CED Talks: Women Directors

CED Talks: Women Directors, in collaboration with the Theatre World Brno 2026 festival, will take place on May 22 at 5:30 p.m. at the CED Cellar Stage in Brno. The discussion will be held in Czech without translation. It will be moderated by dramaturg Jakub Molnár.

How much space do women actually have in Czech theater, and how much of it do they have to fight for? Are disparities in pay (the so-called pay gap) and job opportunities merely a relic of the past, or a living reality of today’s theater scene? And what is the value of a career if it is to be pursued alongside parenthood, caregiving, and life itself?

This CED Talks discussion builds on the project DVACETjedna by author, performer, and director Miřenka Čechová, which connects the personal testimonies of twenty female directors with broader social commentary and explores the status of women in the arts. The production is followed indirectly by Nela Winkler’s sociological research Women in Czech Theater and Linda Arbanová’s documentary film mapping the experiences of the collaborating directors. What do these testimonies reveal about the state of contemporary theater? And is Czech theater truly an equal environment—or merely an environment that likes to see itself that way?

Guests Miřenka Čechová, Nela Winkler, and Anna Davidová will join the moderator Jakub Molnár in sharing insights from their professional experience, focusing on identifying opportunities that could pave the way for positive change.

Miřenka Čechová

Performer, choreographer, director, and writer, currently one of the most prominent figures in experimental dance and physical theater, active both in the Czech Republic and abroad. During her studies, she received a prestigious Fulbright scholarship for research and teaching at American University in Washington, D.C., where she established a new program in physical theater. As a performer, she has more than twenty full-length productions to her credit, many of which—mostly original works—have won major international awards (e.g., The Best of Contemporary Dance 2012 by The Washington Post, the Herald Angel Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Best Overseas Production at the International Arts Festival in South Africa, Best of Fringe at the Amsterdam Fringe Festival, and many others). As a director and choreographer, she has created more than fifteen full-length productions, often in international co-productions, such as Sniper’s Lake (in co-production with Baerum Kulturhus in Norway), Krevety á la Indigo (supported by a residency at Schloss Bröllin in Germany and in another version for Dixon Place, NYC), FAiTH (supported by a residency at the Atlas Performing Arts Center in Washington, D.C.), Vernisáž (produced by New Music Theater in Washington, D.C.), and Vivisectic (at the Center for Performance Research in Brooklyn and at Gibney Dance, New York). She has also directed several operas, including the production Opera and the French Revolution, for which she was commissioned by the American Baroque orchestra Opera Lafayette and which was performed at the Rose Theatre at Lincoln Center in New York and at the Lisner Auditorium in Washington, D.C. Based on her English-Czech fictional documentary Miss America (published by wo-men), she created a one-woman show of the same name, for which she was nominated for a Thálie Award, and for her second book, Baletky (Paseka), she received two nominations: for the European Union Prize for Literature and the Divadelní noviny Award for publishing achievement. As an academic, she has taught and lectured at several American universities (American University in Washington, D.C., the University of Tampa in Florida, Stephens College in Missouri, and she regularly works at Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania as a choreographer and instructor of creative dance). She is a co-founder of the theater groups Spitfire Company (with P. Boháč) and Tantehorse (with R. Vizváry) and the international festival Nultý bod. Recently, she has been focusing heavily on documentary dance theater (docu-dance), most recently the series Invisible about women artists; she curates the dance activism projects Emergency Dances and teaches the educational project Tantelab, which bridges the gap between the end of studies and the start of young creators’ professional careers. Her latest book, Co já? Co ty? is among the broader nominees for the Magnesia Litera Award.

Nela Winkler

Dancer, performer, and researcher working at the intersection of the arts, social sciences, and cultural policy. She graduated from the Prague Dance Conservatory with a degree in classical dance and subsequently spent several years as a member of the North Bohemian Opera and Ballet Theater. As a freelancer, she participates in Czech and international productions—including with the Opera of the National Theater and Apple TV.

At the Department of Applied Theatre Studies, under the supervision of Bojana Kunst, she explored the extent to which graduates from the post-socialist Czech environment are prepared for the challenges of the neoliberal market. At the Faculty of Arts of Charles University, under the supervision of Ondřej Slačálek, she is researching art as a space for cultural conflicts and social transformation.

Following up on Miřenka Čechová’s DVACETjedna project, she conducted a study titled “Women in Czech Theater,” which examines the representation of female directors and choreographers in both institutional and independent theater.

Anna Davidová

Studied drama directing in Peter Mikulík’s studio at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava. She graduated in 2008 with productions of Hedda Gabler and Casablanca. Even her earliest work on professional stages attracted attention for its vitality, dreamlike imagery, and atmosphere. She soon became one of the most prominent talents of her generation, and in 2010 she was nominated for the DOSKY Award for her production of Nora at the State Theater in Košice. She was also nominated twice for the Alfréd Radok Award as Talent of the Year, and in 2014 she won this award, which had been renamed the Theater Critics’ Award. Today, she has a long list of successful collaborations with leading Czech and Slovak theaters, such as Prague’s Dejvické divadlo, Divadlo Na zábradlí, Švandovo divadlo in Smíchov, the Slovak National Theater, the National Theater in Brno, the Moravian-Silesian National Theater, the Klicpera Theater in Hradec Králové, HaDivadlo, the Petr Bezruč Theater, the Municipal Theater in Zlín, the Slovácké divadlo, and others. The scope of her work is remarkably broad, ranging from more intimate productions at studio theaters (the Masopust Theater Company, A Studio Rubín, etc.) to Mozart’s opera Cosi fan tutte, which she directed at the National Theater in Brno in 2018 at the invitation of Jiří Heřman. She collaborated regularly with the Husa na provázku Theater before taking on the role of artistic director in 2012: with the company, she created the productions Tichý Tarzan (The Stolen Diaries of the Phantom of Erotic Photography), P-Š-T! or The Storytellers on Uncle Jedlička, Fidlowačka aneb Kde domov můj, and the acclaimed Vitka from 2018. As a director, Anna Davidová has also collaborated with Czech Radio Brno and taught at the Academy of Performing Arts (VŠMU). She joined Provázek as artistic director in 2019, and after maternity leave, she returned as a resident director for the 2024/25 season.

CED Cellar Stage
May 22, 2026
5:30–7:00 p.m.
Free admission