Madamme M.

MADAMME M. The word Michelin evokes associations to various things. Some people imagine the high-quality French tyres, others the chubby little man from the tyre company’s logo, others exclaim “oh”, remembering their visit to a Michelin-starred restaurant. Quite similar thoughts came to our mind when we discovered the story of Ms Marie-Marguerite Michelin, a prisoner of the Holýšov concentration camp in the Domažlice region.

This production is not a re-enactment of the actual events. Rather, we want to capture the unique female voice, show the contrast between elegance and the very bottom of humanity, the personal experience of balancing on the edge of life and death day by day, the sense of meaninglessness and hopelessness.

We are looking for the imprints of hope, which really never dies. We offer echoes of personal testimony, yearning to sing a poem.

Trees here were pitiful, light was harsh, and I missed the softness and mysterious charm of Jura. The sky here was beautiful. (M. M. Michelin)

JOHAN &… is a creative platform focusing on creation and presenting original shows; it falls under the Johan centre production and has been closely linked to the Moving Station cultural space since 2015. The “Johan &...” creative platform invites creators to collaborate on pressing topics and supports artistic research focused on contemporary social issues that are concretely imprinted in the local context.

ROMAN ČERNÍK is the curator and dramaturge of “Johan &...”. Since 2015, the following projects been prepared within the “Johan &...” platform: The Iron Road (Johan & Teatr Ósmego Dnia, 2015), Internet of Things (Johan & Jiří Honzírek, 2017), I Walk Over Your Graves (Johan & Jakub Čermák, 2018), And Where Do You Live? (Johan & Zuzana Burianová, 2019), 30 Days (Moving Theatre; Johan & Debora Štysová, Tinka Avramova, 2020), Gross Domestic Product (Johan & Jiří Honzírek, 2021), The Trojan Women (Johan & Depresivní děti, Jakub Čermák, 2022 – the production won the Art Award of the City of Pilsen for a major cultural event of the year), Bouquet vol. 2 (Johan & Petr Vydarený, 2023), and last year’s piece Landscape with Warehouses (Johan & Tiger in Distress, 2024). The projects of the “Johan &...” platform have received support from the Statutory City of Pilsen and the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic.

JITKA DOUBRAVOVÁ (1976) Performer, freely crossing the boundaries between the various forms of “art”. As a child, she attended classes at the House studio in Brno – attached to the Goose on a String Theatre – led by Eva Tálská. She studied video–multimedia–performance at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Brno and theatre anthropology at AMU; she graduated in acting at the DAMU Department of Alternative and Puppet Theatre under Ivan Rajmont in 2002. She completed an internship at the Theatre Faculty of the Utrecht School of Arts (HKU). She has collaborated with the mamapapa company on the projects Demolition, Boiler Plant, etc., with the Blast Theory group (UK) on the project Desert Rain, and with the Continuo and Karromato theatre companies. She participated in the artistic coaching workshop (MAPA-NL). During the 2003 Prague Quadrennial, she participated in the dance project Tower of Touch with Carol Brown (UK). She graduated from DAMU with the production Maria Sabina (directed by Ondřej David), and she created her own shows Everything is as simple as it is complicated, solo movement performance Angles, and a multimedia online show Crossing the River. She is a co-founder of the TEArTR RAJDO theatre group, where she has prepared and has presented her original shows for children and adults since 2001. She worked as a program dramaturge of theatre for children and schools at the Bazilika association (ČB) and participated in the international project Vagrant commedia (IT, PT, HUN, CZ). In 2009 she joined the SVATOBOR choir in Sušice. After her maternity leave, she worked as the director of the Municipal Cultural Centre in Sušice (2012–2013), which she transformed into the Sušice Cultural Centre SIRKUS. She also founded the Rašelina cultural association, focusing on artistic and community projects in the Šumava region. As a coordinator and lecturer, she helped to prepare the Creativity for Schools project and was the head of educational projects at Post Bellum (Memory of the Nation). Currently, she works as an editor and reporter at Czech Radio Pilsen.

ROMAN ČERNÍK (1964) Teacher, artist, organiser and activist, dedicated to connecting alternative art and education. Having completed his initial education as a Czech language teacher, he taught at schools in the westernmost border regions (Sokolov, Kraslice, Aš), where he proactively founded cultural associations and prepared a number of artistic events. He studied drama and education at the DAMU Theatre Faculty in Prague (DAMU), and also theatre anthropology, where social ecologist Bohuslav Blažek and stage designer Jaroslav Malina inspired his further artistic focus. He graduated from the Theatre Faculty at the Department of Authorial Creativity and Pedagogy under Ivan Vyskočil. Since 1998, he has worked as a university teacher at the Department of Pedagogy of the Faculty of Education of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, where he established and led the Studio of Drama Education between 1999 and 2023. Currently, he also teaches at the DAMU Department of Drama in Education. Between 2011 and 2014, he taught at the former Department of Cultural Studies at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University. Between 2005 and 2007, he was the head of the Department of Culture at the Pilsen City Hall and co-drafted Pilsen’s application for the 2015 European Capital of Culture, which was granted. In 1998, he co-founded the JOHAN centre for cultural and social projects and closely participated in the creation of the Moving Station open communication space at an old Pilsen railway station, of which he is now the artistic director. His creative work (directing, dramaturgy, performance) is connected with the activities of the independent theatre community TYAN (e.g. TYAN: Waste Land, 2022; Roman Sikora and TYAN: Antigone – Departure!, 2004; The Comedian of God, 2011; About Dolfi and Vlasta, 2014). He has contributed significantly to a number of site-specific projects (with the mamapapa company: 2000 Jičín, 2001 Šonov, 2002 Bechyně, with the Johan centre in Pilsen between 2000 2014 at Moving Station Pilsen, 2002 Chotěšov, 2004 Aš, 2019 Zúročení project 1989–2019 Pilsen, 2020 and 2021 Barokní dech Festival Všekary).