Archa Theatre – February 7 & 8 / 8:00 p.m.

What does it mean to be in exile? How does exile change a person? What is exile? When does it end? What is the difference between a refugee, an expat, a deportee and an emigrant? Don’t all of us live within some borders?

These and other questions are raised in the solo dance performance Bastard, the first part of a trilogy of projects by Slovak-born New York choreographer Pavel Zuštiak, which explores themes of uprootedness, transformation and otherness, and is inspired by Jerzy Kosiński’s controversial novel The Painted Bird.

“Vinasky is piercing … Frederickson’s score bracing… ‘Bastard’ is searing.”
THE NEW YORK TIMES

“A violent tale, tenderly told: ‘Bastard’ earns its emotional extremity – with tenderness and quiet.”
FINANCIAL TIMES

“A vivid, often anguished imagination shines through in [Zustiak's] work.”
THE NEW YORKER

Concept and choreography: Pavel Zuštiak
Dancer and co-author: Jaro Viňarský
Music composed and performed by: Christian Frederickson
Produced by: Palissimo Inc. (USA)
Co-produced by: Stanica Žilina-Záriečie (SK), Institut Jerzyho Grotowského (PL), La Mama Etc. (USA)

Tickets: CZK 290 / students and seniors CZK 190

http://www.archatheatre.cz/en/

During the 1 hour “Puppets as Performers” workshop, the members of this highly acclaimed British theatre company will share their approach to working with puppets with the participants who will then have the opportunity to try it for themselves.

‘The Wordcatcher’ is a bizarre tale of something and nothing, of sound and of silence both in the heart and in the mind. The Wordcatcher sees its characters try to fix things in place that don’t fit together and through the expert use of miscommunication, the audience will witness how the holes and gaps in this story fill a void rather than leave one.

More information about timing and tickets is here or you can email PFTC for tickets.

We are still looking for musicians, so if you or someone you know plays clarinet, trumpet, french horn or double bass, please get in touch with us!

The production will be IN ENGLISH, but all nationalities are welcome to audition. It is a great chance to work on a musical with experienced director, vocal coach and choreographer Steve Josephson, who will be coming to Prague to direct. Rehearsals should start March/April and the performances will be June/July 2012. At this point, all roles are open for audition. A list of roles and their vocal ranges (along with other information about the show) is here: http://www.mtishows.com/show_detail.asp?showid=000075 (select “casting” for the roles). The Beggar Woman, Beadle, Pirelli will also be included in the ensemble. We are especially looking for trained ensemble singers who can handle singing in harmony to sing in the chorus.

Auditions will be the week of February 15.
Callbacks will likely be the 18.2 or 19.2.

Please prepare: 2 songs: 1 ballad (slow), 1 uptempo (fast) for the audition. The songs should NOT be from SWEENEY TODD (but other Sondheim shows are welcome) and should show off your vocal range and interpretation. If you have any questions or to schedule an audition, please either email brian@pragueplayhouse.com or SMS/call 608 577 012.

Please pass this on to others who may be interested!

The well-known open-mic talent night and charity event SHOOT YOUR MOUTH is now being produced by experimental theatre company AKANDA in cooperation with the IRON CURTAIN Propaganda pub. Shoot Your Mouth was originally founded in 2009 by Nina Bressler who, until recently, organized the event on a monthly basis at the Iron Curtain. When Bressler realized that due to other professional obligations she no longer had time to devote to the event, she approached Mélanie Rada and Jeff Fritz, Akanda’s co-producers, and asked them to take over Shoot Your Mouth. They agreed it was an excellent idea, and the first all-new Shoot Your Mouth will happen next month on the stage of Iron Curtain with a portion of the proceeds going to support the charity My.Water.Org.

In the last months of 2012, Shoot Your Mouth will appear twice:

Sunday 6 November and Sunday 4 December,
adm.50 kc

Both shows will begin precisely at 19:30 at Iron Curtain – Propaganda pub
Michalská 12, Praha 1

For more information please visit our website

http://www.shootyourmouth.com

Full details about the production are available at http://christmascarol.pragueplayhouse.com!

