LIL DRAMA

Young people take the stage and address their elders, who tell them what they can and cannot do. The kids are taught about freedom—but only if they remain quiet! This time, it’s the adults who will stay silent. "Because when children speak, adults listen."

Lil Drama is a theater project with teenagers directed by Peter Gonda. From October 2024, Gonda and his team have met with a group of young participants to collectively explore themes of oppression, violence, and resistance. The result is not a performance made for children but a performance by children for adults. Lil Drama is a series of experiments: an attempt to understand the world, reflect upon it, change it, and even destroy it.

Finger guns can kill. AI can suffer. Puppets are murdered in the name of a higher purpose. Fake punches become playful yet terrifying tools of escalating violence. "Capitalism is exactly the kind of slime they sell in a glittery pink tube labeled 'limited edition,' but when you open it, it smells like chemicals and burns your table."

Concept and direction: Peter Gonda
Dramaturgy: Adam Dragún and Domen Šuman
Music dramaturgy: Michal Cáb
Set design: Matěj Sýkora
Crisis intervention: Petra Pellarová
Graphic design: Alina Matějová
Production: Lucia Račková
Puppet assistance: Berta Doubková and Jakub Müller
Production assistance: Eva Oliva
Performers: Idris Bermak, Nicolas Doležal, Nevena Jovičová, Nathan Procházka, Eliška Převrátilová
Premiere: June 8, 2025, Alfred ve dvoře, Prague

Peter Gonda is a theater director and audiovisual artist. He graduated from the Department of Alternative and Puppet Theater at DAMU. He focuses on experimenting with theatrical forms, often collaborating with non-professional actors. Gonda’s longstanding interest in working with amateur performers enriches theater and encourages a diverse and inclusive audience. His method emphasizes improvisation and participation, fostering critical thinking and social awareness among participants. Gonda’s recent productions include Moravský Kras (HaDivadlo, 2023), OK Carbon (Alfred ve dvoře, 2021), and the scenic concert Six Stories of Creation and Destruction (Petrohradská kolektiv, 2019).

Michal Cáb specializes in sound art, audiovisual synthesizer programming, and algorithmic composition. He studied theology and later completed postgraduate studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague in the studio Intermedia III under T. Vaněk. He explores programming languages and open-source software as expressive tools for contemporary artists, having created numerous musical scores for theater and exhibition projects.

Matěj Sýkora studied stage design at JAMU. He is an amateur art historian, restorer, museum installer, and film props technician. His scenic and costume collaborations include work with theaters such as D'EPOG, Na zábradlí, Švandovo divadlo, Divadlo Letí, D21, Husa na provázku, MeetFactory, Feste, Reduta, Tramtárie, Lišen, Studio Dům, Continuo, and HaDivadlo.

Adam Dragún studied at the Faculty of Humanities at Charles University, Kraków's Akademia Sztuk Teatralnych, and currently at Prague’s DAMU. His works bridge the boundaries between public and intimate, fiction and documentary. With Olga Ciężkowszka, he created documentary performances The Last Time My Parents Were in Komuna Warszawa (2022) and Deadline (2023). He sings in the post-punk band Berlin Manson.

Domen Šuman is a young Slovenian director and dramaturge currently completing his master's at DAMU’s KALD. As a director, he created When I Die, Play Me... (KALD, 2022), Uncanny: Fear Has Big Eyes (DISK, 2023), and Garden of Labour (DISK, Archa+, 2024). As a dramaturge, he contributed to productions like Silence and Other Impossible Objects (Valtteri Alanen, 2023), FASCIARIUM (Susana Botero Santos, 2022), and Dobré už bolo (Karol Filo, 2024).

Lucia Račková is a producer, lecturer, costume designer, and artisan. She co-founded and produces the association OSTRUŽINA. From 2014 to 2017, she was a producer for children's activities at Tanec Praha.