Show History

La MaMa Ellen Stewart Theatre / Nov 21-Dec 8, 2024
Director: Vít Hořejš
Assistant Director/Producer: Bonnie Sue Stein
Music Composed by Avi Fox-Rosen (AFR) with help from Izzy
Music arrangements by AFR with the band and cast
Lyrics adapted by AFR from the book “Conference of the Birds” by Peter Sis
Choreography: Martha Tornay with the cast
Scenic Design: Tom Lee and Theresa Linnihan
Project Illustrations by Peter Sis, from his book “Conference of the Birds”
Costumes: Michelle Beshaw
inspired by Farid us-Din Attar’s 12th century Sufi poem

Cast
Deborah Beshaw-Farrell, Michelle Beshaw, Vít Hořejš, Theresa Linnihan, Gage Morgan, Sammy Rivas, Sarazina Stein, Emily LaRochelle
and a few special guests....

The Fowl Play Band
Avi Fox-Rosen, guitar + voice
Rima Fand, violin + keys + voice
Eleonore Weill, flutes + keys + voice
Jesse Chevan, drums + percussion

illustration by Peter Sis

Czechoslovak American Marionette Theatre (CAMT) is produced by GOH Productions, a nonprofit organization and receives public funds New York State Council on the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Additional support: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, and Materials for the Arts.

Sat & Sun, June 8-9, 2024 @ 2pm
CZECHOSLOVAK AND BENGALI STORIES WITH PUPPETS
By Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre
Created and performed by Vit Horejs & S Karim
Featuring The Naughty Tiger performed by Sayma Karin and The Devil and The Lawyer & The Twelve Months .

FEBRUARY 1 TO 18, 2024
THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY, 155 First Ave, NYC 10003, https://theaterforthenewcity.net/
Crystal Field, Executive Director
ADAPTED AND DIRECTED FOR THE STAGE BY VIT HOREJS
Performed by CZECHOSLOVAK-AMERICAN MARIONETTE THEATRE
Michelle Beshaw, Deborah Beshaw-Farrell, Theresa Linnihan, Sammy Rivas, Rocco George and Gage Morgan
Production Design by Theresa Linnihan
The first theatrical puppet production based on the hilarious 1921 antiwar novel by Jaroslav Hašek, a countryman, contemporary and peer of Franz Kafka. Švejk, a professional dog thief and certified dimwit, stumbles through the WWI military machine of Austria-Hungary, whose Czech soldiers are fighting in a conflict they do not understand on behalf of an empire to which they have no loyalty. This timeless satire about a good-humored, simple-minded man, overly enthusiastic to serve, was inspirational to Joseph Heller ("Catch 22"), the creators of M*A*S*H, and Bertold Brecht, among many. In a series of absurdly comic episodes, it explores the pointlessness and futility of military discipline and of conflict in general, defining the idiocy of war and the men who wage it, not just in the Great War but in all wars; not just the idiocy of war but idiocy itself. An innovative re-interpretation of a classic, combining live performers with puppets.
Czechoslovak American Marionette Theatre (CAMT) is produced by GOH Productions, a nonprofit organization and receives public funds New York State Council on the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Additional support: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Materials for the Arts, and Maturity Works.

Soldier Svejk image by Josef Lada

September 2023
Midwest Tour of historic Czechoslovak Communities!
We are making a Roadtrip Film of Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre on tour with the show Czech & Slovak Tales with Strings!

(more about the film later)

September 8-17, 2023
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

IOWA
Sept 8, 1:30pm. National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library, Cedar Rapids, IOWA

NEBRASKA
Sept 9, 3:45 & 5:30pm Annual St. Wenceslas Czech Brewfest!, Milligan (Auditorium)
Sept 10, 1:00pm Prague Parish Hall (yes that's right, there's a Prague in Nebraska!)
Sept 10, 7:00pm Friend Historical Society Opera House, Friend
Sept 11, 12:30 University of Nebraska UNION, Lincoln
Sept 12, 1:00pm Friend Public School, Friend

KANSAS
Sept 13, 5:00pm U of Kansas, Swarthout Hall, Lawrence
Sept 15, 6:00pm Kansas City Public Library, Kansas City
Sept 17, 4:00pm Historic Midland Railroad Hotel, Wilson

FEB 2-19, 2023
La MaMa Ellen Stewart Theatre
66 E. 4TH STREET, NYC

New Yorker Review
"Audience," a dark comedy of spying in a brewery, is staged with live actors, giant puppets and live projected closeups of smaller puppets from security cameras in order to suggest surveillance. The production's concept is by Vít Horejš and Theresa Linnihan, who act the play together.

Havel’s classic autobiographical play follows Ferdinand Vanek, a distinguished playwright forced to perform manual labor in a brewery because his writings have been banned by the Communist regime. He is repeatedly called into the bleak office of his boss, the brewmaster, who regales him with irksome, circular monologues, washing them down with endless rounds of beer. Tiresome bureaucracy and constant fear under Communism have driven this hapless boss to alcoholism and fits of rage and despair, which are often turned against his inferiors. The writer must endure a delicate game of cat and mouse -- pointless chat, clumsy interrogation and flattery -- with implied threats of dire consequences such as the loss of even his menial job or imprisonment. One way out of his predicament is for Vanek to help his boss by supplying weekly reports on himself. The playwright refuses, further offending his superior.

The play reflects on the time when Havel actually had to work in a brewery as penance for writing critically of the Czechoslovak communist government. He ultimately went from prison to the castle, becoming president of Czechoslovakia.

Vít Horejš plays Vanek and Theresa Linnihan plays the Brewmaster. Production design is by Alan Barnes Netherton. Marionettes are by Milos Kasal and Jakub "Kuba" Krejci. Costumes and the Vanek marionettes are by Theresa Linnihan. Producer is Bonnie Sue Stein/GOH Productions

The irreverent storyteller Vít Hořejš re-tells classic Czech and Slovak fairy tales from his socially-distanced Upstate refuge. Co-starring guest-musicians from across the globe.
WHERE AND WHEN: Live Stream on FaceBook, Wednesdays at 3pm (since June 24, 2020) at:

About Naptime Stories - The idea for Naptime Stories was born when the return to live theater with a live audience was becoming the ghost of a distant future. A frustrated puppeteer finding himself up the river without puppets, Vít Hořejš decided to revive the storytelling format and use the tales to uplift the mood of homebound families. This new reality inspired Hořejš to collaborate with musician friends in the telling of traditional Czech and Slovak tales to a global virtual audience for a delightful afternoon break. With live streaming technology and increased online programming options, it became possible to create a platform for their art. Czech-born puppeteer, founder and artistic director of the Czechoslovak American Marionette Theatre, Hořejš reflects on storytelling roots in his hometown of Prague, Czechoslovakia when he told fairy tales in rock and jazz clubs accompanied by leading Czech musicians. Since coming to the USA in 1979, he has continued to relate fairy tales with and without strings with great success in libraries, galleries, and in other settings, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The World Trade Center and the Smithsonian Museum among others. Each live stream starts with a whimsical introduction by Horejs, sometimes in conversation with Kašpárek, a traditional Czech marionette character, which is followed by the reading of one fairy tale with musical accompaniment.