In the center of Brno, a new Theater on Orlí will open next week

Brno - A new theater stage will be ceremoniously launched in the center of Brno next week. The modernly equipped Divadlo na Orlí was built by the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts (JAMU) for 343 million crowns. The building will primarily serve students of opera and musical theater who are being educated at the Brno academy. "We want the theater to serve as our musical-drama laboratory," said Zbyněk Srba, the dean of the Theater Faculty of JAMU, to journalists today.
     The first premiere at the new theater will be the musical Footloose, known from two film adaptations, on October 24. The story of the clash of small-town morals with youthful energy has never been performed in the Czech Republic before. For November, students are preparing opera pieces Beauty and the Beast by Miloslav Ištvan and European Tourism by Josef Berg. Next year, they will focus on Bedřich Smetana's The Bartered Bride.
     Young actors from JAMU perform their school presentations in Studio Marta on Bayerova Street. However, opera and musical students have long lacked an appropriate stage. They have been using rented spaces, such as the Bark in Královo Pole. Now, all activities of musical theater students, meaning opera and musical theater, will move to the new stage.
     The building has risen in a 20-meter wide gap on Orlí Street, which was created during World War II bombing and was filled until recently by a temporary structure of restoration workshops. The most important part of the new building is located in the courtyard. It houses a hall for 150 people with a stage, orchestra pit, rigging, and a directing booth. In the basement, there is a recording studio and rehearsal rooms for students.
     In the theater, students from both the music and theater faculties will meet. "Whether they are directors, dramaturgs, composers, stage designers, stage technicians, or those who perform directly on stage or beneath it - singers, conductors, and instrumentalists," said rector Ivo Medek.
     Divadlo na Orlí represents the largest development project for JAMU in recent years. Its significance, according to school representatives, lies mainly in the high-quality equipment. The theater will allow students to work with the most modern theater, sound, and lighting technologies. The school has also purchased new musical instruments for the theater worth 24 million crowns, including two top-quality concert harps.