Waif T’s Private War is part of Green Drama, a collection of Slovak theater plays related to the burning topics of ecology and environmentalism. The play focuses on two socially excluded women, the aged punk Tanya and her wheelchair-bound senior mum. Living in a shabby apartment building and without money, life in a big city feels like hell for them. Conflicts, remorse, and unpaid bills dominate the women’s reality. Their sole escape comes in the form of a daily stroll to a nearby park, whereby they can reminisce about the great neighborhood community long gone. One day, the harsh reality of the future tears them from their sweet dreams of the past, when they find out that a development project is slated to destroy their lovely park. Tanya resists by trying to stop the developer with "kitchen" weapons.
Waif T's Private War is a tragicomedy with an unhappy ending that can take place anywhere in the world. It shows the helplessness and loneliness of socially excluded people in cities where nature and public space are slowly disappearing.
Waif T’s Private War, Slovakia. Playwright: Ursula Kovalyk. Director: Alexandra Aron. Cast: Marjorie Conn (Mummy), David Mandelbaum (Neighbor Feher), Doug Shapiro (Dushan), Katarina Vizina (Neighbor 1), Monique Vukovic (Tanya), Robert Sebastian Webb (Neighbor #2/Mr.Chobra). Translated by: Lucia Faltin.
Ursula Kovalyk will participate in the talkback.
Free and open to the public. Online registration through Eventbrite is required.
The 2022 Spring Stage Readings: Bridging the Worlds is dedicated to the people of Ukraine fighting for their independence. 🇺🇦 Suggested donation ($10) will be used to support Ukrainian refugees. All collected funds will be donated to People in Need, a Czech non-governmental, non-profit organization with over 20 years of experience in helping people in emergencies all over the world.
Proof of vaccination and wearing of a face mask during the event is required.
For more information about this reading and the 2022 Spring Stage Readings program, visit www.rehearsalfortruth.org.
ABOUT THE 2022 SPRING STAGE READINGS
The 2022 Spring Stage Readings: Bridging the Worlds is organized by the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation and the Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association in partnership with the Polish Cultural Institute New York, Untitled Theater Company #61, Consulate General of the Czech Republic in New York, GOH Productions, and Romanian Cultural Institute. 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 Stage Readings is part of the Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival honoring the playwright and human rights activist Vaclav Havel.
The 2022 edition has been conceived in consultation with Attila Szabo, Deputy Director, Hungarian Theatre Museum and Institute; Martina Peckova-Cerna, Head, International Cooperation Department, Arts and Theatre Institute, Prague; Tomek Smolarski, Performing Arts Programming, Polish Cultural Institute New York; Raluca Cimpoiasu, Program Manager, Romanian Cultural Institute; Vladislava Fekete, Director, Theatre Institute in Bratislava; and Andrea Domeova, Head of the Centre for Editorial Activities, Theatre Institute in Bratislava.