14.1

//Source(s): VACLAV HAVEL: THE AUTHORIZED BIOGRAPHY by Eda Kriseova. Translated by Caleb Crain. St Martin's// Press, 1993. ISBN 0-312-10317-4 ((bruces remarks: I suspect that this little Czech theatre's aging combination of film, theater and ballet classifies as "dead media," even if the Laterna Magika theater is not quite so dead as its namesake the magic lantern. If your country has been through forty years of deep-frozen cold war and is being revolutionized by a surrealist playwright, perhaps a theater full of not-quite-dead media makes a very sensible headquarters.))) pages 250-252 "Part 51 -- *Laterna Magika* "Civic Forum was looking for a space where they could take shelter. The visual artists offered the U Recickych Gallery, where Civic Forum was in fact headquartered for the first few days, but it was a small space, and suddenly someone came up with the Laterna Magika (the Magic Lantern theater).*" "I had never been in the dressing room at the Laterna Magika. It was a hot labyrinth with no air. There was practically no ventilation, and everyone smoked like chimneys. When we went there nine months later with the president of Brazil, who had asked to see the place that had been the headquarters of the revolution, I could not understand how we had managed to survive there. In the largest dressing room, about three by four yards, the staff == about ten people == held its meetings. Costumes, ballet tutus, and quaint monsters were hanging everywhere. It smelled like make-up, and there were mirrors on all sides. I could not get used to seeing myself everywhere, and I started to feel a little paranoid. "The ballet dancers buttered bread, sliced salami, and boiled coffee. The whole Laterna Magika was working for the revolution. Everything was flurried and feverish, but people were unbelievably kind and decent to each other. (...) In the Laterna Magika, everyone moved quickly and purposefully. If someone frowned, he saw it instantly in the mirror. (...) They worked long into the night, laughing often. From time to time, it was as if Havel had written an absurdist play that he starred in and directed. I will never forget that he took me with them and I was part of almost everything that happened. Once again I had the exhilirating feeling that I was in the right place at the right time, that this was the best place in the world, and that I did not want to be anywhere else." page 260 "On Sunday, December 3, Vaclav went outside for the first time in fourteen days. He and Olga went for a walk in Pruhonice park. When he returned to the Laterna Magika underground, he said, 'At last, outside under the high and wide heavens, I realized that this is for real and it is definitely not a dream.' "For a while, time settled down == it slowed down to a realistic pace, only to run ahead again, still faster. I thought that, to a certain extent, the atmosphere of unreality was the fault of the underground labyrinth, of the Laterna Magika where amid artificial light, mirrors, and a limited air supply, everything took on a magic, brand-new form. We only saw the light of day on city squares and Letna Plain. Otherwise we did not crawl out from underground. "At one of the first meetings with the authorities, Vaclav asked about allocating a building for Civic Forum. In the end, they alloted us the building that had belonged to the Union of Czechoslovak-Soviet Friendship on the corner of Wenceslas and Jungmann Square, the Spalicek building. Here, everything seemed to be more real."
 * Dead medium: The Velvet Revolution in the Magic Lantern**
 * From: bruces@well.com (Bruce Sterling)**
 * footnote page 250: "The Prague theater that uses a multiscene format == a combination of film, theater, and ballet. The theater was a great success at the 1958 World's Fair in Brussels and again at Expo 67 in Montreal."