Prague, March 18 – 22 2017
The program offered 15 productions, 1 workshop and 2 discussions. The event was organized by the Art Institute – Theater Institute / Czech ASSITEJ Centre in Prague and the Association for creative drama in collaboration with the Theater in Celetná and KD Mlejn.
The puppet director and pedagogue Michaela Homolová received the ASSITEJ prize.
The festival celebrating the World Day of Theater for Children and Youth (March 20) included a program of fifteen productions of professional, independent and children’s theater groups for a wide range of viewers. For example – for the smallest was the show Ugly Duckling, for schools there was The Charles´ New Town performed by the Theatre Bo?ivoj (it was a specific workshop and also a beautiful example of Theater in education). We did not forget the family performances Biograph of Cirk La Putyka (with this performance we were to bring back the atmosphere of black and white silent films accompanied by a single pianist, a snack-break and lots of wonderful heroes. Large, small, invisible, imaginative, haunting, thanks to the many years that had passed since their birth, also delicate and unique).
Among the highlights of the festival were Naive Theater Liberec, which presented Bohemia lies by the sea (Let’s do it again – close your eyes and imagine the following: like one million years ago, Bohemia is once again under water. The long-standing dream of contemporary Czech landsmen, to have a sea, has finally come true. Water – sea water, in particular – brings a lot of stories) and The DRAK Theater with beautiful productions of The white doe (A daughter is born to a royal couple, she was kind and pretty and would have brought only joy to her parents if she didn’t have a strange threat looming over her).
For teenagers and students there were productions inspired by George Orwel, Christian Morgenstern and Ernst Jandl (performed by students groups KUK! and Vydýcháno). Theater Kaspar performed scenic fragment of works by Fyodor Dostoyevsky Night is tender.
Mrs. Michaela Homolová (1972) became the recipient of the Czech Center ASSITEJ Award 2017. With this prize Czech ASSITEJ Centre awards personalities who have contributed to the development of theater for children and youth in the country. Director, actress and pedagogue Michaela Homolová was awarded for systematic development of children’s theater (in her production many famous performances of Naïve Theatre were created (About the Lamb That Fell from the Sky – a puppet play for the youngest preschool children with live music and a minimum of words, Budulínek – a fairy-tale about listening, Bohemia Lies by the Sea – which all were presented during the recent editions of ASSITEJ Festival). But she is also a pedagogue and this prize was awarded to her especially for focused and successful activity in the field of theater played by children. Her production Once in Chelm … last year was presented successfully at the World Festival of Children’s Theater in Stratford, Canada.
During the festival two meetings were held – a discussion with Michaela Homolová and the debate about characteristics and development in the field of performing arts for children and youth in the Czech Republic.
Festival was visited by more than 2 thousand spectators.
