The play Pankrac 45 performed at Svandovo Theatre in Prague.

Set during the “national cleansing” in Czechoslovakia after World War II, Pankrac 45 encompasses an atmosphere of hostility and loss of morale. After WWII, Czechoslovakia entered a period of “national cleansing,” to rid themselves of anyone and anything with suspected tied to Nazi Germany. So called "cleansing" entitled punishment unfathomable to the modern world. However, soon enough, basic principles of justice and judiciousness became a quest of vengeance. There were daily tribunals and lynches in streets. Trials never lasted over three days, and two destimonials could lead to a death sentence. Jurors could outvoted the chair, and changes led to imminent executions most of the time. Executions were spectacles, documented, and sold in souvenir shops. The country carried out the bloodiest retribution of Europe, with laws pracically nonexist. The script evaluates guilt, the blindness of vengeance, responsibility for one’s actions, and remembering. 

Pankrac 45. Playwright: Martina Kinska. Translation from Czech into English: Barbara Day. Director: Stephen Brown-Fried. Associate Director: Pauls Macs. Cast: Hannah Adrian, Jazmyn Boone, Riley Jo Payne, Carla Maureen Smith, Jackie Theoharis. Presented by: The New School for Drama.