TOMÁŠ RÁLIŠ WON THE EVALD SCHORM PRIZE FOR THE THIRD TIME IN A ROW!

The award ceremony for the Evald Schorm Prize, which is awarded annually by the DILIA agency to students of theatre schools for an original play, dramatisation or translation of a play not yet translated into Czech, took place on Wednesday 7 June 2023 during an evening entitled Dinner with a New Play. The primary aim of this award is to support and motivate young playwrights and translators in their work and to try to bring their work out of the academic environment and into a wider theatrical context. Jan Barták, the director of DILIA, appreciated the undeniable potential Tomáš Ráliš has in the Czech drama scene, which he proves with every play: "I look forward to seeing more of his plays and I believe that this will not be the last time we will see each other at the Evald Schorm Award."

Tomáš Ráliš himself described his award-winning work as a frantic play about the search for humanity in a world where everything is running out. "I tried to wrap the bitter pill of existential environmental grief in chocolate, but unfortunately it is no more, as you will see, so I used a bit of explicit extreme humour. Still, there is blood, gunshots, human and gibbon tears. The text is dedicated to all those who are not afraid to fall, who seek, hope and do not give up, like this at the end of civilization." 

Thanks to the Ewald Schorm Prize, named after the important Czech film and theatre director, DILIA has discovered a number of now established and respected playwrights and translators. Award-winning texts have so far received more than 50 theatre and dozens of radio productions. They have been staged, for example, by the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre in Ostrava, Švandovo Theatre, Studio Ypsilon and Zlín City Theatre. Tomáš Ráliš is a promising young talent, about whom we will hear a lot in this context in the future. 

Congratulations! 

Full press release on the announcement