puppets in prague

Description of workshops

For twelve years, hundreds of students from around the world have come to our workshops to create marionettes with Czech puppet masters. Now they have the chance to learn the specific technology of the traditional DRAGON marionette. All students will go home with their own dragon!

Photo gallery - See photos of the dragon puppet made in our workshop!

Students work under different puppet masters to learn how to create a dragon puppet from start to finish: techniques of designing puppets, making technical drawings, woodcarving, painting, assembly and stringing. The course also includes manipulation with a professsional puppeteer plus Czech puppet history and visits to exhibitions and theatre performances.

Daily Schedule

The daily schedule is intensive: students work eight hours from 9 to 18, with morning sessions consisting of interactive lectures and afternoons for practical work. In the evenings, students visit puppeteers' studios, attend puppet theatre performances, and see the best of animated Czech puppet films.

Total time of workshop is 7 days. The workshop includes 4 days on puppet construction and carving, one day on puppet painting and one day stringing and interactive lesson on manipulation with a professional puppeteer. There will be one day off in the middle of the workshop to see Prague and have a break.

Who is the course designed for?

It is an ideal opportunity for woodcarvers, artists, theatre makers, puppeteers and teachers who want to learn the craft of creating a very special wooden marionette.

Students will be selected on the basis of their experience, and all applicants should send photos or their work with the application. There will be maximum 10 students.

Workshop fee

The dragon workshop will cost 10,000 Czech Crowns (approx 530 USD, 400 Euro) for actual exchange rate see here.

Price includes all materials, local transportation costs, tickets to performances. To confirm place in the workshop, applicants must send a deposit (details will be sent upon acceptance).

Accommodations/Food

We have two options: accommodations in a nearby hostel or in an apartment in the same building as the workshop.

APARTMENT:

Students can stay in a 2-room apartment, 44 sq meters. The apartment is located in the same building as the workshop, a 1920s building with wood floors and large windows in a quiet part of town. It has a kitchen, bathroom facilities, and WIFI. Price is 1200 CZK (approx 40 Euros) per night. Photos from apartment are here.

HOSTEL:

Accommodations with shared bathroom facilities can be arranged for participants in Pension Jana, a comfortable, clean hostel located in a residential area a five minute walk from the workshop. The price for the August 2011 workshop is about 450 Czech crowns (approximately 15 Euro per night) for a double room, 550 Czech crowns (approx. 21 Euro) for a single room (includes breakfast), or 350 Cz crowns for a dormitory room. For more informaton, go to the Pension Jana web site: www.dhotels.cz.

If participants prefer other accommodation, we can provide contacts to booking agencies in Prague.

Participants can cook meals in a small kitchen in the workshop or eat in local Czech restaurants (approx. 5 Euro for lunch).

Location of Workshop

The workshop of Miroslav Trejtnar, located ten minutes from the historical center of Prague in the Vrsovice neighborhood, on Holandska Street.

Language

The workshop is taught in English.

Teachers

Miroslav Trejtnar

Leader of workshop.

Miroslav Trejtnar graduated with high honours from the puppet design department of the Prague Academy of Performing Arts. He has trained with Institut UNIMA in Charleville - Mezieres in France. In 1989 he started the KID Company, designing and producing wooden puppets, toys and sculpture. 

Mirek's art has been exhibited around the world, including at several UNIMA festivals.  He has designed puppets for numerous productions, including "The Baroque Opera" by the Forman Brothers.  He has also produced puppets for the Jiri Trnka animated film studio in Prague. 

Mirek has taught hundreds of students at Puppets in Prague workshops. He has also taught for the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, St. Martin’s College of Design in London, New York University in Prague, Chapito Circus Academy in Lisbon, Portugal, and in Macao and Hong Kong.

Zdar Sorm

Carving and technology.

Zdar worked for  the Jirí Trnka animated film studio at Barrandov studio in Prague for 20 years, and is now a freelance designer of puppets for film animation and theatre, as well as a graphic and furniture designer.  He is one of Prague's leading experts in the technological design of puppets for animated films. 

Sota Sakuma

Carving

Sota is a Japanese puppet maker based in Prague. He studied texitle at the Tokyo Art and Design University and puppet design at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. He now works as a freelance puppet designer, and he has taught mask workshops at the Prague Quadrenniale. Sota also is a butoh perfomer.

Leah Gaffen

History, Organization

Leah Gaffen is an Ameican who has lived in the Czech Republic for fifteen years.  She founded the Puppets in Prague workshops with Mirek Trejtnar, and has worked with him as a producer for the course since then.  She has also done production and translating work for the Prague Theatre Academy and numerous theatre education projects.