Troupe

Stage director. Founder, artistic director and stage director of Theatre Laboratory Sfumato, since 1989.

Professor at the National Academy of Theatre and Film Arts, Sofia.

More than 150 mises-en-scène for drama theatre, TV and Opera, based on texts of Bulgarian, Russian and West European classics and Bulgarian contemporary playwrights, as  the mises-en-scene at “Ivan Vazov” National Theatre after Y. Radichkov, G. Buchner, S. Beckett, H. Muller, K. Iliev, etc.

Creations in Sfumato:
2015 Program “Terminal 2: A Book for Incineration”, by Ivan Dobchev and Georgi Tenev;  2012 "Medea – my mother",   by Ivan Dobchev and Stephan Ivanov, co-directed with Margarita Mladenova;2011  Program Shakespeare: "Wittenberg Revisited", by Ivan Dobchev and Georgi Tenev; 2009 “OOOO - The Dream of Gogol”, after “Nevsky Prospect”, “Marriage”, “Ivan Fiodorovich Shponka and his Aunt” and “Diary of a Madman” by Gogol (co-directed with Margarita Mladenova); 2008  “Birth Mark” by Nickolay Koliada: 2008  “Lazarus and Jesus”, after the Apokrypha by Emilian Stanev, by Ivan Dobchev; 2007  Program Strindberg “To Damascus: “Strindberg in Damascus”, based on “The Road to Damascus” by Ivan Dobchev and Georgi Tenev; 2006 Program “Exit: Astapovo Station”, based on documents and texts of Lev Tolstoy, with  choreographers Marco Canteluppo and Katarjina Gdaniek /Switzerland; 2004   Program Dostoevsky “The Valley of the Dead Shadow: Ivan“, premiere at Théâtre de la Tempête, Paris, France; 2002 “Born in Vetil”, author’s performance after poems and texts of A.Ilkov, G.Gospodinov and  K.Yanakiev; 2000 “The Black Fleece“, author’s performance, co-directed with Margarita Mladenova; 1999    “Nirvana”, by Konstantin Iliev; 1998 Program“Myths”: “Tiresias The Blind One”, after the myth for Œdipus;  1997 Program “Archetypes: “Apocrypha” author’s performance, co-directed with Margarita Mladenova, premiere at Théâtre de la Manufacture, Nancy, France ;  1996   Program Chekhov: “Uncle Vania”, by Chekhov; 1995   Program Radichkov: “Icarus Fall”, after Bergman and Radichkov; 1994   Program Yovkov: “The Sin Called Kutzar”, after Yordan Yovkov; 1990 “Words towards B.”, after  Beckett and B. Papazov; 1989   “Evidences about Light in the Time of  Pest”, after Pushkin and P. Atanassov; 1989   “Seagull”, after Chekhov, co-directed with Margarita Mladenova                                                                             

Creations in France co-directed by Margarita Mladenova and Ivan Dobchev
1997   “Little Pouchkine” , premiere at Theatre de Mâcon; 1997   “Blood Weddding” by Lorca, The Conservatory, Paris; 1996 “The Cherry Orchard”, by Chekhov, creation for The Avignon ’96 Festival
                                                                          
Margarita Mladenova and Ivan Dobchev participate regularly with their creations in Sfumato at Bulgarian theatre forums and have attended also international festivals as: The Autumn Festival in Paris, Festival “Passages”, Nancy,  Avignon Festival, France; Luxembourg – European Capital of Culture, “Ohrid  Summer”, Macedonia; Sibiu festival, Romania; Bonner Biennale, Teater der Welt, Berlin, Foire de Leipzig, Summer Festival of Hamburg, Germany; Mittelfest, Cividale, Festival “Migrations” of Piccolo Teatro di Milano, Italy; San Marino Stage Festival; MESS Festival, Sarajevo, Bosnia&Herzegovina; Festival of Small Forms, Rijeka, Croatia; Spring Arts Festival, Shizuoka, Japan; Festival “Ex Ponto”, Ljubljana, Slovenia; Christmas Festival, Novosibirsk, Russia; Festival “FIAT”, Serbia and Monte Negro; International Theatre Festival, Bucharest, Festival “Interferences”, Cluj,  Romania; The Theatre at the Fortress Festival, Seoul, Korea;

Their performances are presented also at Hebbel Theater, Berlin;  Culturgest, Lisbon; Theatre of Nations, Meyerhold Art Center, Moscow;  Komisarjevska Theatre, St.Petersburg; Theatre Studio, Warsaw; Theatre de la Tempete, Paris, National Stage “Le Parvis”, Tarbes,  National Stage “Le Trident”, Cherbourg, National Theatre Strasburg /TNS/, etc.

International workshops of Margarita Mladenova and Ivan Dobchev

2014 Workshop "Words for Love, Separation and Death", after letters of celebrities, with French actors, National Theatre of Bretagne, France; 2013 Workshop "Chekhov – Oncle Vania", with american actors, Shakespeare&Co. Theatre,Lenox, MA, USA; 2010 Workshop “With Dostoevsky”, with students of the Strasburg National Theatre School; 2010  Workshop "To Travel or to Descend", with Bulgarian and Swedish actors, in the frame of the project "SEAS. Black / North", Balchik-Sofia; 2008   SEAS Black/North Workshop “Human, All Too Human”, with actors from 8 countries, Balchik; 2006   Workshop 25++ “From the Outside to the Inside”, with actors from 8 countries, Sofia; 2003 - Workshops with students of Theatre Dept., NY University, “International Summer - 2005  Theatre Festival”, Varna; 2001    Workshop “Chekhov through Sfumato Poetics”, with students of Theatre Dept., St. Deny University, Paris; 1998 Workshop on “Seagull”, Chekhov, with students of Drama Dept. of New York University, Varna; 1997 Workshop on letters by A. Pushkin, with French actors, Théâtre de la Tempete, Paris; 1997 Workshop on “Small Tragedies”, by A. Pushkin, with French actors, de la  Colline, Paris; Theatre de Niort; 1997 Workshop on “Blood Wedding”, by Lorca, with students of the National Conservatory of Drama, Paris;  1996 Workshop on “Cherry Orchard“, with French actors, Paris; 1995 Workshop on “Seagull”, Chekhov, with French actors, Theatre Paris Villette

Lectures abroad
2001    “Sfumato – Poetics and Theatre Strategy“,  Sorbonne, Paris
1999    “Sfumato Poetics”, East-West Laboratory, Hamburg
1996    “Chekhov through Sfumato Poetics”, Academy of Modern Arts, Paris

Awards and Acknowledgements
Both Mladenova and Dobchev have been awarded with all major Bulgarian Theatre Awards for more then 20 of their creations. She has won three times the prize “Askeer” for the best production of the year. Their performances have also international awards from Croatia, Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina.