Stephan Prattes was born in Vienna and lives in Berlin. He studied stage and costume design at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz, took a master class with Hans Schavernoch and has assisted Martin Kusej, Christoph Schlingensief, Christian Stückl, Martin Zehetgruber and others. In 1988, he founded and directed the Austrian children's and youth theater "MKT-THEATER" in Graz, acting as Director, Set Designer and Composer. Stephan Prattes designs the sets for the legendary Swiss-German comedy trio "die Geschwister Pfister". Since 1998 he has worked as a freelance costume and set designer and director in cities across Austria, Germany and Switzerland. These include Schauspiel and Opernhaus Graz, Bühnen Köln, Schauspiel Frankfurt, Bar jeder Vernunft Berlin, Salzburger Landestheater, Theater Bern, Theater Aachen, Staatstheater Kassel, Staatstheater Braunschweig, Salzburger Landestheater, Wintergarten Berlin, Festspiele Bad Hersfeld, Staatstheater Saarbrücken, Haus für Mozart-Salzburg, the Ruhrtriennale, Berlin's Komische Oper, and Vienna's Kammerspiele der Josefstadt, Volksoper, and Vereinigte Bühnen Wien - Ronacher & Raimund Theaters.

As a stage designer he regularly works with directors such as Nicolai Sykosch, Stefan Huber, Andreas Gergen, Christian Struppeck, and Werner Sobotka. Most recently, he worked with star choreographer and director Vincent Paterson on the new European version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical EVITA at Vienna's Ronacher Theater. In 2017, he designed the stage set for the world premiere of I AM FROM AUSTRIA, by Rainhard Fendrich, at Vienna's Raimund Theater. As a director, he also developed and staged the successful production "Am Rande der Nacht" in Berlin's Wintergarten - a celebrity variety show hosted by Katharine Mehrling. He also developed and staged his Japan revue "SAYONARA TOKYO", which celebrated its critically acclaimed premiere at the Berlin Wintergarten on July 19, 2017 and won the Berlin award for "SHOW OF THE YEAR 2017".

For the world premiere of I AM FROM AUSTRIA at Vienna's Raimund Theater, Stephan Prattes was nominated for the 2019 Austrian Music Theater Award. In the summer of 2022, Stephan Prattes launched his entertainment company ZIRKUS PRATTES. The venue in Graz, Austria, opened in summer 2022 and hosts concerts, theater, cabaret & comedy and jazz events, as well as circus performances, of course.