Stefanie’s star
Continues to rise
A MALLOW woman widely regarded as being one of Ireland’s most talented young writers and actors has been honoured by her home county with the prestigious Cork Person of the Month award for August.
At the tender age of 29, Stefanie Priessner has achieved more than most people manage in a lifetime – and she is far from finished yet as she continues to blaze a trail in her hugely successful and prolific career.
A former pupil at St Mary’s Secondary School in Mallow, Stefanie went on to graduate from UCC with a BA in Drama and Theatre Studies and Spanish. While at UCC she wrote her first two plays ‘Cinderella?’ and ‘Word Play’, both of which were subsequently performed by Lightbulb Youth Theatre to an audience of the European Council for Youth.
During a visit to her former school last year Stefanie spoke to senior students about her career as a writer, admitting that the lack of Irish girls represented on Irish television had inspired her to write a TV show that reflected her own experience.
From that kernel of an idea grew the hugely successful six-part comedy/drama series ‘Can’t Cope, Won’t Cope’ that she wrote and starred in, and which premièred on RTE last September.
The success of the show saw Stefanie, who was already considered by many to be one of the most insightful and influential writers of her generation, commissioned to write further series for RTE and Channel 4. In between, she has also found the time to develop screen projects with UK-based Parallel Films.
Her one-woman show ‘Solpadeine Is My Boyfriend’ enjoyed sold-out runs in Dublin and toured the UK, Australia and Bucharest before being turned into a radio play that went on to become RTE’s most downloaded podcast to date.
Stefanie is also set to released a semi-autobiographical book in October, which will also give an insight into her formative years growing up in Mallow.
Alongside her career as a writer and playwright Stefanie, who graduated from the Gaiety School of Acting in 2012, has been nominated for a number of acting awards, was nominated for the Tatler ‘Woman of the Year’ award in Film and Drama and won the 2016 Irish Screen America ‘Rising Star’ award.
Much in demand as a guest lecturer in Irish universities, Stefanie regularly contributes to publications at home and abroad, with her work also the subject of a chapter in the 2015 Women in Ireland publication ‘Radical Contemporary Theatre Practices.
Cork Person of the Year award organiser and fellow Mallow native Manus O’Callaghan said Stefanie was a worthy winner of the August award.
“Stefanie’s meteoric rise in the entertainment business has been phenomenal and she is well on her way to becoming an international star,” said Mr O’Callaghan.
“I think it’s fair to say that she represents a generational shift in how material is written and developed for TV and she’s a fantastic ambassador, not only for Ireland but also for her native Mallow,” he added.
She will go forward for possible selection as the 2017 the Cork Person of the Year, the winner of which will be unveiled at a gala awards ceremony in January.