The Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theater
The Golem
Danspace Project
September 17-19

Conceived and Directed by Vít Horejs
Choreographed and Created in collaboration with Naomi Goldberg
Music Composed by Frank London
Marionette design: Jakub Krejci
Set Design: Roman Hladík
Costumes: Boris Caksiran, Anne Morrow Kenney, Alysia Raycraft Lighting design: Michael Mazzola
Stage Manager: Leo Janks
Production Manager: Theresa Linnihan

THE CZECHOSLOVAK-AMERICAN MARIONETTE THEATRE (CAMT), a program of GOH Productions, was founded in 1990 by Vít Horejs and Jan Unger, emigrés from Prague, to create performance works combining traditional and contemporary puppetry. The company¹s first New York season, Johannes Dokctor Faust, A Petrifying Puppet Comedye (1990-94), used antique Czech puppets found by Horejs in the Jan Hus Church in the heart of New York City¹s Czech neighborhood in the East 70¹s. CAMT¹s 1994 staging of Faust was presented in 1994 by NADA as a part of its Obie-Award-winning "Faust Festival." Works developed and performed for NY seasons and on tour: Kacha And The Devil (1991-96), The White Doe, or, The Piteous Trybulations Of The Sufferyng Countess Jenovefa (1992-95, score written and adapted from Czech folk music by Elise Morris), and Snehurka, The Snow Maiden (1993-96). In 1994, with composer/arranger William Parker, Horejs created Rusalka, The Little Rivermaid for marionettes and live performers. The score used jazz and Antonin Dvorák¹s arias. CAMT performed Rusalka at "Celebrate Prague" Festival at the World Financial Center and in 1996 at the 12th International Festival of Puppet Theatre in Pilsen and in Praque, Czech Republic. A new version of Rusalka will be performed at La MaMa E.T.C., January 1-17, 1999. CAMT presented a workshop version of Golem in 1996 at the 3rd Festival of Contemporary dance in Bytom, Poland and in U.S. in March 1997 at La MaMa E.T.C. in New York City; In October 1997, CAMT created Hamlet with 5 performers and 60 marionettes at the New York¹s Vineyard Theatre. The company has performed in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, and in New York at the Museum of Natural History, the Metropolitan Museum, Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, and as part of the Late Night Cabaret in three Henson International Festivals of Puppet Theater, and on tour to 26 states.

VÍT HOREJS, an author, director, and performer, came to New York from Praque in 1979. In 1990, he founded The Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theater, to offer traditional and not-so-traditional Czech marionette plays to United States audiences. He has since directed Johannes Dokchtor Faust and The White Doe, and adapted and Directed Rusalka, The Little Rivermaid, Golem, Hamlet, and several solo shows based on Czech folk tales. Vít has performed on stage, in films and on TV, in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Recently he appeared as Krojack in Woody Allen¹s Don¹t Drink The Water. In 1995 he created the part of Beethoven¹s nephew Karl, represented by a three-foot marionette on 25-foot strings, for the Denver Center Theatre Company¹s production of Beethoven ŒN¹ Pierrot. His book Twelve Iron Sandals And Other Czechoslovak Tales, (Prentice Hall 1985) was selected as one of the best Children¹s Books of the Year by New York City Public Library. His book of tales Pig and Bear was published in 1989 by Four Winds Press/Macmillan and in Dutch translation in 1990. Most recently, he wrote a lead essay for the 1995 book, Czechoslovak American Puppetry.

NAOMI GOLDBERG As a choreographer, director, dancer and teacher, Goldberg has worked extensively in theater, concert dance, opera, film and education. Since 1989, Goldberg has been the artistic director/choreographer of the seasonal company Los Angeles Modern Dance and Ballet. LAMD&B reaches over 60,000 Southern California youth and adults each year. Goldberg also directs the N.Y. based touring company, Klezdanz!, most recently seen in Pennsylvania and Texas. Choreography for theater and film productions includes Tony Kushner¹s adaptation of a Dybbuk for The Public; Philip Kan Gotanda¹s Day Standing On It¹s Head, Manhattan Theater Club; Eduardo Machado¹s Floating Islands, Mark Taper Forum; The Mikado, Milwaukee Skylight Opera; and The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, Disney Animation. She has served on the dance faculties of Loyola Marymount University and Cal State University, Long Beach and is currently guest teacher at Danspace in NYC. In 1993, Goldberg was a guest artist in residence with Ballet Arabasque in Sophia, Bulgaria and Domino Dance in Prague, Czech Republic. She has served as dance and movement consultant for Other Voices, artists in the performing arts with disabilities, at the Mark Taper Forum since 1994, and is currently collaborating on a new work, Helen and Frida, recently in workshop with A.S.K. Theater Projects and the Common Ground Festival 1998. Upcoming projects include choreography for director Brian Kulick¹s production of Pericles at the Public.

FRANK LONDON is a member of the Klezmatcs, the Hasidic New Wave, and Les Miserables Brass Band. He has performed with John Zorn LL Cool J, Mel Torme, Lester Bowie, LaMonte Young, They Might Be Giants, David Byrne, Jane Siberry and Gal Costa, and is featured on over 70 CDs. He composed music for Great Small Works¹ The Memoirs Of Gluckel Of Hameln, the Public Theater¹s production of Tony Kushner¹s a Dybbuk, and is working on the opera/song cycle Bay Nakht, based on I.L. Peretz¹s classic Yiddish drama. London¹s compositions for film, theater, and dance include Yoshiko Chuma¹s How Loud Could It Be, Sharon Pollack¹s Everything Relative, Yvonne Rainer¹s Murder And Murder, Bruno de Almeida¹s On The Run and The Debt (a prizewinner at the Cannes Film Festival), John Sayles¹ Hombres Armados and The Brother From Another Planet, and Tamar Rogoff¹s Ivye Project (in Byelorussia). He has composed music for Itzhak Perlman, produced and arranged songs for Mark Cohn and Jane Siberry on the Hanukah recording Festival of Light, was music director for Robert Wilson¹s The Knee Plays, and has collaborated with Palestinian violinist Simon Shaheen. His projects with The Klezmatics include compositions for their four acclaimed CDs, Itzhak Perlman¹s In the Fiddler¹s House, the soundtrack/CD for the film The Shvitz, the klezmer/rap track Crown Heights, and the theatre piece Chelm, Ca (with Flying Karamazov Brother Paul Magid).