THE 2025 REHEARSAL FOR TRUTH THEATER FESTIVAL Spring Reading series | April 14 – May 4, 2025
2025 SPRING READINGS
The 2025 Spring Readings took place from April 14 – May 4. It included staged readings and contemporary plays by award-winning European playwrights from Estonia, Lithuania, and Ukraine. It also examined Havel’s Vaněk character, with excerpts of Vaněk plays from Havel and others in conjunction with a new book on the subject. All the readings were being presented free of charge, with a requested donation.
This was a unique opportunity to see how the writers of Central and Eastern European are responding to these turbulent times, while also examining how past writers have responded to other times of crisis. The three new plays came from countries bordering Russia. We started with Once Upon a Time There was a Rooster, a Ukranian play by Anna Halas play dealing with the current war, about a Ukranian family on a farm and a Russian soldier who stumbles into their farm. Then we presented the Lithuanian play Blood Brothers by Gabrielė Labanauskaite, a tragicomedy, a paraphrase of the biblical brothers Cain and Abel, which tells a story of love, friendship and the hatred of otherness fueled by the far-right. We concluded the series with Business as Usual, an Estonian play by Mehis Pihla, a comic and thrilling accounting of the recent Estonian banking scandal, where Russian oligarchs used Estonian banks to launder their money into the EU.
Our evening entitled Dissident Power in Havel’s Vanek featured author Carol Strong, who talked about her book on the subject. The talk will be highlighted with excerpts of work not only by Havel but of Pavel Landovský, Pavel Kohout, Jiří Dienstbier, and others.
And also as a side offering the show Cabaret in Captivity, seen two years ago in the reading series, was presented in full at an associated venue, Torn Page, in honor of Holocaust Remembrance on April 26 - 27. The program included songs and sketches from the Terezin, performed in Czech, German, Hebrew, and English.
“The reading series provides a rare opportunity to hear artistic voices from Central and Eastern Europe. We are at a time marked by war, and once again the region finds itself in the center of conflict. These plays reflect on war, oppression, and its legacy, and they provide a way to connect to both the human trauma and perseverance that is part of that legacy.”
Organizers
The Vaclav Havel Center (VHC)
Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association (BBLA)
PARTNERS
Consulate General of the Czech Republic in New York
Estonian Ministry of Culture
Lithuanian Culture Institute
Untitled Theater Company No. 61
PROMOTION PARTNERS
Consulate General of Ukraine in New York
Czech Center New York
Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences (SVU), New York
Razom for Ukraine
MAIN SUPPORTERS
New York City Department of Cultural Affairs
New York City Council
CONSULTANTS
Martina Peckova-Cerna, Head, International Cooperation Department,
PerformCzech / Arts and Theatre Institute
FESTIVAL TEAM
Edward Einhorn | Artistic Director
Berit Johnson | Production Manager
D Henry Hanson | Assistant Production Manager
Nu Ave Art | Web Master/Marketing
Marek Soltis | Technical Manager & Sound
Jiri Mirovsky | Technician
Steve Prue | Photography
Katarina Mirovsky | Accounting
Everyman Agency | Publicity
VENUE
Bohemian National Hall, New York City
Torn Page, New York City
2025 SPRING READING PROGRAM
Once Upon a Time There Was a Rooster (UKRAINE) | STAGE READING
Playwright: Anna Halas Director: Eva Burgess.
Blood Brothers (LITHUANIA) | STAGE READING
Playwrights: Gabrie-lė Labanauskaite Director: Patrice Miller.
Business as Usual (ESTONIA) | STAGE READING
Playwright: Mehis Pihla. Directed by: Alexander Harrington.
