By Alexander Manuiloff
Directed by Irina Kruzhilina
Cast Tjasa Ferme, Grant Neale, and Stephen Ochsner
Three actors receive a script they have never seen before, piece by piece. A situation and design for a theatre evening, that discusses the questions of democracy, the potential for solidarity and participation in increasingly isolated and disconnected societies. Also love, violence, and serenades. There is a twisted love game at the backdrop of a dark, anti-utopian prospect of a whole country entering a state of war. All the situations are testing some form of personal corruption – staring from intimate relations, going through working situations and finally reaching to socially significant acts. Examining the topics of internal, personal corruption, and the important decisions (often invisible to outsiders' eyes) that can change the direction of one’s life, the audience will also have the opportunity to take decisions while the actors are not supposed to pre-learn a script. The performance becomes an interactive event that effortlessly invites everyone to join in and have their say.
Time: 1 hour
Language: English
Join for a post show discussion with the author.
The text was developed within the framework of the WRITE International Playwriting Residency, Sicily, 2018 and was presented for the first time in Romanian at Transit House, Cluj, Romania, in 2019. First prize for dramaturgy in the international competition of ACT Association, Sofia Municipality and Tou Scene, Norway, 2023.
Directed by Irina Kruzhilina
Photo credit: Toplocentrala Sofia
Also supported by the Consulate General of the Republic of Bulgaria.
With the help of the Czech Center
ABOUT:
Alexander Manuiloff (playwright) is a Bulgarian writer, playwright, and screenwriter, based in Sofia, Bulgaria. He studied theory of literature and Slavic studies at Sofia University (1997–2003), and specialized at Charles University, Prague/Czech Republic (1999) and the New Bulgarian University (2004) currently working at the British Council Sofia. He is the founder of Radar Sofia, the first residency place for foreign playwrights in Bulgaria.
For his book film, Alexander received the Bulgarian Writers’ Guild Award for the best fiction debut in 2004, and his plays have been awarded various prizes, among which the National Award for Dramaturgy Ivan Radoev (2019).
Alexander is the first Bulgarian writer presented at Theatertreffen’s Stückemarkt in Berlin/Germany (2015). His works have been translated into 15 languages so far and presented at more than 50 theatre festivals on four continents. A translation of his play The State by Nathalie Bassand and with a preface by Tim Etchells was published in 2019 in Paris by L'espace d'un Instant/Maison d'Europe et d'Orient. After his 2017 tour to Washington’s ForumTheatre/Woolly Mammoth, the DC Theatre Scene called him “a rare creator”, the Washington Post found his piece “exceptionally thoughtful”, while the Broadway World defined Manuiloff’s writing as being “akin to magical realism”.
Irina Kruzhilina (director) is an award-winning director and scenographer whose work lives at the intersection of visual art, live performance, and civic engagement. Her creative endeavors range from interdisciplinary downtown theatre to large scale parades, from opera to site responsive installations. Her work has been shown at Times Square, Tokyo, Disney, BAM, Prague National Theatre, NY Philharmonic, and Barbican Center. In 2024, Irina created SpaceBridge, a workshop and performance that brought together 19 refugee and American children. A critics' pick at the 2025 Under The Radar Festival, SpaceBridge is now expanding into a global youth engagement initiative.
Irina is an associate professor at The New School of Drama, where she co-developed the MFA in Contemporary Theatre and Performance. She is a La MaMa resident artist and recipient of the 2024 Joan D. Firestone Fund and Elliot Norton Awards.
Irina is the founder of Visual Echo, a New York-based performance organization fostering dialogue across divides.
ABOUT THE 2025 REHEARSAL FOR TRUTH INTERNATIONAL THEATER FESTIVAL
Rehearsal for Truth International Theater Festival, honoring Václav Havel, is a showcase of contemporary European theater organized each year in New York City. Conceived in 2017 as a shared endeavor of the Václav Havel Center (VHC) and Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association (BBLA), the festival honors the legacy of Czech playwright, dissident and political thinker Vaclav Havel.
Each edition of Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival addresses current sociopolitical trends in Central and Eastern Europe, offering New York audiences a unique opportunity to witness the region’s theatrical zeitgeist.
The program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. The festival is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.