| Lenka Pichlíková – Burke | |
|---|---|
Lenka Pichlíková – Burke |
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| Born | July 28, 1954 Praha, Czechoslovakia |
| Occupation | Actress, Mime artist, University Professor, Translator |
| Spouse | Marcus B. Burke |
| Children | M. K. Francis Burke, Nicholas A. B. Burke (sons) |
| Parents | Karel Pichlík (father), Anna Hodková, born Málková (mother) |
Lenka Pichlíková – Burke (born July 28, 1954 at Prague) is an American actress of Czech descent, the seventh generation of her family to appear onstage since the eighteenth century. Her great-uncle was the noted national actor, Ladislav Pešek. While in Czechoslovakia, she performed on stage in many theatres, played in twelve films, and created over 40 television roles, rising to the rank of Advanced Master Artist. In addition to performing as a speaking actress, she was also involved professionally in classic pantomime. Since the 1980s she has resided in the United States. In the United States, she has performed onstage in speaking roles as well as in pantomime productions for more than 25 years. Since 1988, she has been a member of the Actors' Equity Association, the union which represents professional actors. In 2006 she was named the “Best Mime” of Fairfield County, Connecticut. She teaches performing arts, dramatic literature, and cultural history, and translates plays.
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In 1977, Lenka Pichlíková finished her studies at the Faculty of Theatre of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. She was a member of the Jiří Wolker Theatre company in Prague, where she had originally performed at the age of nine. She subsequently worked in the companies of the Theatre on the Balustrade, The Drama Club, and The Vinohrady Theatre in Prague, and performed as a guest artist in the National Theatre in Prague. Among her roles during this period was Petrunjela in Uncle Maroje by Marin Držić, and two roles in Insect Play by Karel and Josef Čapek (DISK Theatre – Faculty of Theatre), further Bianca in Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew (Jiří Wolker Theatre), Anna in Vladislav Vančura’s Peevish Summer (The Vinohrady Theatre), Anička in Josef Tajovský’s Women’s Law (The Drama Club). In addition to acting onstage, she was a member of Ladislav Fialka’s mime company at the Theatre on the Balustrade. She performed in a joint mime-acting production, Broom in Confusion, based on works by Molière (Milan Lukeš, Evald Schorm, and Ladislav Fialka, 1981).
During her career in Czechoslovakia, Lenka Pichlíková created over 40 television roles and performed in 12 Czech and European co-production feature films. The most successful of these was The Trumpet’s Song, directed by Ludvík Ráža, in which she played the main role. The film, originally produced for Czech television, won first prize (The Golden Nymph award) at the Festival de Télévision de Monte-Carlo in 1981. She also played in films by Karel Kachyňa (Meeting in July, Counting Sheep, Time for a Check-up, Otakar Vávra (Dark Sun), Viktor Polesný (Birthday – a film that was suppressed by the Czech communist officials), and in Jiří Krejčík’s and Evald Schorm’s comedies. For German television, she appeared in the series directed by Franz Peter Wirth, A Piece of Heaven (Ein Stück Himmel), which was based on the experiences of Janina Dawidowicz from the Warsaw ghetto; in Die Schmuggler von Rajgrod, directed by Konrad Petzold; and in several segments of the series, The Invisible Sight (Das Unsichtbare Visier), directed by Peter Hagen.
Since coming to the United States in 1982, Lenka Pichlíková has acted in both university and professional theaters, including productions accredited by the Actors' Equity Association. Her roles include Masha in Chekhov’s The Seagull (Theatre West, Fort Worth, Texas), Yelena in Uncle Vanya and Hilda in Ibsen’s The Master Builder (University Theater, Richardson, Texas), Lea in Wendy Kesselman’s My Sister in This House (Undermain Theater, Dallas, Texas), Joan in Bertolt Brecht’s Saint Joan of the Stockyards (Dance Theater Workshop, New York City), Ophelia in Müller’s Hamletmachine (Theater for the New City, New York City), and Tamara Sachs in Ronald Harwood’s Taking Sides (Stamford Theatre Works, Connecticut). Other roles include Rosebud in Natalie Needs a Nightie and Christina in Drop Zone (Kweskin Theater, Stamford).
Subsequently, Lenka Pichlíková studied with Marcel Marceau in the United States, and has performed as a mime in Mexico, France, Texas, New York, and throughout Connecticut. She was a member of the blacklight theatre company, Ta Fantastika, during their New York City period, 1982 – 1984 (the company is now located in Prague). In 1987, she performed as the lead narrator and mime in segments of The Magic Game, produced in Mexico and performed throughout the southwest United States. She has also created a character dance role, the Duchess, in the original ballet, Alice in Wonderland by Laurie Gage (East Coast Youth Ballet, Stamford). Her mimodrama, Medea, and her mime performance piece, Seven Deadly Sins and a Virtue (the latter inspired by the Baroque statues at the historical spa of Kuks, Czech Republic) have been presented in several states. Medea, for which she wrote, directed, and played the lead, was featured in Connecticut’s International Festival of Arts and Ideas in 2001. In 2006, she wrote and performed in the one-person drama, Three Women of Faith, based on the lives of the Abbess Hildegard of Bingen, Queen Sofia of Bavaria (protector of the church reformer, Jan Hus), and Katherine von Bora Luther (Martin Luther’s wife and co-worker). In 2006, she was named the Best Mime of Fairfield County, Connecticut by the area news media.
Lenka Pichlíková has more recently devoted herself to creating her own projects, including one-person shows, mimodramas, and schools performances. She currently performs her one-woman shows as a member of Healing Arts, a therapeutic arts project based in Connecticut and New York. She has also offered hundreds of interactive schools performances and shows for young audiences, including Mother Goose and Time for Mime, as well as shared her talents in workshops and arts enrichment programs under the sponsorship of the Connecticut Commission for Culture and Tourism. In addition, she has directed children’s theater, including productions in elementary schools, most recently Willie Wonka Jr. (Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory). She is a recognized master artist listed by the Connecticut Commission for Culture and Tourism. Lenka Pichlíková teaches performing arts, dramatic literature, and cultural history at the State University of New York at Purchase, Fairfield University in Connecticut, and other colleges, as well as in the School of Performing Arts of Stamford Theatre Works, a professional acting company, also in Connecticut. She also translated plays (Joyce Carol Oates, Tone Clusters and Eclipse, from In Darkest America) from English into Czech.
This article is partially based on translation from Czech Wikipedia.