2021 Annual Gala, “The Play’s the Thing”
September 23, 2021, Bohemian National Hall | Photographs by Rathkopf Photography.
An annual benefit gala celebrating the legacy of Vaclav Havel and Czech and Slovak communities’ presence in New York. This year, we honored the renowned Czech-born British playwright and screenwriter Sir Tom Stoppard.
With two-time Tony Award-winning actress Christine Baranski hosting the evening; Ayad Akhtar, recipient of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for drama, delivering opening remarks; triple Tony Award- and quintuple Drama Desk Award-winning director Jack O’Brien introducing Mr. Stoppard . . and Vaclav Havel’s wife Dagmar Havlova, prominent theater and film actress, presenting Mr. Stoppard with the 2021 BBLA Award for Unparalleled Service to the Czech and Slovak Communities.
The evening included excerpts from Tom Stoppard’s Rock 'n' Roll and Vaclav Havel’s Largo Desolato, directed by Michael Sexton, head of the Public Shakespeare Initiative; and live auction of books signed by Sir Tom Stoppard the past August in London. Another highlight was the presentation of the 2021 Disturbing the Peace Award to a Courageous Writer at Risk by Polish writer Adam Michnik to Belarusian poet Dmitri Strotsev.
