We share stories, life journeys, and ideas from our alumni, young creators, and students. You can listen to audio versions, read interviews with these inspiring young people, or watch short videos.
Janek Poláček: Janek was for several years an actor in our ensemble Vosí hnízdo. He is now in his first year of studying at the Faculty of Humanities, Charles University. He is a member of the editorial board of our quarterly magazine Dialog, and he continues to be interested in the activities of TALENT Drama Studio. I perceive him as a person with a rich inner world – a philosopher, creator, and poet, in whom creation, philosophy, psychology, science, and experimentation come together. He is interested in depth and overlap, allows things to mature, and says that existing in a mode of not knowing is liberating for a human being.
Interview with Janek (also in audio version)
Richard Hašek: Ríša is an actor and creator in our ensemble Vosí hnízdo, as well as an apprentice plumber and chimney sweep. He is a young person with a remarkable talent for improvisation and has been attending TALENT for three years. When I first saw him improvise, I watched in admiration. His acting was stripped of all embellishment, ambition, pretence, and display. It was pure play and existence – freedom and humour. A genuine and full presence in the space of play, focused and grounded.
Interview with Ríša (also in audio version)
Hana Sršňová: Hanka is a visual arts teacher at a grammar school and an actress in our ensemble Vosí hnízdo. She has been coming to us since she was 16. She writes, plays the guitar and violin, performs, creates, draws, and teaches. She is also a graphic designer and editor of Dialog magazine. ‘Dialogical Acting can support adolescents in a healthy way through a difficult stage of their lives. Especially because, during puberty, they struggle with insecurity and with the feeling that they are not good enough. They keep looking for their own flaws. Suddenly, they discover that making mistakes is okay – that they are fine just as they are.’
Interview with Hanka (also in audio version)
Alžběta Dolečková:Bětka is in her fifth year of studying acting at the The Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (DAMU). She attended our studio from the age of four until she began her university studies in acting. She performs at the National Theatre, the Municipal Theatres of Prague, and in the film Sweet Life. ‘I would tell children to trust the process, their own path, and themselves. And if they want to, to go for it. Just because something isn’t there now doesn’t mean it can’t be there in half a year or a year. Sometimes it simply comes all at once.’
Interview with Bětka (also in audio version)
Tobiáš Frýdl: Tobiáš holds a bachelor’s degree in Production from FAMU. He is the son of the pastor of the Hussite Church congregation in Vršovice and works as a production manager at Vršovické divadlo MANA. He attended our studio from the age of five until sixteen. Tobiáš is a socially engaged young person who is not indifferent to current social issues and actively seeks to engage with them publicly. He loves film and theatre, with a particular interest in documentaries. He focuses especially on topics related to the LGBTQ+ community. He has worked on the documentaries Faith in Rainbow Colours (Czech and Slovak versions) and Somewhere in the Caucasus, a documentary about the lives of queer people in Georgia.
Interview with Tobiáš (also in audio version)
Isabella Petzold: Iza is studying Political Science and Theatre, Film and Media Studies at Goethe University in Frankfurt. She attended TALENT from the age of ten to sixteen. In Frankfurt, she spends her free time in English-speaking amateur theatre, where she has played, among other roles, Ophelia in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. ‘Authorial theatre was essential for my personal development. It can also be interesting for people who do not want to do theatre, but are searching for themselves or for something meaningful. Authorial creation has a wider reach. It offers much more than classical theatre, while at the same time classical theatre can benefit from it.
Interview with Iza (also in audio version)
Lada Kamenov Marková: Lada is studying Psychology at Masaryk University. She attended our studio from the age of eleven to eighteen. She has a passion for authorial theatre and improvisation, and for the connection between creative work and psychology. She was a member of our ensemble Vosí hnízdo, with which she created the original performance Five Sides of My Self during the COVID period.
Interview with Lada (also in audio version)
Radan Tutko: Radan attended TALENT Drama Studio from the age of nine to sixteen. Among other projects, he was an actor in a multi-genre immersive TDS project connecting professional and amateur artists, children, young people, and adults in The Imaginarium of H. C. Andersen. He has also performed in professional theatre productions in Prague, such as Lidice by Petr Borka at Balbín’s Poetic Pub, as well as on the intimate professional stage of A Studio Rubín in Malá Strana.
