Behind the Curtain May 2026

"Ethics is a very complicated business."

Czech Theater’s spring play is Professional Foul by the late great playwright Tom Stoppard. It’s a story of dons and dissidents, sports stars and StB agents, set in 1977 Czechoslovakia. The play is a (mostly) humorous view of what happens when the unstoppable force of stark reality confronts the immovable position of staid morality.

A philosophy professor attends a weekend conference in Prague, where he plans to be “a tiny bit naughty”. When his assumptions about morality, ethics, and good manners are tested by the political regime of the country, he has to reconsider everything he thought he knew.

A report from the director of Professional Foul:

A professional foul is when a player deliberately breaks a rule in order to prevent the opposition from scoring. We’ve counted, and there are at least six professional fouls in this play – soccer players and academics score against each other, and characters break their own ethical codes to prevent a greater injustice.

One place we’re not seeing any professional fouls is among our delightful (amateur) cast – it’s a pleasure to be spending my Sundays with this team of people who are supporting each other, meeting to learn their lines even on their days off, and covering for each other when someone can’t make it to rehearsal. We are working together to tell this beautiful and sad and funny story as well as possible.

Much like our professor, we’ve been through some changes. Not being able to use authentic Czech cover songs from 1977 was a particular blow for me, as I think it captures the time so well, and I apparently like a dance number whenever possible. But the decision to primarily use atmospheric sounds (running water, a crowded conference hall) and a fairly minimalist set has meant that the performance stays focused on the story and the characters. I like to imagine Tom Stoppard would have wanted it that way.

🎭 When did you first get involved in Czech Theater?

Got involved in late 2019, for The Vaněk Plays.

🎭 Do you have any pre-performance routines or superstitions?

Not pre-performance, but regarding superstitions I think it's always been the case that at least one cast member is dealing with heartbreak.

🎭 What do you like most about being part of Czech Theater?

It's a nice way of pretending to not be myself for a little while, and at the same time not faking anything. There is something liberating from that. Wearing a mask is comfortable as long as you chose to do it, I suppose.

To take a shot: to try something, to hit at something, to propel a ball toward a goal, to make a hurtful remark, to drink hard alcohol, to fire a gun. All of these happened in Dad Takes a Shot.

The play was written by Jiří Pokorný and won the Alfred Radok prize in 1997. The play’s language – rough, crude, poetic – is one of its appeals, and this poetry came through in the performance. The play starts as a naturalistic story of a group of drunks at a non-stop pub and then escalates violently into a pitch-dark comedy.