2021 [Virtual] Spring Weekend: Concerning Human Identity
Experience award-winning contemporary plays by Eastern European playwrights addressing current social and political issues in pursuit of truth
April 16 – 25, 2021
online on Zoom
The Vaclav Havel Library Foundation and Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association in partnership with the Polish Cultural Institute New York and Consulate General of Slovakia in New York are pleased to present the Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival’s 2021 [Virtual] Spring Weekend. From April 16 to April 25 on Zoom, the international festival honoring playwright and human rights activist Vaclav Havel will offer live online readings of contemporary plays penned by award-winning European playwrights from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, and Poland. Seasoned New York City–based actors and directors will perform the readings. The festival will include works by young aspiring playwrights for the first time by featuring the winning plays from the Best Mini-Drama Student Contest.
Theater audiences are invited to follow stories of personal quests for better lives and ponder the topics of immigration, identity, and the American Dream. Several plays employ absurdist humor as they explore 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 addresses generational passages of trauma (Ghetto Love) and questions the reality of the American Dream (Detroit. The History of a Hand, People’s Toast).
The 2021 Spring Weekend: Concerning Human Identity takes places online on Zoom. Each event is followed by a Q&A session. All Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival Spring Weekend productions are free and open to the public. Online registration through Eventbrite is required to obtain the link and password for viewing. Donations received from viewers will benefit the Best Mini-Drama Student Contest, a Vaclav Havel Library Foundation program that supports young, aspiring playwrights from the US and Czech Republic.
The 2021 program has been conceived in consultation with Attila Szabo, Deputy Director, Hungarian Theatre Museum and Institute; Vladislava Fekete, Director, Theatre Institute in Bratislava; Zuzana Ulicianska, Chair of the Slovak Center – International Association of Theatre Critics; Tomek Smolarski, Performing Arts Programming, Polish Cultural Institute New York; and Martina Peckova-Cerna, Head of International Cooperation Department, Arts and Theatre Institute in Prague.
The program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and Council Member Ben Kallos. Promotion partners include the Czech Center New York, GOH Productions/Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre, and PACE.V4 (Performing Arts Central Europe).
More information: www.rehearsalfortruth.org.
Registration: www.rehearsalfortruth.eventbrite.com
