Behind the Curtain September 2026

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School is starting and people are returning to their routines after summer break. For some, this feels like a return to the grind. For others, it’s a return to normalcy. For still others, it’s the start of exciting times as the theaters open up again and start their new seasons. Theater is back in Brno and so are we!

If you’d like to join us, come to our open auditions for The Eleventh Commandment. We’d love to have you as a continuing part of our community, in whatever way you want to participate. Whether that’s acting, being a part of the backstage crew, or just reading along with the newsletter updates.

Our theme for the 2026–2027 season is: The Past Is a Trap. So don’t look backwards and come with us!

People on stage looking at the camera and making silly faces and gestures.

The Show Must Go On

If you’re looking for a cultural night out, Brno’s welcoming English-friendly theater scene has something to offer.

These upcoming shows will have English surtitles:

Mr. Biedermann and the Arsonists/Pan Biedermann a žháři
When: 11 September
Where: HaDivadlo

Darwin & co.
When: 11 September
Where: Husa na provázku

Mother/Matka
When: 6 October
Where: Theatre Reduta

Waiting in the Wings

Intermission

A man with glasses in a military uniform with medals.

František Langer (1888–1965) was a decorated military doctor who went on to become a prolific playwright. In addition to the comedy Through the Eye of a Needle (1923), he wrote dramas and even plays for children.

In the Spotlight

This month, we’re shining the spotlight on Anne Johnson from the United States.

🎭 When did you first get involved in Czech Theater?

I've been with Czech Theater since it was a spark of an idea 😁

A woman sitting on a red couch in light with a man in a black hat in shadows at a table behind her.

🎭 Do you have a favorite line from a play that Czech Theater has performed?

I like the ones that enter our collective idioms, to the point that we might not even remember where they came from. I think Jack Stephens and I are the only ones who still say "blokes we don't know" (from Dad Takes a Shot), but I smile every time we do.

Enjoying a laugh while rehearsing a tragedy.

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

Low key panic seems to be my default, and it clearly works.

🎭 Can you share with us any funny or unexpected onstage/backstage mishaps or memories?

Never had a single mishap! As an actor, I've always been perfectly prepared to go on, quietly waiting in the wings for my cue. And as a director, that's consistent in every production. Of course that's not entirely true... But my favorite part is not the mishap, but the way the other actors and crew rescue each other in these moments, so that the stories are of crisis averted rather than disaster. And of those near misses, with too many to list one without feeling like I'm neglecting the others.

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

That a whole bunch of people work together to create a piece of art, something bigger than themselves.

The director laughs with a script in her hand.

A Tough Act to Follow

A man in a white shirt with a blue sleeping mask on his head points angrily, while other people in white shirts and white masks stand behind him.

"Someone must have been telling tales about Josef K., for one morning, without having done anything wrong, he was arrested." Czech Theater's adaptation of Franz Kafka's The Trial was based on the script by Jan Grossman translated by Barbara Day.