Theatre Letí was established in September 2005 by dramaturg Daniel Přibyl, director Marián Amsler and manager Lenka Stárková. Since the beginning it was defined as a theater with “passion for new dramaturgy” and it produced only plays in Czech premieres. In the first two years it had an ensemble of actors from DAMU (Department of Alternative and Puppet Theatre led by Miroslav Krobot). Those were Richard Fiala, Pavol Smolárik, Josef Wiesner, Václav Jiráček, Pavlína Štorková, Anna Bubníková, Klára Štěpánková, Martina Sľúková and Jana Kovalčíková.
Right from the first year it drew it´s attention thanks to many significant productions. The very first was production that gave the Theatre its name. It was the Letí by Russian playwright Olja Muchinová directed by Marián Amsler. By that time Letí didn’t have its own venue and every production was staged in a different theatre building. Among the most successful productions was a monodrama by American author Doug Wright I am My Own Wife performed by Pavol Smolárik or a play by Italian playwright Fausto Paravidino Two Brothers.
In the next season Daniel Přibyl left the Theatre and director Martina Schlegelová and dramaturge Marie Špalová took his position. They both are in the leading positions of the Theatre until today. Very soon the Manager has changed as well. Magdaléna Zelenková became the Production Manager and stayed for long years. Diana Vávrová joined the production team later and for a year she was shortly changed by Tereza Škorpilová
The Theatre had couple of venues to perform in. They moved from Eliadova Knihovna in Theatre Na zábradlí to Small scene of Pod Palmovkou Theatre in 2007 and later in January 2009 to the Studio of Švadovo Theatre where stayed for couple of seasons.
By that time the original ensemble broke down but about half of the actors still cooperated regularly with the theatre (especially Richard Fiala, Pavol Smolárik, Anna Bubníková and Pavlína Štorková). Apart from them the core of the theater were actors Tomáš Kobr, Tomáš Jeřábek, Marcela Holubcová, Dana Poláková and Ondřej Novák.
Many productions come from this era. The most significant audience response was given to production of Mark Ravenhill´s Mother´s Clap Molly House (directed by Daniel Špinar) and Pool (No water) directed by Martina Schlegelová. Quite a stir was made by Roman Sikora´s political satire Confession of a Masochist (directed by Martina Schlegelová) and Czech premiere of a play by Irish playwright Mark O’Rowe Terminus (directed by Martina Schlegelová).
Apart from proper full rehealsed productions Theatre Letí become famous for a serial of Stage Readings called 8@8 in cooperation with DILIA agency. This serial offered a unique way how to get familiar with very recent plays from that time of foreign dramaturgy. The Stage readings were always just one night event and lots of generations of young theatre professionals were part of the creation process. About 60% of all the playwrights that were part of the 8@8 serial were taken by other companies and made into fully rehearsed productions in theaters or audio broadcast. The 8@8 serial cite from Decembre 2005 till December 2019.
Until 2010 (within only 5 years of its existence) the Theatre was fully established on the Prague Theatre scene. It was financed from more sources (most of its budget was covered by multiple year grant of The City of Prague). It was also sold out most of the nights.
At this period Letí has also started an international cooperation and established Centre for Contemporary Drama. The cooperation started with Na zábradlí Theatre (project Letí na letišti aneb Nebe nepřijímá on the Václav Havel airport in Prague) and HaDivadlo from Brno (the artistic director by that time was Marian Amsler) coproductions of those theatres were iPlay, Tajná zpráva z planety Matek – Mamma Guerilla (directed by Marián Amsler) and Roky devadesát – Láska, pank a Nesmírnost (directed by M.Schlegelová). A unique residential programme for Czech authors was established within this project. Letí started to organise Mark Ravenhill Award and produced European international project The Generation Icons. Three new European plays were written within this project. The three premieres were in Prague, Vienna and Bratislava. All of this lead to the personal extension of the team. For couple of years Martin Černa joined the company as a project manager. And since this time a young writer David Košťák has become a dramaturg.
LETÍ was trying to find a permanent venue as an own company space. They applied for Komedie Theatre or National Gallery. Lots of cultural activities were done in Nákladové nádraží Žižkov but none of that lead to the any permanent cooperation. At the end Letí managed to get a permanent residency in VILA Štvanice Theatre.
Significant productions from these years were especially Esteve Soler´s Trilogy Against Progress, Against Love, Against Democracy that were staged by the most progressive theatre directors in DOX in Prague, also the production of intimate monodrama After Frederik directed by Petr Hašek or Small Town Boy a production of Falk Richter´s play directed by Marián Amsler.
Since 2005 Letí has a permanent residency on the Štvanice island were the venue is shared with two other companies Tygr v tísni and Geisslers Hofcomoedianten. The most significant production from this era is Anna Saavedra´s Olga (Horrors from Hrádeček) got many awards.
The most remarkable project was CAMPQ (coproduction partners South Bohemian Theatre and Tygr v tísni). CAMPQ was official Czech exhibition during Prague Quadrennial 2019.
Actors has changed throughout these years as well. For example Jiří Böhm become stable part of the company and Nataša Mikulová started performing regularly with Letí. Martina Shclegelová is still the artisctic director of the company. Marie Špalová is the dramaturg together with David Košťák. For couple of years Karolína Macáková was the production manager and since 2019 Barbora Jakubcová came to her position. The technical manager has been Michala Kášová for many years and Pavla Klouzalová is the financial manager.
Theatre Letí is a proud member and one of the founders of Czech Association of Independent Theatres. Since 2017 it is a member of an international network of European Theatres performing contemporary drama called Fabulamundi.
