Czech and Slovak Theatre Abroad - USA, Canada, Australia and England

These papers examine the nature and function of Czech and Slovak Theatre abroad from the nineteenth century to the present day. Immigrants used theater as a way to preserve their language and culture, and the plays performed were usually classic Czech or Slovak works. After World War II and during the Cold War, theaters in the United States, like the Wilma Theatre in Philadelphia and the No Curtain Theatre in Washington, D.C., produced mainly Czech plays in English translation to acquaint the American public and younger generations with plays by dissident writers such as Vaclav Havel, Ivan Kilma, and Pavel Kohout. These papers are written by noted scholars of drama and form a unique contribution to theater studies.