Auditions will be on Sunday 18.9. between 14:00 and 16:30 hrs. (2 to 4:30 pm) at the Prague Playhouse Acting Studio, Frantiska Krizka 1, 3rd floor in Prague 7. Please prepare a one-minute-monologue and a christmas carol to show your ability to tell a story through the song! To schedule an audition, please text/call Laura on 776 605 227!

We are doing something a little different with this one: We are going to have a small cast of players which will function as something like a Greek chorus: They will sing 19th century christmas carols as mood/commentary on what is going on in the play. When the scenes require it, they will step out of the chorus and act all of the characters in the play (besides Scrooge). It should be fun and challenging ensemble work for actor/singers.

We are looking forward to seeing you at the auditions!

• Unlocking Shakespeare with Guy Roberts. This workshop will delve into Shakespeares text and give you a solid basis for starting to work on the text as an actor. This workshop will expand on the weekend Guy spent in October by allowing for time to put the work on the text into practice by getting students up and working on several speeches. Guy Roberts is the artistic director of the Prague Shakespeare Festival and has acted in and directed many Shakespeare plays. He has taught this workshop around the United States including at Princeton University. The workshop will be June 3, 4 and 5th (Friday 18:00 – 22:00, Saturday and Sunday 10:00 – 14:00). The workshop costs 3.000 Kc.
• On Camera Workshop with Nancy Bishop. Nancy Bishop, Prague’s premiere casting director for Hollywood films with more than 40 movies under her belt, is bringing her On Camera Workshop back to Prague with a special price for locals. Her workshop will cover how to interact with the camera, how to make choices that work on camera, how to take direction and much more. This two day workshop runs July 18 and 19 and costs 4.000 Kc.
• Intensive Summer Acting with Brian Caspe. This two week workshop will cover acting fundamentals and give beginning actors a foundation in the craft of acting. As an intensive course, the Summer Acting Intensive will allow students the opportunity to really focus on the acting: listening, forming a connection to their partner, being able to be open to what’s going on around them. This approach to acting is extremely well suited to working on camera as it removes any sense that the actor is “acting” but rather “being”. The course will run from July 20 – 31 from 10:00 – 17:00 (including a 1 hour break). The course costs 6.450 Kc.

To sign up for the courses, please contact Brian at brian@pragueplayhouse.com

At long last a word from me, Boris Wilke, alumni of Brian Caspe’s Prague Playhouse Acting Studio.

I’d like to invite you all to go see plays at the Prague Fringe this year, which will start this coming Friday, May 27th. For nine days more than 40 plays will be performed in nine venues. The style will vary wildly. But all will be a fresh alternative to traditional theater. The price of 150 Crowns for each play should also be enticing.

I will be in a play, too. It’s called “Hotel Red Cello“. It’s a collage of monologues full of desire, clashes between these soliloquizing loners that really long to be with someone and video-projections that combine all the elements into a juicy whole.

If you want to know a little more, read on!

We will perform in the Trick-Bar on the second floor of the Malostranské beseda (Malostranské náměstí 21 
Malá Strana, Praha 1; Nearest Metro – Malostranská and Anděl; Trams – 12,20,22 to Malostranská naměstí).

Our days will be the 2nd, 3rd and 4th of June from 17.30 to 18.30 hours (, i.e. the last three days of the Fringe from Thursday onwards).

This is a link to “Hotel Red Cello” on the official website. Click here! And click here for our presence on facebook!

Genre: Music, comedy, video/Text based but visual/adult material

Welcome to “Hotel Red Cello” with its unique panache of eccentric hotel residents; their confessions, accompanied by some delicious live music. The hotel with the sonorous name conceals a collection of ‘PLEASE DON’T DISTURB!’-rooms overridden with self-spreading rumors and weird story-yarn spun by even more peculiar hotel-employees… Let yourselves be led into a cesspool of desire!

If you think that this might something for you, feel free to reserve tickets through the Fringe-website!

For more information, also on how to reserve tickets directly via “Ticket Stream” or through Markus Nieden, the play’s director, please study the poster further up in this blog-entry!

PS: Last, but not least, here you can go to a website that features Nicola Pavone’s video-art on “Hotel Red Cello”.

Get on our mailing list for news ahead of time about upcoming productions: we should be producing a show in the Fall and we don’t want you to miss out!