Josef Dolezal is the winner of the annual contest for the best mini-drama

Josef Dolezal, an undergraduate student of directing and dramaturgy at the Academy of Performing Arts (DAMU) in Prague, is the winner of the annual contest for the best mini-drama based on a play by Vaclav Havel. While in New York, Josef will take part in classes at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. Josef adores classical drama and is looking forward to taking part in directing courses, seeing trending productions, an opera at the MET and visiting museums.

This year’s contestants for the award were asked to write a one-act play based on the quote from Havel’s play The Garden Party: “I don’t know whether you want more to be or not to be, and when you want to be or not to be; but I know I want to be all the time and that’s why all the time I must a little bit not be. You see, man when he is from time to time a little bit not is not diminished thereby! And if at the moment I am – relatively speaking – rather not, I assure you that soon I might be much more than I’ve ever been – and then we can have another chat about all these things, but on an entirely different platform.”

Josef’’s play entitled “Two Steps to Step Up” [Dva kroky pro pokrok] takes place in a village where a farmer is pressed to give up all his possessions to the new regime while his son contemplates escaping to the free world.

The Fellowship for Czech Theater Student is organized by the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation together with the Theatre Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, and Permanent Mission of the Czech Republic to the United Nations in New York. The fellowship is generously supported by Joseph Balaz, Vice-Chair of the VHLF Board of Directors.