Moderator: Jefferson Tshabalala

Panellists: Ondřej Hrab and Monageng 'Vice' Motshabi

Ondřej Hrab graduated from the University of Economics in Prague, and in the following years, he worked as a sociologist. During the communist regime in Czechoslovakia, he was active in non-conformist cultural activities. He initiated and organised clandestine performances by foreign artists, including The Living Theatre, The Bread and Puppet Theater, and Japanese dancer Min Tanaka. After the Velvet Revolution in 1989, he became the director of the E. F. Burian Theatre in Prague and transformed the traditional repertory theatre into a centre for contemporary performing arts, renaming it the Archa Theatre. Since the opening of Archa Theatre in 1994, he has presented renowned international artists such as Robert Wilson, Peter Brook, Min Tanaka, John Cale, Allen Ginsberg, William Kentridge, Anne Bogart, Wim Vandekeybus, David Byrne, Philip Glass, Meredith Monk, The Tiger Lillies, Heiner Goebbels, Dogtroep, Josse De Pauw, Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, Lola Arias, Rimini Protokoll, Milo Rau, Wen Hui, She She Pop, and many others. He also initiated and developed numerous cross-genre art projects. He produced and co- produced many international projects in Europe, the United States, South Africa, and Japan. He has also been an active member of various national and European councils and organisations dedicated to cultural exchange. After the closure of Archa Theatre at the end of 2023, together with Jana Svobodová, he founded a new organisation, Archa – Centre of Documentary Theatre. At their studio in the village of Dvakačovice, they organise workshops, present local and international artists, and engage with the local community.

Monageng 'Vice' Motshabi is an award-winning South African playwright, director, dramaturge, and publisher. A celebrated alumnus of the Market Theatre Laboratory, he is best known for exploring social and racial themes in post-apartheid South Africa. He won the 2017 Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Theatre.