The Institute for Research and Study of Alternative and Puppet Theatre and Theatre in Special Needs Groups

The Institute is a faculty-wide research, art research and study site. It resulted from the transformation of the Research Workplace of the Department of Alternative and Puppet Theatre founded in 2009.

The project Interdisciplinary Research of Stage Component Interaction in Puppet and Alternative Theatre and in Theatre in Special Needs Groups pursues the principal research objective of the Institute. Its basic principle is supporting creative interaction between scholarly research, technological development and the field of contemporary alternative and puppet theatre and theatre in special needs groups. As a result, one can observe innovative, theoretical, methodological and applied progress with implications beyond the confines of the theatre world.

The project includes theoretical, practical and experimental research work leading to obtaining and verifying new insights, knowledge and skills necessary for progressive development in the field of alternative and puppet theatre and in theatre in special needs groups. This dynamic research (focused on theoretical, practical and experimental art production) also focuses on the means of presentation of the knowledge gained, in order to reach professionals in different segments of the fields as well as the general public.

The systematic creative research activities of the project contribute towards sustained development of the state of knowledge, including the integral knowledge of humans, culture and society as such, and search for new means of their application in artistic practice. They promptly react to the current development trends and help stabilise the innovatively forming platform of alternative and puppet theatre and theatre in special needs groups, which is supported by interdisciplinary applied research and experimental development. The research goes beyond the confines of the theatre artform and covers a wide range of additional disciplines and fields (anthropology, sociology, psychology, cultural sociology, special education, history, traditional Czech puppetry and its legacy, etc.). It is carried out using modern research methods and approaches, including the research into the various ways of historical context, criticism and analysis. The focus of the research is academic data and, more importantly, defining the possible starting points based on field and practical work and an effort to modernise the aesthetics of the studied spheres of theatre production.

The project includes three main sectors of research priorities:

1. Shared theatre and its alternative tendencies
2. Puppet theatre, its history, tradition and live transformations
3. Theatre production in special needs groups

Team leader & members

The Department of Alternative and Puppet Theatre at the Theatre Faculty of The Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (Director: pro. Miloslav Klíma)

Selected publications

• Šplíchalová, M. Klíma, V. Novák a kol. The Bowstring of Dreams: The Methodological/Ethical principles of Theatre Creation in Specific Groups, 2020.
• Miloslav Klíma: On Animation: From Various Sides of Contemporary Puppet Theatre, Praha: Prague scene in cooperation with the Research Workplace of the Department of Alternative and Puppet Theatre of the Theatre Faculty of AMU in Prague, Nakladatelství AMU, 2019. Ed. Teatrologie, sv. 29. ISBN 978-80-88217-08-4 (Jan Dvořák – Pražská scéna); 978-80-7331-504-7 (AMU).
• Novák, Vladimír (2019) Hnízdo pro duši/A Nest for the Soul

Contact

Theatre Faculty of The Academy of Performing Arts in Prague
Department of Alternative and Puppet Theatre
Karlova 26
116 65 Praha 1
Czech Republic

More information

https://www.damu.cz/en/department-branches/department-of-alternative-and-puppet-theatre/contact/