Vanek 2026 (Belarus, Czechia, Lithuania, Romania, USA)
A series of newly commissioned short plays using Václav Havel’s character, Ferdinand Vaněk (or his relatives and descendants) and placing them in modern scenarios, imaging them in the world of today. Vanek was based on Havel himself but because a symbol of the dissident movement in Czechoslovakia. He has been used by multiple playwrights, including Tom Stoppard. This year, we have reached out to past collaborators to continue Havel's legacy, in the year of his 90th birthday.
Featuring plays by Maryia Bialkovich (Belarus), Edward Einhorn (USA), Gabriele Labanauskaite (Lithuania), Natalie Kocab (Czechia), and Norman Manea/Saviana Stanescu (Romania).
With: Vas Eli, Nalina Mann, Grant Neale, Štěpán Šimek, Maxwell Zener
Awkward Pause
By Maryia Bialkovich (Belarus)
Directed by Edward Einhorn
Meeting in Amsterdam
Written and directed by Edward Einhorn (USA)
RG
by Gabriele Labanauskaite (Lithuania)
Directed by Štěpán Šimek (Czechia)
Flight Cancelled
by Natalie Kocab (Czechia)
Directed by Štěpán Šimek (Czechia)
Hooligan's Return - Barney Greengrass scene
Adapted by Saviana Stanescu (Romania)
From the book by Norman Manea (Romania)
Performed in English.
Edward Einhorn is a playwright, director, translator, librettist, theater journalist, and novelist. He is the Artistic Director of both Untitled Theater Company No.61 and the Rehearsal for Truth International Theater Festival. In 2006, he curated the Václav Havel Festival, which included all of Havel’s work, at multiple theaters throughout New York City, with Havel in attendance. Since then some of his work includes Cabaret in Captivity, songs and sketches from Terezin, written during the Holocaust performed at multiple venues in New York, London, ans Washington DC; The Marriage of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein, which received at Critics Pick from The New York Times chief reviewer Jesse Green, performed in at HERE in New York and Off-West End at The Jermyn Street Theatre in London; The Pig, or Václav Havel’s Hunt for a Pig, adapted from the work by Václav Havel and Vladimír Morávek, which played at The New Ohio and 3LD Theatres in New York and received a New York Times and Village Voice Critics Pick; The Velvet Oratorio, an opera-theater production following Havel’s character Vaněk through the Velvet Revolution, which played at Lincoln Center’s Walter Bruno Theatre and Bohemian National Hall; and directing The Last Cyclist, a play by Karel Švenk written in Terezin, which performed at La MaMa and was also shown on PBS affiliate WNET as part of their Theater Close Up series.
STEPAN SIMEK is a Prague-born director, translator, adaptor, and professor of theater at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. Stepan has translated plays from Czech, German, and Russian, most notably works by Vaclav Havel, Petr Zelenka, Iva Volankova, David Drabek, Peter Handke, and Anton Chekhov. His translations have been published in a number of anthologies, staged across the USA, and received the 2006 PEN America Translation Award and the 2018 Eurodram Award for best English translation of a foreign-language play. He has directed over forty productions in Europe, Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, and New York. He adapted for stage several novels and literary works, such as Kafka’s Amerika, Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, Bulgakhov’s Heart of the Dog, and Francois Villon’s The Testament. In addition, Stepan writes on the contemporary Czech theater and his articles have appeared in TheatreForum and SEEP (Slavic and East European Performance).
Gabriele Labanauskaite is a poetess and playwright, writing for theatre and opera. At the moment she teaches creative writing and playwriting at National Music and Theatre Academy in Vilnius, Lithuania. Gabriele was also a performer and an organizer of various festivals, creating a platform for interdisciplinary artists – locally and globally. Gabriele believes, that we can change the world into a better place for everyone, even if each of us make a small step towards it. Gabriele‘s plays and librettos for operas where staged in Lithuania and worldwide. From 2003 Gabrielė has written mostly about Queer + topics, freedom of speech and behavior, and equal rights for everyone. Books include Dramatica (2017); Collection of Plays (Lithuanian and English, 2022); Lear/s (2024). Poetry albums include Nėra okeano‚ (There‘s no Ocean, CD/DVD, 2009; Niagara (CD, 2010); Kraujuojantis okeanas (Ocean Is Bleeding, CD, 2013)
Vladislava Fekete studied dramaturgy at Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava, where she also defended her dissertation there in 2009. She is an author of television and radio scripts, coordinates theatre workshops and symposiums. She is a director and dramaturg, and cooperates with theatres in Slovakia and abroad. She translates contemporary Serbian drama and theory to Slovak (Aleksandra Jovićević and Ana Vujanović: An Introduction to Performance Studies; Jovan Hristić: Chekhov, the Playwright, plays of Biljana Srbljanović, Nebojša Romčević, Milena Marković, Milena Bogavac, Maja Pelević and other.) Since July 2006 she is director of Theatre Institute Bratislava and director of the festival of contemporary Slovak and world drama Nová dráma/New Drama. She initiated the Theatre Research Centre as a new department of the Theatre Institute and many other projects orientated on the creation and reflection of contemporary Slovak drama for children and adults, including the research project History of Slovak Drama of the 20th century.
Maryia Bialkovich was born in 1991 (Minsk, Belarus). In 2014 she finished studying at the School of young writers by the Union of Belarusian Writers. In 2014 – 2019 Maryia studied and worked in Belarus Free Theatre as an actress, a stage manager and a playwright. Maryia Bialkovich’s plays include Any Spot With Marks Left Behind, Wellbeing, Peaceful People and Torn Loops. Maryia is a co-author of three productions by Belarus Free Theatre: Dogs of Europe, Tomorrow I Was Always a Lion and The Master Had a Talking Sparrow. Dramaturgical adaptations and plays by Maryia Bialkovich were staged by Belarus Free Theatre (Belarus, UK) and Malenky Theatre (Israel). They were presented as various readings in Belarus, Estonia, Israel, Kazakhstan and Russia. Plays by Maryia Bialkovich are translated into English, German and Czech languages. Plays by Maryia are included in short-lists and lists of plays recommended for staging by playwright competitions AURORA, Liubimovka, Centre for Belarusian Dramaturgy, Remarka, Writebox.
Part of Rehearsal for Truth International Theater Festival honoring Václav Havel, produced by the Vaclav Havel Center and the Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association.
ABOUT THE 2026 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.