Cursed

A True Story of Czech Magical Resistance

October 1938. Days after the Munich Agreement, Czechoslovakia faces a deep crisis. A group of magicians led by Jan Kefer approaches President Edvard Beneš with an offer to help fight Nazi Germany. Beneš refuses - and Kefer and his friends are forced underground. During the Protectorate, despite martial law and bans on assembly, the group conducts secret operations at great risk. In their final attempt, they try to stop the war: through a magical ritual, they aim to attack Adolf Hitler's astral body.

Improbable as it sounds, this is a real part of Czech resistance history. The Gestapo saw Kefer's group as a genuine threat - in 1941 they arrested him and deported him to Flossenbürg concentration camp, where Jan Kefer died.

The war of magicians continues today, whether in groups seeking to overthrow Donald Trump or sorcerers supporting Vladimir Putin. Many of us wish certain things on the political map would change miraculously. What can we no longer change as individuals, and what do we wish fate - or God, or magic - would fix? What power does thought have - and is it possible to wish for a dictator's death?

The immersive production "Cursed" sets the story in a film studio where a major film about Kefer's fate is being shot. Audiences can become part of the cast and crew. Camera, clapper, action.