22 August 2017
By Bryan T. Smyth
bryan@TheCork.ie
At the age of 29, Mallow native, Stefanie Preissner’s star is in the ascendant as she continues to blaze a trail in her writing career. The latest in a string of accolades is being named ‘Cork Person of the Month’ for August.
Already considered one of the most influential voices of her generation, RTE commissioned Stefanie’s first TV series, ‘Can’t Cope, Won’t Cope’ which aired successfully last year. The six-part comedy-drama series received rave reviews and placed the Cork woman very much in the media spotlight. She has now been commissioned for more series from RTE and Channel 4. She has a semi-autobiographical book coming out this October which also includes her growing-up years in Mallow. Her one-woman theatre show, ‘Solpadeine Is My Boyfriend’ enjoyed sell-out runs in Dublin, before touring internationally to Bucharest, Edinburgh and Australia. As a radio play, it became RTE’s most downloaded podcast.
Manus O’Callaghan, Organiser of the ‘Cork Person of the Year’ Awards said, “Stefanie’s meteoric rise in the entertainment business has been phenomenal and she is well on her way to becoming an international star. 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.”
Alongside her career as a screenwriter and playwright, Stefanie has been nominated for several awards as an actor. She graduated from University College, Cork with a BA in Drama and Theatre Studies and Spanish. Her work has also been explored in a chapter of Radical Contemporary Theatre Practices by Women in Ireland (Careysfort Press, 2015).
Stefanie, who won a rising star award from Irish Screen America in October last year, was also nominated for ‘Tatler’s Woman of the Year’ in Film and Drama. She has given guest lectures in a number of Ireland’s leading universities – at University College, Cork and in Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology. She regularly contributes to a range of well-known publications in Ireland and abroad.
As winner of the August monthly award, Stefanie Preissner’s name will go forward, with the other monthly winners, for possible selection as ‘Cork Person of the Year 2017’. The overall winner will be unveiled at a Gala Awards Lunch in mid January 2018.
