud Bernard

2020 costume design for Andrea Chénier at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, directed by Arnaud Bernard

Opera

2019 costume design for Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, directed by Arnaud Bernard

https://www.mariinsky.ru/en/playbill/playbill/2019/5/24/2_1930

2018 costume design for Verdi’s Simone Boccanegra at the Opéra de Lausanne, directed by Arnaud Bernard

https://www.opera-lausanne.ch/show/simon-boccanegra/

2017 costume design for Verdi’s Vespri Siciliani at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg directed by Arnaud Bernard

https://www.mariinsky.ru/en/playbill/playbill/2017/3/17/2_1930

Interview with Marianna Stránská and the director: https://mariinsky.tv/1099-en

2017 costume design and implementation of costumes for Puccini’s Tosca at the National Theatre in Prague directed by Arnaud Bernard

https://www.narodni-divadlo.cz/cs/predstaveni/10757

Theatre

2019 circus show Božena at La Fabrika Theatre in Prague in collaboration with Holektiv and Matěj Forman.

https://vimeo.com/364639469

In collaboration with Veronika Poldauf Riedlbauchová, created and produced two circus/physical theatre pieces Plovárna (The Riverside, 2012) and Lov (The Hunt, 2017), and recently a performance, Do Hajan! (Beddy-bye!, 2020)

http://bratrivtricku.cz/repertoar/

From 2008 to 2010, was co-created two productions for the National Puppet Theatre in Ljubljana, Slovenia, directed by Matija Solce (Kabaret Luknja, puppet cabaret, based on Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CcNR41d8ig

In 2017, created the complete design in collaboration with Marek Brožek for Masinerija, directed by Zoran Petrović.

Film

2018 documentary movie The White World According to Daliborek, nominated for the Czech Lion Award for the best documentary film, as art director and co-screenwriter with director Vít Klusák (premiered at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival and selected at the International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam (IDFA), Master Selection in 2017).

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onf0S6Q-DWs

International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam:

https://www.idfa.nl/en/film/605b9644-ed4a-4fde-8b3f-111eb4cc627f/the-white-world-according-to-daliborek

Interview with Marianna Stránská about The White World According to Daliborek:

https://www.televizeseznam.cz/video/vyzva/marianna-stranska-bylo-dulezite-dat-daliborkovi-ochranu-pred-stihanim-342077

2014 Cyril and Methodius: The Apostles of the Slavs, nominated for the Czech Lion Award, Czech Film and Television Academy Award, in category Best Costumes for the film (costumes by Marianna Stránská).

https://www.csfd.cz/film/354439-cyril-a-metodej-apostolove-slovanu/prehled/

OTHER RESPONSIBILITIES

Since 2010, member of the art group Orbis Pictus (exhibitions in Prague, Brno, Zlín, Linz and New York).

http://www.orbis-pictus.com

Since 2008 leader and director of the Žebřiňák Nomadic Theatre

of which she is co-founder and chairwoman, part of the Stransky Art Company

Marianna Stranska

Stage and costume designer

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