Petr Štědroň

Managing director of the Na zábradlí Theatre since the 2013/2014 season.

Since 2021, he has also worked as the director of the Prague Theatre Festival of the German Language, where he had previously served as dramaturge since 2001 and chief dramaturge since 2009. On August 1, 2028, he will become the general director of the National Theatre Brno.

Before joining the Na zábradlí Theatre, he served as artistic director of the Reduta Theatre in Brno from 2007 to 2013. From 2004 to 2007 he was a dramaturge for the Mahen Dramatic Theatre Company at the National Theatre Brno. For several years, he also taught externally at FFMU, FFUK, DAMU, and JAMU.

Petr Štědroň has long been dedicated to translating German-language literature and drama. He has translated dozens of plays and prose works by authors such as Judith Hermann, George Tabori, Dea Loher, Roland Schimmelpfennig, Peter Handke, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Botho Strauss, Peter Turrini, Marius von Mayenburg, Wolfram Lotz, and Armin Petras. In 2014, he was nominated for the Josef Jungmann Award for his translation of Wilhelm Genazin’s novel The Shoe Tester of Frankfurt.

He studied German language and literature and art history at the Faculty of Arts at Masaryk University. During his studies, he spent time at universities in Regensburg, Leipzig, and Vienna. As a doctoral student in German Studies, he received a scholarship from the Robert Bosch Foundation and focused on the topic of George Tabori and Holocaust-related drama at the University of Regensburg. For his outstanding achievements in his doctoral studies, he received the Masaryk University Rector’s Prize in 2004 and the MU Small Bronze Medal in 2019.

The Na zábradlí Theatre and Me
We are a theatre that strives to challenge the audience with new perspectives; we seek out themes that speak to the present day, stir emotions, and invite reflection and resonance. We view theatre as the supreme realm of art, but also as a social platform that comments on the state of society, our surroundings, and the world… Naturally, I have a very deep and intimate connection to the Na zábradlí Theatre; it’s like the person closest to me, whom I think about constantly. There are countless memories and experiences; the most powerful ones are probably connected to our international tours to Bogotá, New York, and Berlin, but they’re always tied to the people from Zábradlí; the actors, the technical crew, my colleagues… That’s where I feel a deep sense of closeness.

It’s certainly a cliché, but in my eyes, my greatest achievement is my son. I value my inquisitive, critical thinking, and perhaps also my diligence and tenacity. I would value myself even more if I were better educated, more diligent, and had learned at least one more language well.