THE 2023 REHEARSAL FOR TRUTH THEATER FESTIVAL | JUNE 2-14, 2023
ANEW
Accounts of former times—especially those based on real events and people—can help us connect history to the present world in a way that creates compassion for its complicated nature. It can help us understand ourselves and see our surroundings anew.
For the sixth edition, entitled ANEW, we invited theatrical talents who search for stories of the past to make sense of the present and find one’s place in the world. What did it mean to become a political refugee from 1968 Czechoslovakia? To live in and navigate the dark landscape of 1970s Warsaw? To arrive as a member of Jewish family in the 1940s Theresienstadt ghetto? And how does it feel today to be a Russian artist or an orphan teenage Roma girl in Romania?
The festival welcomed back the avant-garde Trap Door Theatre from Chicago, presenting a new production of the play Bowie in Warsaw by Dorota Maslowska—a fantastic rendering of 1970s Communist Warsaw to be visited by none other than David Bowie himself. Family relations stand at the core of Lucia Mann’s intimate story of a father and son, The Astronaut, as well as Hana Mikolaskova’s multigenerational portrait of a Jewish family, The Story of a Book.
Among the myriad of art forms featured in the program, performance-based events took center stage, with leading artists and choreographers showcasing their innovative works. Pavel Zustiak and the Palissimo dance company brought The Mystic Shimmer, a mesmerizing performance examining human ambition and existence. In POOL, choreographer and artist-in-residence at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, Denisa Musilova, isolated the unmet needs of patriarchy’s citizens and transfers them into a fabricated system. And Jan Mocek’s Present: Perfect explored the iconoclastic gestures through which we form senses of cultural identity by relating to symbols of our own past.
Interwoven stories act as sources to explain our place in the ever-changing world. In on the other side, Elena Demyanenko and Tarik Burnash disavowed political naïveté to acknowledge the complexity of state-sanctioned violence on the scale of a nation and the scale of the body. And Alina Serban in an autobiographical performance, The Best Child in the World, spoke about the efforts to make peace with the past and with one's own identity and life.
“It was a pure joy to present another year of the Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival. We were excited to welcome on our stage new artists and artists we have worked with in the past. We are proud that, over the years, we have become a partner in their artistic search for new forms and expression. ANEW showcased highly regarded European and American productions and celebrated the power of the theater and music to transform our lives.”
Organizers
The Vaclav Havel Library Foundation
Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association
CO-PRODUCERS
GOH Productions
Polish Cultural Institute
Trap Door Theatre
Centre of Jewish Culture ŠTETL
Jan Mocek
Martin E. Segal Theatre Center
Palissimo Company
Romanian Cultural Institute
PROMOTION PARTNERS
Czech Center New York
Consulate General of Slovakia in New York
MAIN SUPPORTERS
New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council
New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature
SUPPORTERS
Consulate General of the Czech Republic in New York
Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic
FESTIVAL TEAM
Pavla Niklova | Executive Director
Katerina Kyselica | Marketing & Communications
Bonnie Sue Stein | Production Manager
Marek Soltis | Technical Manager & Sound
Liljano Barjaktari | Lighting
Jiri Mirovsky | Technician
KADS New York, Katerina Kyselica | Visual Identity
Madeline Windland | Photography
Katarina Mirovsky | Accounting
VENUE
Bohemian National Hall, New York City
2023 PROGRAM
Bowie in Warsaw (Poland/US) | play, talkback
Playwright: Dorota Maslowska. Directed by: Pawel Swiatek. Cast: Holly Cerney, Emily Lotspeich, Miguel Long, David Lovejoy, Laura Nelson, Emily Nichelson, Tia Pinson, Keith Surney, Bob Wilson. Translation: Soren Gauger. Stage manager: Anna Klos. Scenic design: Merje Veske. Lighting design: Richard Norwood. Costume design: Rachel Sypniewski. Original music, sound design: Danny Rockett. Makeup, hair design: Syd Genco. Dramaturgy: Milan Pribisic.
Present: Perfect (Czech Republic) | performance, talkback
Created, designed and directed by: Jan Mocek. Performed by: Tinka Avramova, Irina Andreeva. Music: Matous Hekela. Production: Tana Svehlova. Lighting design: Vaclav Hruska.
on the other side (Russia/US) | dance performance, talkback
Choreography and performance: Tarik Burnash and Elena Demyanenko. Lighting design: Masha Tsimring. Lighting associate: Austin Boyle. Voice advisor: Tatyana Tenenbaum. Choreographic advisor: Jon Kinzel. Dramaturgy: Natalia Zaitseva.
The Library of Stolen Hopes (Czech Republic) | talk
Presentation by Rabbi Stephen Menashe Kliment of Brno.
The Astronaut (Germany/US) | stage reading, talkback
Playwright: Lucia Mann. Directed by: Arnon Grunberg, Lucia Mann. Cast: August Zirner.
Pool (Czech Republic) | dance performance, talkback
Choreography: Denisa Musilova. Dramaturgy: Mark DeChiazza. Performed by: Denisa Musilova, Mark DeChiazza, Vivienne Pankratova, Tom Rychetsky. Music, sound design: Ales Kauer.
The Story of a Book (czech republic) | play, talkback
Written and directed by: Hana Mikolaskova. Original story: Angela Strach. Cast: Miroslav Sykora, Zdislava Zacalova, Melika Yildizova, Ester Aylin Yildizova, Hana Mikolaskova, Elias Kliment. Dramaturgy: Eva Petlakova. Music: Ivan Acher. Costume design: Sylva Zimula Hanakova.
The Mystic Shimmer (Slovakia/US) | performance, talkback
Concept, direction, choreography, costume design: Pavel Zustiak. Performed by: Christine Bonansea, Wendell Gray II, Emma Judkins, Doug LeCours. Original music, sound design: Christian Frederickson. Lighting design: Masha Tsimring. Dramaturgical advice: Keith Skretch.
The Best Child in the World (Romania) | play, talkback
Created and performed by: Alina Serban. Artistic consultant: Andrei Majeri. Assistant director, dramaturgy consultant: Vera Suratel. Costumes: Cristina Milea. Set design: Miruna Balasa. Choreography: Razvan Rotaru. Director of photography: Boroka Biro, Catalin Rugina. Video design: Mircea Bogateanu. Music: Lucas Dario Molina. Sound for video: Stefan Azaharioaei. Lighting: Roxana Docan.
Photographs: Madeline Windland
