The theater in Košice has more than six centuries of tradition. In 1788, the town also received a stone building from wooden huts and traveling theater companies. The Košice Theater was founded on the site of the former medieval town hall. It was played in German, since 1816 in Hungarian. The hall had a capacity of 500 spectators. In 1894 the building was closed for security reasons.

The new theater was built in its original place in 1897-1899 according to the designs of Adolf Lang and Antal Steinhardt. The building is an architectural jewel that is still admired by experts from all over Europe. The magnificent opening of the new cultural structure was prepared by the people of Košice on 28 September 1899. However, the theater served only Hungarian theater companies. Slovak or rather Czech actors did not get into it until after 1920. This year, the Slovak National Theater (SND) was comprised from the Czech drama and singing company of Bedřich Jeřábek in Bratislava. Since the theater building was rented in Bratislava by a Hungarian ensemble, SND started performing in Košice. In the following months, it used to visit the metropolis of the East regularly for several weeks (especially in the summer months).

However, Košice's cultural circles were not satisfied with these short tour stays. They requested that the SND have two separate ensembles, in Bratislava and Košice. However, in the first years of our first scene, this was not possible due to poor staff and financial conditions. Only in 1924, according to the Bratislava model, the East Slovak National Theater (VND - Východoslovenské národné divadlo) was created on a cooperative basis in Košice.

The first premiere of the new theatre scene was a play by Ján Chalupka Kocúrkovo (edited by Jaroslav Hanko) on September 13, 1924. The main character of the bootmaker Tesnošil was played by Jan Škoda (in 1924-1926 he was a director and actor in VND drama play). VND has appointed Czech director Josef Hurt as director of the new theater. He built drama and operetta. Hurt resigned after two years due to unsolvable financial problems (in 1945 the Nazis executed him for hiding partisans). Several other Czech personalities took turns in the management of the theater: Oto Alferi – signed the contract for the management of the theater for three years, he resigned in 1928 due to financial difficulties. Otakar Novák followed, his financial problems and lack of an audience drove him to suicide.

Other directors were father Karol Želenský and his son Drahoš Želenský. Neither did they succeed in artistically and financially stabilizing the theater. Due to economic reasons, both ensembles fell apart in 1930. After the demise of VND there was no permanent professional ensemble in the city. In the building of the Municipal Theater, ensembles of the Olomouc Theater and SND from Bratislava alternately hosted. Antonín Drašar succeeded in restoring VND after six years. In 1937 the theater was opened as an independent branch of the Bratislava SND. In 1938, however, Košice  were annexed to Hungary on the basis of the first Vienna arbitration and the Slovak theater ceased to exist.

THEATER RECOVERED AFTER THE WAR

The re-establishment of the East Slovak National Theater took place in 1945 after the end of World War II. In August of that year, director Janko Borodáč came to Košice. Together with his wife and a few enthusiasts, he created a Slovak and realistic theatre. However, they did not resist cooperation with Czech artists. The following choreographers performed at the theater: Rudolf Macharovský (head of the SND ballet 1946-1948, 1948-1955 head of the VND ballet), Stanislav Remar (1947-1948 and 1955-1969 head of the VND ballet), conductors: Josef Vincourek (1958-1963 conductor and head of the ŠD opera), Juraj V. Schöffer (1924-1927 head of the VND opera, 1947-1948 conductor of the ŠD opera), Josef Bartl (1952-1956 head of the ŠD opera) and many others. Borodáč also became the first post-war director of VND. In addition to drama, opera, operetta and ballet began to be established (but this last was the greatest difficulty).

The first premiere was the re-opened VND drama on September 15, 1945 (a play by Ivan Stodola, Marína Havranová, was played). The opera ensemble was shown for the first time with the operetta by Oscar Nedbal, Poľská krv (Polish Blood) on October 6, 1945. The first premiere ballet evening was in Košice only in 1947.

From the 1946-1947 season, the theater was called the National Theater in Košice, in 1955 it was renamed the State Theater (ŠD) of Košice.

My history connected with the Košice theater began in 1976, where as a young student at the Conservatory in Košice I was a guest at ballets and operas as a dancer, thanks to my top teachers and creators Marilena and Andrej Halaszov. Later after the Conservatory, I returned as a choreographer in 1983 with the production of Carl Orff Carmin Buran, which was also my graduation performance. In 1989, I was invited to join the drama of the State Theater to collaborate on the production of Peter the Singer when the theatre was under reconstruction.

After a long time operating at home and especially abroad in 2000, I was offered the opportunity to develop a ballet ensemble as a ballet director, which was de facto before the demise, where my decision was very uncertain,due to my contract abroad, and so I thought that my fantastic start of my journey was in Košice, I decided to build a ballet ensemble from the beginning, which was basically extremely difficult given the financial difficult situation in which the theatre was located. After difficult beginnings, I managed to get Milan Kňažko, Minister of Culture, to take the Košice theatre under the Ministry of Culture, which at that time provided us with artistic creation, an increase in wages, finance for repairs, operation, workshops, stage wardrobe technology, administration. It was a beautiful period of aid for the development of the theater’s position.

Since childhood, I had a so-called domestic relationship that persists to this day. I know the mentality of this environment, employees who, with successful management, I would always be able to work even in difficult conditions, professionally and with quality. I would like to compare this with the number of theaters at home and abroad, where I have guested or worked. I love the spectator who buys a ticket to the theater and my basic idea of the concept is creation, continuous development and educational activities for the spectator in conjunction with the employees, who all participate in the work of art.

Ondrej Šoth, General Director

Ondrej Šoth, generálny riaditeľ