CONTINUO THEATRE
is an international independent theatre group led by Pavel Štourač, its director and artistic coordinator. Since 1995 the company has been settled in a little village in South Bohemia called Malovice in a former farmstead called The Plum Yard. Continuo’s productions cannot be easily categorized into genres. Movement, live music, puppets, physical acting, acrobatics, dance, along with striking visual stylization – all of these create the unique poetics of each individual production.
It is not very important for the creators of Continuo whether their work is defined as visual or physical theatre just as it is not important for the actors to know whether they are dancing or acting. The matters of style or aesthetic are not so important. The members of the group focuses their research on analyzing themes, experimenting, being surprised, learning together, developing skills and sharing the result of their work with the audience.
Members of Continuo research an authentic, personal connection between visual artistic knowledge and physical acting, rhythm, voice, and musicality. Everyday work consists of actors’ trainings, workshops in which they get familiar with acting, dancing and voice techniques, in both, collective and individual way of learning and researching.
HISTORY OF THE COMPANY
The founding members of the group – Pavel and Helena Štourač – began to work together in 1990 at the Theatre Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, the Czech Republic. In 1992 they moved from Prague to South Bohemia and gained the professional status with the name Continuo Theatre.
In nearly twenty years of its existence, Continuo Theatre has created a great number of performances in which its course of development from puppet theatre and the circus art to the poetics that theatre critics have called “the new Central European dreamy imagery” can be observed.
Since 1997, the group has systematically dedicated its creative work to street theatre projects and to theatre projects in non-traditional venues such as courtyards, old factories, historic buildings, banks, the surface of lakes, travelling trains, etc. Besides that, Continuo performs at regular theatre premises as well as in their own big red and blue circus tent.
In nearly twenty years of its existence, Continuo Theatre has become a leading Czech theatre company, as it is proved not only by the interest of the audience and the positive reviews of theatre critics, but also by the numerous awards from international festivals in which Continuo regularly participates.
TEAM OF CONTINUO THEATRE, 2020
PAVEL ŠTOURAČ (CZ) director and artistic leader of the company
HELENA ŠTOURAČOVÁ (CZ) stage designer and visual artist
ensemble:
KATEŘINA ŠOBÁŇOVÁ (CZ)
SARA BOCCHINI (IT)
NATÁLIA VAŇOVÁ (SK)
FELIX BAUMANN (DE)
NICOLE NIGRO (CAN)
SEAN HENDERSON (USA)
KATEŘINA ŠOBÁŇOVÁ (CZ)
SARA BOCCHINI (IT)
NATÁLIA VAŇOVÁ (SK)
FELIX BAUMANN (DE)
NICOLE NIGRO (CAN)
SEAN HENDERSON (USA)
PRIZES AND AWARDS
2014 – Professional jury award to Pavel Štourač for directing the performance The Eighth Day, Skupova Plzeň festival.
2010 – The drama text of VICTIM performance by Ivan Jurečka was nominated and take part in final competition of Evald Schorm prize, dedicated to the students of art schools for drama play.
2008 – Silver Medal of the president of Italian Republic (Giorgio Napolitano´s Silver Medal) to Pavel Štourač for the direction of SPETTATORI performance.
2008 – SPETTATORI performance directed by artistic leader of Continuo Theatre Pavel Štourač and stage-designed by Helena Štouračová was awarded by five of eight prizes on Romateatro festival in Rome and by two prizes on Istropolitana festival in Bratislava, Slovakia.
2006 – Award of the Next Wave festival in the category ‘production project’ for the Kratochvílení 2006 project
2006 – Professional jury award for The Flow of Time performance, festival Sasiedzi, Lublin, Poland
2004 – Award of the Divadelní noviny (Theatre Journal) to Pavel Štourač for „Creative Enterprise of 2004” for the idea and direction of the Kratochvílení 2004 project
1998 – Professional jury award to Pavel Štourač for directing the production of Circus Vitae, Skupova Plzeň festival
1998 – Professional jury award to Pavel Štourač for direction and acting in the production of The Legend of Prince Phillip, Skupova Plzeň festival
1998 – Professional jury award to Jan Brůček for dramaturgy in The Legend of Prince Phillip, Skupova Plzeň festival
1996 – Professional jury award to Pavel Štourač for the direction of the Mrakavy performance, Skupova Plzeň festival
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
THANKS TO ALL PERSONS, INSTITUTIONS, AND COMPANIES FOR THEIR UNWAVERING FINANCIAL, MATERIAL AND MORAL SUPPORT OF OUR ACTIVITIES.
ACTIVITIES OF CONTINUO THEATRE ARE POSSIBLE THANKS TO:
MRS. AND MR. HANA A VÍT PUŽEJOVI
MR. AND MRS. VOJTA A ŠÁRKA TROUPOVI
MR. AND MRS. PETR A VLADISLAVA KALNÝCH
JIŘÍ LODR – EKOSTAVIVO – PŘÍRODNÍ STAVEBNÍ MATERIÁLY
MAREK TAMPÍR – STABE, VODŇANY
EMBA LTD
KOMERČNÍ BANKA, A.S.
MINISTERY OF CULTURE OF CZECH REPUBLIC
SOUTH BOHEMIAN REGION
MUNICIPALITY OF MALOVICE
MUNICIPALITY OF NETOLICE
CITY OF PRAGUE
INTERNATIONAL VISEGRAD FUND
CZECH-GERMAN FUND FOR THE FUTURE
CZECH NATIONAL AGENCY”YOUTH”, EUROPEAN COMISSION – DIRECTORAT-GENERAL FOR EDUCATION AND CULTURE (EAC)