The 2020 Spring Weekend Brings The Unimaginable of Reality
Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival Announces the 2020 Spring Weekend: The Unimaginable of Reality
We are pleased to partner with the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation to present the second edition of the Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival’s Spring Weekend. From May 28–31 on Zoom, the festival will offer live online readings of contemporary plays penned by award-winning European playwrights from Hungary, Slovakia and Poland who explore current social and political issues in their quest for truth. Seasoned New York City–based actors will perform the three readings. A moderated discussion with prominent translators of Vaclav Havel’s plays will accompany the events.
Coinciding with our reality amid a trying time, the 2020 Spring Weekend: The Unimaginable of Reality presents plays that delve into the human psyche subjected to unforeseen and unpredictable circumstances. They concern situations of hardship: unemployment in the 21st century (Mine Flowers), immigration in the 19th century (The American Emperor), fear and disconnection impairing relationships on a universal scale (Cost of Living). Nevertheless, life ultimately prevails as people hope for fairness and betterment. Using witty linguistics, irony and hyperbole, the Central European authors dissipate the gloomy clouds hovering above our heads, for the time being.
The festival will open with a discussion on the challenges of literary translations. Four expert English translators of Vaclav Havel’s Czech plays join in a conversation with New York City playwright Edward Einhorn, Artistic Director of Untitled Theater Company #61. Einhorn was the first ever to produce the complete plays of Vaclav Havel, all featured at the Havel Festival in 2006. Actors from Untitled Theater Company #61 will perform select passages.
Tyne Rafaeli, who has recently produced Ming Peiffer’s Usual Girls (Roundabout Theatre Company) and Sylvia Khoury’s Power Strip (Lincoln Center Theater), is one of the three female directors participating in the 2020 Spring Weekend.
The cast includes superb theater, television and film actors, including Chris Carfizzi (Daredevil, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Shades of Blue), Uma Incrocci (Modern Family, How to Get Away With Murder), Megan Metrikin (Sophiatown, Finding Fellini), Kevin Sebastian (Waiting for the Bus, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Blue Bloods, Bull), and Michael Turner (Shadow of Heroes).
“In the time when change is the only certainty, art goes on, and so does theater,” the festival director Pavla Niklova observes. “We believe in the power of theater to connect people despite the urgency of physical distancing. We have decided to take on the challenge of experimenting with live streaming. With the stellar cohort of New York City actors, outstanding directors and the thrill of unknown, we believe each performance will leave a lasting memory. The unimaginable is now reality. All the world is a stage.””
The 2020 Spring Weekend: The Unimaginable of Reality is organized by the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation and the Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association in partnership with the Polish Cultural Institute New York and Untitled Theater Company #61. The festival is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Spring Weekend is part of the Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival honoring the playwright and human rights activist Vaclav Havel. The 2020 edition has been conceived in consultation with Attila Szabo, Deputy Director, Hungarian Theatre Museum and Institute; Vladislava Fekete, Director, Theatre Institute in Bratislava; and Zuzana Ulicianska, Chair, the Slovak Center - International Association of Theatre Critics.