Rehearsal for Truth 2019: Audience (Czech Republic)

PLAY, TALKBACK, AFTERPARTY. “Audience” centers on a meeting between brewery manager Sladek and employee Vanek. While the manager is clearly opening too many beers and inducing binge drinking, it is less clear what he wants from Vanek. “Audience” (1975) is the first of Vaclav Havel’s partly autobiographical one-act plays known as the “Vanek Trilogy” (followed by Protest (1978) and Mistake (1983)) based on his experience of being subject to forced work while under constant harassment from the Communist regime. Since the plays were banned in then-Czechoslovakia, they were performed in people’s living rooms and even recorded on vinyl.

AUDIENCE (1975) / Czech Republic /. Playwright: Vaclav Havel.
Directed by: Jakub Spalek. Cast: Jan Potmesil, Tomas Karger.
Presented by: Kaspar Theatre in Celetna, Czech Center New York. Duration: 45 minutes.

The show will be performed in Czech with English supertitles. Talkback after the show will be with director/actor Jakub Spalek and actor Jan Potmesil, afterparty reception will take place at Bohemian National Hall’s Ballroom Bar.

Free and open to the public. Seats are limited, on first-come, first-served basis. Registration online through Eventbrite is required. Arrive earlier to choose the best program encourages participants to enter a dialogue on pressing matters that pervade our post-truth era.

“The time when boundary is blurred between truth and lie, theater holds the power to re-establish relationships between participants through a common engagement and common experience of truth,” states Niklova.

The 2019 Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival is organized by the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation (VHLF) and Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association (BBLA), in partnership with Czech, Hungarian, Polish, Slovak and Romanian performing arts organizations and cultural institutes. The series of events highlight Vaclav Havel’s legacy as a playwright through live performances, panel discussions, exhibitions and a ceremony for the Disturbing the Peace Award to a Courageous Writer at Risk. A key objective is to establish exchanges between U.S. and Central European theater professionals. The festival reflects Havel’s contribution to 20th-century theater as well as his belief in the potential of Central European cultural traditions to enrich human existence in the modern age. The program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

From the Bohemian National Hall.