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International Summer School of Documentary Theatre
Meet the Lecturers
Jana Svobodová
Jana Svobodová is an internationally acclaimed theatre director and lecturer, the artistic director of the Akcent – International Festival of Documentary Theatre, and the founder of the International Summer School of Documentary Theatre. In her work, she focuses on productions that interconnect professional artists and representatives of specific social groups. Among others, she has collaborated with residents of South African townships, the hip hop community, recent immigrants to the Czech Republic, the Roma community, various communities in the USA, and others. Her productions have been presented at festivals in the Czech Republic and internationally. In 2019, the performance Ordinary People she codirected with Wen Hui was presented at the main program of Festival D’Avignon and Festival D‘Automne in Paris. Besides her other collaborations, she recently worked with the NEST Theatre in Naples and created the performance Why Not Me? Her latest performance Eight Compositions on the Lives of Ukrainians reflects the daily lives of people in war.
Pavel Kotlík
Pavel Kotlík is a light designer and light technician. He worked at Theatre Řeznická, Prague Chamber Ballet or Ponec Theatre, and cooperated on projects of Min Tanaka, Jaro Viňarský, Farma v jeskyni, Teatr Novogo Fronta. Since 2011 he has collaborated with Jana Svobodová on several local and international projects as In 2012 he won the Award for Light Design for VerTeDance performance Lost and Found. He has been dedicated to lighting since his youth, he passed from school to theatre, first as a theatre technician, therefore he refers to himself as a theatre maker rather than a light designer. In the professional community, he is known as a tireless creator of visual compositions on stage – only few can paint surfaces and accentuate details as he does. He created the light design for the last show at the Archa Theatre, The Unnamable Dance, by Min Tanaka.
Jan Sedláček
Jan Sedláček is a sound designer, audio engineer and musician. After completing BA (Hons) Music Technology at the University of Bedfordshire, and MA in Audio Production at the University of Westminster in London in 2014, Jan has returned to Prague to pursue his career in audio engineering and sound design. Since then, Jan has been collaborating with numerous respectable Czech cultural institutions, including Archa Theatre, Czech National Theatre, Barrandov Film Studios, Forum Karlin, Jatka78, besides many independent theatres, as well as dance, audio-visual arts, and music groups. Since 2018, Jan is a co-owner of Studio Mr. Wombat, a recording studio located at the heart of Prague.
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Martin Krupa
Martin Krupa is a Prague-based video artist. In his work, he combines digital and 16 mm film moving images. He usually focuses on everyday situations in his videos and likes to play with perspective, speed, and loops. He likes to create uncertainty in viewing and manipulating narratives in his work. He uses visual materials besides 16 mm film and slide film. He loves the interactivity of video and light and experiments with electronics. Martin is interested in video installations and site-specific moving images. He is a Ph.D. candidate in visual communication and co-lead Studio Fine Art with art-theoretical Barbora Hájková at the Faculty of Art and Design in Ústí nad Labem (CZ).
Zov Vélez
Zov Vélez is an Anglo-Colombian creative based in the UK whose practice focuses on the exploration of ‘radical existence’ and fictioning experiences of social inequity through movement and storytelling. Their practice explores how the body can shape-shift and transform, offering choppy narratives that reflect experiences of the outcasted, including the exploration of gender non-conformity, queer identities, and class-based struggles. Zov's movement background training is in Viewpoints, Composition, Contact Improvisation and Butoh. Zov is also a collaborator in Dust Ensemble, a dance theatre company based in Bristol, whose works centre eerie explorations and abstract-expressionistic styles that invigorate imagination.
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Ondřej Hrab
Ondřej Hrab graduated from the University of Economics in Prague and in the following years he worked as a sociologist. During the communist regime, he was active in non-conformist cultural activities. He initiated and organized clandestine performances by foreign artists, including The Living Theatre, The Bread and Puppet Theatre and Japanese dancer Min Tanaka. In 1991 he became the director of the E.F. Burian Theatre in Prague and transformed this traditional repertory theatre into a centre for contemporary performing arts under the name “Archa Theatre”. Since the opening of the Archa Theatre in 1994, he has presented renowned international artists such as Robert Wilson, Peter Brook, Min Tanaka, John Cale, Allen Ginsberg, Anne Bogart, Wim Vandekeybus, David Byrne, Philip Glass, Meredith Monk, The Tiger Lillies, Heiner Goebbels, Dogtroep, Josse de Pauw, Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, Lola Arias, Rimini Protokoll, Milo Rau, Wen Hui, She She Pop, and many others. He also initiated and developed many cross-genre art projects. He is also an active member of various national and European councils and organizations dealing with cultural exchange. In 2023, together with Jana Svobodová, he founded the new organization Archa – Centre of Documentary Theatre.
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