Petr Štěpán Musical Acting Department

The department’s main objective is to create graduates that leave the school as fully developed personalities who will be able to act not only in purely musical institutions but also in theatres of all types and sizes. Acting students should become actors with great mastery of the theatre craft, open-minded and perceptive people with a balanced dose of self-confidence and humility. The teaching is designed to offer a sufficient amount of courses from all three main disciplines – acting, singing and dancing. Teachers consider acting to be the main part of the teaching process, which should be given the most time. It is extremely important for the students to be able to search for their own “self”, to know oneself and to be able to include oneself as a person into the world around. Great emphasis is placed on discovering one’s own spontaneity, on deepening imagination and conception, and on developing fantasy and the joy of play itself. These inner skills are best revealed through the techniques of child’s play and contact improvisation. An essential prerequisite for the good functioning of an acting class is the sense of belonging and relatedness in the group, which is developed through the emphasised techniques of joint music-making. However, the technique of speaking and working with texts – not only dramatic ones – is not left behind and it is included in the teaching from the very beginning. The studies must also not lack guidance for theoretical reflection and the necessary actor’s self-reflection. However, it is most important to direct students towards practical theatre and the application of the acquired knowledge on stage.