In Memorium - Leading American Czech Theatre Scholar, Jarka Burian

One of the leading American scholars of Czech theatre, Jarka Burian, died at the age of 78 in his home in the United States on August 25, 2005.

Jarka Burian was born in 1927 to a Czech family living in New York. He studied at Rutgers, Columbia and at Cornell University where he received his doctorate in 1955. In 1955, he became a member of the Theatre Faculty at the New York State University in Albany, and remained here until his retirement in 1993. He travelled to Prague on numerous occasions with his wife, and during a residency in 1965, he was a guest lecturer on American theatre at DAMU, FAMU and VŠMU. He also directed Tennessee William´s "The Glass Menagerie"  in Kladno.

In 1966, he began to focus his studies on Czech theatre, and has written numerous articles about it. His publications include a retrospective of the career of J. Svoboda, criticisms in the acclaimed Modern Czech Theatre and Leading Creators of Twentieth Century Czech Theatre, where he presented portraits of the great characters of Czech theatre history - many of whom he had known personally. This latter publication has been was described as "the definitive historical and critical study of Czech theatre of the last century."