Featured image on invitation: Zuzana Kronerova, Hot Summer '68, GUnaGU Theatre, photograph by Ctibor Bachraty
THE 2021 REHEARSAL FOR TRUTH THEATER FESTIVAL | aPRIL 16-25, 2021
2021 [VIRTUAL] SPRING WEEKEND: CONCERNING HUMAN IDENTITY
Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival’s 2021 Spring Weekend honoring playwright and human rights activist Vaclav Havel offered live online readings of contemporary plays penned by award-winning European playwrights from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. Seasoned New York City–based actors and directors performed the readings. The festival included works by young aspiring playwrights for the first time by featuring the winning plays from the Best Mini-Drama Student Contest.
The 2021 Spring Weekend: Concerning Human Identity presented works by six playwrights who continue Vaclav Havel’s tradition of critical reflection by considering the notions of ethical ambiguity that pervade modern life, regardless of political circumstances. The second virtual edition delved deeper into matters of personal identity that concerned Havel, such as self-understanding and human responsibility.
Theater audiences were invited to follow stories of personal quests for better lives and ponder the topics of immigration, identity, and the American Dream. Several plays employed absurdist humor as they explored issues related to Eastern European transitions to democracy, for example, humankind’s dissolution with reality (Money, The Third Age) or the complexities that impact immigrant identities (Hot Summer of ’68, Change). The festival program also addressed generational passages of trauma (Ghetto Love) and questioned the reality of the American Dream (Detroit. The History of a Hand, People’s Toast).
“We are delighted to continue the Spring Weekend festival, returning to our global audiences on a virtual stage with our fabulous New York City–based cast. Despite the unprecedented pause in in-person theater worldwide caused by COVID-19, the festival playwrights have continued their examination of fundamental questions of life. This year, they present us with a space for reflection on the crisis of human identity—a theme central to all plays by Vaclav Havel. Theater does not have answers to all of the pressing questions and doubts of our times, but, as Vaclav Havel wrote, ‘theater should always be somewhat suspect.’ We hope that this edition will also open our audience’s imagination to hope, creativity, and empathy.”
Organizers
The Vaclav Havel Library Foundation (VHLF)
Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association (BBLA)
PARTNERS
Polish Cultural Institute
Consulate General of Slovakia in New York
Promotion Partners
Czech Center New York
GOH Productions/Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre
PACE.V4, Performing Arts Central Europe
Hungarian Cultural Centre London
MAIN SUPPORTERS
New York City Department of Cultural Affairs
New York City Council Member Ben Kallos
CONSULTANTS
Attila Szabo, Deputy Director, Hungarian Theatre Museum and Institute
Vladislava Fekete, Director, Theatre Institute in Bratislava
Zuzana Ulicianska, Chair, the Slovak Center - International Association of Theatre Critics
Tomek Smolarski, Performing Arts Programming, Polish Cultural Institute New York
Martina Peckova-Cerna, Head, International Cooperation Department, Arts and Theatre Institute, Prague
VENUE
Zoom.us
2021 PROGRAM
Change, People’s Toast (czech republic, usa) | readings
Change (Czech Republic). Playwright: Tomas Louzny. Director: Patrice Miller. Stage Directions: John Amir. Cast: Yael Haskal, Bob Laine, Ellis Stump, Ann Marie Yoo.
People’s Toast (United States). Playwright: Ellis Stump. Director: Ellis Stump. Co-Director, Dramaturg: Patrice Miller. Cast: John Amir, Yael Haskal, Bob Laine, Ann Marie Yoo.
Money, Portal, The Third Age (czech republic) | reading
Playwright: Dodo Gombar. Director: Edward Einhorn. Cast: Craig Anderson, Rolls Andre, Elizabeth Chappel, Nathanial Meek, Max Wolkowitz, Richard Toth. Translated by: Lucie Kolouchova.
Hot Summer of ‘68 (How we ran) (Slovakia | reading
Playwright: Viliam Klimacek. Director: Christina Franklin. Cast: Emma Andriatch, Abigail Ludrof, Stephanie Windland. Translated by: Katarina Cockrell.
Ghetto Love (hungary) | reading
Playwright: Tamas Reczei. Director: Lisa Arrindell. Cast: Jane Arnfield, Rebecca Gever, Kathryn Grody. Translated by: Borbala Rieger.
Detroit. The History of a Hand (Poland) | reading
Playwright: Jolanta Janiczak. Director: Vernice Miller. Cast: Brian Jennings, Raymond Johannes Kraft, Erin Lockett, Anna Podolak, Kelvin Tejada, Joann Yarrow. Translated by: Beata Marczynska-Fedorowicz.