In a country that was less than 20 years ago a place one escaped from, the Czech Republic is now a place to migrate to, and this new historical phenomenon has created friction. On any given day, the Czech press is reporting on some aspect of the hundreds of immigrants living or arriving here.

Archa Theatre has long been engaged with the country's refugee centers in an attempt to open a line of communication with asylum seekers, who have arrived in a country where too many natives are content to leave them in governmental pens. Led by Archa Director Jana Svobodová, the theater has maintained a presence in the camps for three years, and last year produced a piece, At 11:20 I Will Be Leaving You, in the refugee camp in Běla pod Bezdězem, busing Prague audiences to the camp to view it.

This year, Svobodová wanted to shift the focus to those asylum seekers who have succeeded in finally winning residency in this country. Backed by a government grant, and in collaboration with Together Against Racism, Svobodová and her colleagues have created Divnej soused (Strange Neighbor). "The umbrella theme is 'we cannot avoid differences between people,' " Svobodová says over lunch in Karlín. "There are always going to be cultural conflicts. But we should attempt to open ourselves up and examine our prejudices. It could be an enriching experience."

Svobodová reckons it took half a year to finally achieve real contact with the refugees. "We developed music and games for the children, and then finally won over their mothers," Svobodová recalls. "The men in the camp were the most difficult to reach, but many of them finally talked to us." Many of these people would later feature in At 11:20.

Strange Neighbor includes performers who have made their way through the bureaucratic maze to gain residency in the Czech Republic. The piece is a collaboration between these immigrants, professional actors affiliated with Archa, and members of Prague's hip-hop community. A few of the performers, such as Jing Lu, Dowis, Josef Rosen and Cossiga, appeared in Svobodová's stunning Sen AnderSen at Archa earlier this year.

The venue for Strange Neighbor was important for Svobodová as well, and she sought out a modern building that lacked any historical associations. The Danube House in Karlín is almost futuristic, with its soaring glass and steel atrium and glass-cage elevators, and easily lends itself to creating a neutral space.

Svobodová conceived the play as a promenade piece, where audiences move throughout the entire building during the performance, and hired the talented young Austrian scenic designer Dominick Rinnhofer, who has worked with Canada's reigning theatrical genius, Robert Lapage. Rinnhofer found inspiration in the various levels and prospects within the Danube House. "The building is a strong piece of architecture," he says. "The piece is about discovery, 'seeing people past walls,' and so within this building you will literally be able to see past borders." Rinnhofer, an outsider himself, adds that he values working in the Czech Republic, as it has influenced the way he now approaches his own work.