Pepa Plana has been distinguished this Thursday by the Ministry of Culture and Sports with the National Circus Award 2022, endowed with 30,000 euros, "for being a pioneer in putting women at the center of circus creation and, specifically, in the field Clown".
The jury, chaired by the director general of the National Institute of Performing Arts and Music (INAEM), Joan Francesc Marco, also underlined the contribution and "innovation of clownish language" of actress and clown Pepa Plana (Valls, Tarragona). 1965).
Plana is the soul and artistic director of the company that bears her name. The Pepa Plana Company is a national and European benchmark in the genre for the quality of its shows and for its contribution to the visualization of clowns. Plana is also the artistic director of the International Festival of Pallasses d'Andorra, an outstanding event in the circus field.
Graduated from the Institut del Teatre de Barcelona in 1989, after her first steps in the sector she participated in the founding of the company Preterit Perfecte, with which they produced three shows.
In 1998 he created his own company with the aim of doing clown theater for adult audiences. He has performed 12 shows with her, including De Pe a Pa (1998), Giulietta (2000), Hatzàrdia (2004), L'atzar (2004) and Penèlope (2010).
As of 2011, he inaugurates a new stage in his professional career linked to outstanding artists in the sector. In Èxode (2011) she shares the stage for the first time with two other renowned clowns: Joan Montanyès 'Monti' and Joan Valentí 'Nan'.
In 2012 and 2013 he collaborated with Cirque du Soleil in the creation and tour of the show Amaluna. After this experience, she continued production with his company in the shows Despistats (2014), Paraíso Pintado (2016) and Suite (2017). In "Voces que no ves" (2019) she incorporates for the first time a clown duo that becomes a trio in Si tú te vas (2022).
His shows have also toured Europe and Latin America and his work has been recognized with numerous awards, such as the 2014 National Culture Prize, awarded by the Generalitat de Catalunya.
Recent winners of this National Award include María Mercedes Ochoa ("Merche Ochoa") in 2014, the Union of Professionals and Friends of the Circus Arts (UPAAC) in 2015, Miguel Ángel Moreno (Bolo) in 2016, Rolabola Circo in 2017, Consuelo Reyes in 2018, Ateneu Nou Barris Association in 2019, Los Excentricos in 2020 and Manolo Alcántara in 2021.
