This weekend the Bohnice mental health facility opens its grounds to host Babí leto (Indian Summer), a one-day music and arts festival with a psychotherapeutic edge. The festivities, which begins at 1 p.m. and lasts until the family-friendly hour of 8:00, feature an extravaganza of theatrical performances, puppetry and local music acts.

The setting and hours may seem a bit odd, but the musical selection is first-rate. The lineup includes the Agon Orchestra, with its distinctive take on contemporary music and avant-garde compositions. The alternative/indie jewel in the crown Zuby nehty will be turning heads with its self-described "bewitching and exuberant post-punk," featuring local hero Pavla Jónssonová, one of the founding members of Dybbuk, the essential all-woman Czech punk band. And Czech jazz star Pavel Ryba is bringing his band Mind the Steps with its blend of free jazz, rock riffs and "atonal Czechoslovakian folk passages."

The highlight of the theater pieces is a puppet play by the Buchty a loutky troupe. Rocky IX tells the story of a melancholic boxer and his coterie of lonely friends and enemies. Directed by Radek Beran, it won the prestigious ERIK prize as the most extraordinary puppet production of 2004. Fairy Tales From a Magical Phone Receiver incorporates the audience during and after the performance, encouraging children to participate in a series of imaginative word games.

The organizers, Unijazz and the Fokus Praha art therapy group, are hoping the event will break down barriers that shroud the ability to understand mental illness through the "use of cultural actions to stimulate dialogue between the audience members," according to Čestmír Huňát, chairman of Unijazz. In short, it's a unique opportunity for folks on the outside to mingle with folks on the inside.

"Before the Velvet Revolution, there were no mentally ill, according to the communist government," recalls Beate Albrich, director of Fokus Praha. The group was founded by a handful of people who wanted to shed light on their desperate plight, including a cleaning woman working in the Bohnice facility. "We just couldn't let them rot in their beds," Albrich says.

By bringing the mentally ill and the mentally "stable" together under the auspices of the performing arts, the organizers hope to continue breaking down the stereotypes that keep them apart. The festival is part of a month-long series of programs called "The Weeks of Mental Health," which culminate Oct. 10, World Mental Health Day.