THE 2022 REHEARSAL FOR TRUTH THEATER FESTIVAL | APRIL 4-25, 2022
2022 SPRING STAGE READINGS: BRIDGING THE WORLDS
The 2022 Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival’s Spring Stage Readings took place from April 4 to April 25. It offered stage readings of contemporary plays by award-winning European playwrights from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, and Romania.
Each festival’s spring edition is a unique opportunity for a truly intercultural and multigenerational examination of Central European present-day trends and the not-so-distant, turbulent past. The state of affairs in the region—the Russian invasion of Ukraine—only amplified the need for our closer examination of human nature as well as a search for peace and place to belong.
During five evenings, a number of riveting stories were told: of families separated, and people imprisoned and disappeared without a trace (Juliet, Hungary); of socially excluded individuals attempting to defend their social space (Waif T’s Private War, Slovakia); of a young generation searching for a perfect happiness in a fake world of lifestyle magazines (Love, Bitches, Czech Republic).
The Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival takes a critical look at humanity while also offering a dose of the surreal and absurd to help us assess our place in the world. We invited audiences on an eerie yet comical journey across galaxies—only to land in a “Planet America” and attempt make sense of it (Exile Is My Home, Romania). Audience members also had an opportunity to consider the spiritual condition of today’s society with nameless protagonists of no specific gender, race, or age (Kicking Down the Quilt, Poland).
The 2022 edition, Bridging the Worlds, presented works by award-winning playwrights already known to US audiences, such as Hungarian Andras Visky, artistic director at The Hungarian Theatre of Cluj in Romania, and Romanian-born American Domnica Radulescu, the Edwin A. Morris Professor of Comparative Literature at Washington and Lee University. For the first time at the festival, readings of works by Polish Rafal Dziemidok (who appeared in New York City with the Dada von Bzdulow Theatr), Czech Petr Kolecko (who excels in constructing unlikely situations with dark humor to create hyperbole), and Slovak Ursula Kovalyk (who is known for her artistic collaborations with homeless and disabled people) were performed.
“We were really excited to work again with our international community of performers and directors. It is their incredible talents and multicultural experiences that allow us to connect the New York City audience with Central European literature and theater. As the people in Central and Eastern Europe find themselves in difficult times due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we hoped that by presenting these Central European plays, we could bridge our worlds, wishing for empathy, tolerance, and peace.”
The festival was free to the public. Suggested donation ($10) was used to support Ukrainian refugees. 🇺🇦 All collected funds were donated to People in Need, a Czech non-governmental, non-profit organization with over 20 years of experience in helping people in emergencies all over the world.
>> About Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival
Organizers
The Vaclav Havel Library Foundation (VHLF)
Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association (BBLA)
PARTNERS
Consulate General of the Czech Republic in New York
GOH Productions
Polish Cultural Institute
Romanian Cultural Institute
Untitled Theater Company #61
PROMOTION PARTNERS
Consulate General of Slovakia in New York
Czech Center New York
MAIN SUPPORTERS
New York City Department of Cultural Affairs
New York City Council
CONSULTANTS
Martina Peckova-Cerna, Head, International Cooperation Department, Arts and Theatre Institute, Prague
Attila Szabo, Deputy Director, Hungarian Theatre Museum and Institute
Tomek Smolarski, Performing Arts Programming, Polish Cultural Institute New York
Raluca Cimpoiasu, Program Manager, Romanian Cultural Institute
Vladislava Fekete, Director, Theatre Institute in Bratislava
Andrea Domeova, Head of the Centre for Editorial Activities, Theatre Institute in Bratislava
FESTIVAL TEAM
Pavla Niklova | Executive Director
Katerina Kyselica | Marketing & Communications
Bonnie Sue Stein | Production Manager
Marek Soltis | Technical Manager & Sound
Liljano Barjaktari | Lighting
Jiri Mirovsky | Technician
KADS New York, Katerina Kyselica | Festival Visual Identity
Madeline Windland | Photography
Katarina Mirovsky | Accounting
Hugh Kane, Noah Oliva | Front of House
VENUE
Bohemian National Hall, New York City
2022 PROGRAM
KICKING DOWN THE QUILT (POLAND) | STAGE READING
Playwright: Rafal Dziemidok. Director: Dmitri Barcomi. Cast: Amy Coleman, Aleksandr Krapivkin, DeVante Lewis, David Mandelbaum, Demetrius Stewart, Weronika Wozniak.
EXILE IS MY HOME (ROMANIA) | STAGE READING, TALKBACK
Playwrights: Domnica Radulescu. Director: Rachel Tamarin. Cast: Steph Marie Alvarez, Jessica Carmona, Alexandra Gomez, Talia Segal, Ken LaBoy Vasquez, Selina Hernandez. Choreographer: Amy Frey. Music: Joshua Murphy, Alexander Tanson.
JULIET (HUNGARY) | STAGE READING, TALKBACK
Playwright: Andras Visky. Director: Michael Sexton. Cast: Kate Forbes. Translated by: David Robert Evans. With revisions by Ailisha O’Sullivan and Jozefina Komporaly.
LOVE, BITCHES (CZECH REPUBLIC) | STAGE READING, TALKBACK
Playwright: Petr Kolecko. Directed by: Edward Einhorn. Cast: Stephan Amenta, JaneAnne Halter, Ian J Hayes, Ethan Horgan, Jordana Kagan, Delia Kemph, Sara Rahman, Rivera Reese, Nathaniel J. Ryan, Dana Watkins, Maxwell Zener. Composer/Music accompaniment: Adam Bernstein. Translated by: Edward Einhorn with assistance of Katerina Lu.
Waif T’s Private War (slovakia) | stage reading, talkback
Playwright: Ursula Kovalyk. Director: Alexandra Aron. Cast: Marjorie Conn, David Mandelbaum, Doug Shapiro, Katarina Vizina, Monique Vukovic, Robert Sebastian Webb. Stage directions: Deborah Beshaw-Farrell. Translated by: Lucia Faltin.
