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Košice State Theater

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Theater in Košice has more than six centuries of tradition. In 1788, the town also received a stone building from wooden huts or nomadic theater companies. The Košice Theater was established on the site of the former medieval town hall. It was played in German, and from 1816 also in Hungarian. The hall had a capacity of 500 spectators. In 1894, the building was closed for security reasons.

Košice State Theater

Theater in Košice has more than six centuries of tradition. In 1788, the town also received a stone building from wooden huts or nomadic theater companies. The Košice Theater was established on the site of the former medieval town hall. It was played in German, and from 1816 also in Hungarian. The hall had a capacity of 500 spectators. In 1894, the building was closed for security reasons.

The new theater was built on the original site in the years 1897-1899 according to the projects of Adolf Lang and Antal Steinhardt. The building is an architectural gem that is still admired by experts from all over Europe. The magnificent opening of the new cultural stand was prepared by the people of Košice on September 28, 1899. However, the theater served only Hungarian theater companies. Slovak or rather Czech actors did not get into it until after 1920. This year, the Slovak National Theater (SND) was formed from the Czech drama and singing company of Bedřich Jeřábek in Bratislava. Since the theater building was rented by a Hungarian ensemble in Bratislava, SND started playing in Košice. In the following months, she used to visit the metropolis of the East regularly for several weeks (especially in the summer months).

However, Košice's cultural circles were not satisfied with these short tour stays. They demanded that the SND have two separate files, in Bratislava and Košice. However, in the first years of our first scene, this was not possible due to poor personnel and financial conditions. It was not until 1924, following the Bratislava model, that the East Slovak National Theater (VND) was established on a cooperative basis in Košice.

The first premiere of the new theater scene was on September 13, 1924, a play by Ján Chalupka Kocúrkovo (adapted by J. Hank). The main character of the bootmaker Tesnošil was played by Jan Škoda (in the years 1924-1926 he was a director and actor in the play VND). The VND team has appointed Czech director Josef Hurt as the director of the new theater. He built drama and operetta. Hurt resigned after two years due to unsolvable financial problems (in 1945 he was executed by the Nazis for hiding partisans). Several other Czech personalities took over the management of the theater: Oto Alferi - he signed a contract for the management of the theater for three years, due to financial difficulties he resigned in 1928. Otakar Novák followed, his problems with finances and lack of audience drove him to commit suicide.

The other directors were father Karol Želenský and his son Drahoš Želenský. They also failed to stabilize the theater artistically and financially. For economic reasons, in 1930, both groups disbanded. After the demise of VND, there was no permanent professional ensemble in the city. In the building of the Municipal Theater, the ensembles of the Olomouc Theater and the SND from Bratislava alternated guests. Antonín Drašar managed to resume the activities of VND after six years. In 1937, the theater was opened as an independent branch of the Bratislava SND. In 1938, however, Košice fell to Hungary on the basis of the first Vienna Arbitration, and Slovak theater ceased to exist.

THEATER HAS BEEN RECOVERED AFTER THE WAR

The East Slovak National Theater was re-founded in 1945 after the end of World War II. In August of that year, director Janko Borodáč came to Košice. Together with his wife and a few enthusiasts, they created a Slovak and realistic theater. However, they also did not resist cooperation with Czech artists. The theater featured choreographers: Rudolf Macharovský (head of the SND ballet 1946-1948, 1948-1955 head of the VND ballet), Stanislav Remar (1947-1948 and 1955-1969 head of the VND ballet), conductors: Josef Vincourek (1958-1963 conductor and head of the ŠD opera), Juraj V. Schöffer (1924-1927 head of the VND choir, 1947-1948 conductor of the ŠD opera), Josef Bartl (1952-1956 head of the ŠD opera) and many others. Borodáč also became the first post-war director of VND. In addition to drama, opera, operetta and ballet began to be built (but this was the biggest difficulty).

The first premiere was the reopened drama VND on September 15, 1945 (Ivan Stodola's play Marína Havranová was played). The opera ensemble performed for the first time with Oskar Nedbal's operetta Polish Blood on October 6, 1945. The first premiere ballet evening was in Košice in 1947.

From the 1946-1947 season, the theater was called the National Theater in Košice, in 1955 it was renamed the State Theater (ŠD) Košice.

My history connected with the Košice theater began in 1976, where as a young student at the Conservatory in Košice I was a guest in ballets and operas as a dancer, thanks to my top teachers and creators Marilena and Andrej Halaszov. 1983 with the realization of the production of Carl Orff Carmina Burana, which was also my graduation performance. In 1989 I was invited to the play of ŠD to collaborate on the production Singer Peter, when the theater was under reconstruction.

After working at home and especially abroad in 2000, I received an offer to develop a ballet ensemble as a ballet director, which was de facto about to disappear, where my decision-making was very uncertain, due to my contracts abroad, so I thought my fantastic start to my The road was in Košice, I decided to build a ballet ensemble from the beginning, which was basically extremely difficult due to the financially difficult situation in which the theater was located. under the Ministry of Culture, which provided us at that time with artistic creation, wage growth, funding for repairs, operations, workshops, stage wardrobe technology, administration. It was a beautiful period to help develop the position of the theater.

Since childhood, I have had a so-called domestic relationship that persists to this day. I know the mentality of this environment, employees who, with successful management, would always be able to work even in difficult difficult conditions, professionally and with quality. I would like to compare this with the number of theaters at home and abroad, where I have hosted or worked. I love the spectator who buys a ticket to the theater and my basic idea of the concept is the creation, continuous development and educational activities for the spectator in conjunction with the employees, who all participate in the work of art.

Updated on: 1.10.2021

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Košice State Theater
Košice
Region: Košický
District: Košice I
Area: Abov
 48.72179, 21.257353

Košice

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