CZECH, ONE, TWO

German literary behemoth Goethe called Prague “the most precious stone in the crown of cities.” A few decades later, Czech writer Franz Kafka wrote: “Prague never lets you go; this dear little mother has sharp claws.”

Naples-based actor, director and playwright Jeffrey Binder waxes as romantically as Goethe and as candidly as Kafka when discussing his new play Higher, set in the Czech city. Binder traveled to the Czech Republic capital in the 2000s. “It was just a magical place. The Soviet Union had just collapsed and this old city had just opened, and people were so generous and so kind, and history was right in front of you,” he says. “It hadn’t been inundated with McDonald’s and still had its core identity.”

Lauren Amalia Redding, Gulfshore Life