THE 2024 REHEARSAL FOR TRUTH INTERNATIONAL THEATER FESTIVAL | JUNE 12-23, 2024
Dark Dreams
Rehearsal for Truth International Theater Festival is an annual showcase of contemporary Central and Eastern European theater, established in 2017. The festival is a shared endeavor of the Václav Havel Center and the Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association in partnership with numerous other cultural and performing arts organizations. The festival honors the artistic and political legacy of the Czech playwright/dissident/president Václav Havel. We support exchanges between American and European theater professionals and celebrate the power of the theater to transform our lives.
The 2024 festival, entitled Dark Dreams, ran June 12 – 23. This year’s festival (including the May reading series) featured work from Austria, Belarus, Estonia, Czechia, Germany, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, and Ukraine. Much of the work featured this year was surreal or dreamlike, finding ways to comment on past and present tragedies, from the legacy of the Nazi and Soviet years to the current war in Ukraine. It explored fascism but also beauty, darkness but also laughter.
We began with one of the oldest authors in the vein of the dark and comically surreal, Franz Kafka, on the 100th anniversary of his death. And we continued on with not only theater but dance and music. This year, for the first time, we also included film in our lineup, specifically film of theater and dance. And most of our programs included discussions with either the authors, experts on some of the subjects addressed, or both.
Thank you for joining us. All programs are free, though we do ask for a $10 donation if you can afford it. It makes continuing our work possible.
“Man is not an omnipotent master of the universe, allowed to do with impunity whatever he thinks, or whatever suits him at the moment. The world we live in is made of an immensely complex and mysterious tissue about which we know very little and which we must treat with utmost humility.”
Organizers
The Václav Havel Center
Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association
CO-PRODUCERS
Arts and Theatre Institute, Prague
Austrian Cultural Forum
Consulate General of the Czech Republic in New York
Consulate General of Estonia in New York
Consulate General of Slovakia in New York
Drama Panorama
Polish Cultural Institute
Romanian Cultural Institute
Untitled Theater Company No. 61
Yara Arts Group
PROMOTION PARTNERS
Czech Center New York
Consulate General of Slovakia in New York
Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences (SVU), New York
Hungarian House
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
Edward Einhorn | Artistic Director
Berit Johnson | Production Manager
Marek Soltis | Technical Manager & Sound
Patrick Pizzolorusso | Web Master
Jana Krupkova | Social Media
Josef Nosál | Production Assistant
Lucy Zener | Production Assistant
Jiri Mirovsky | Technician
KADS New York, Katerina Kyselica | Brochure Design
Madeline Windland | Photography
Katarina Mirovsky | Accounting
David Gibbs/DARR Publicity | Publicity
VENUE
Bohemian National Hall, New York City
2024 PROGRAM
A Report for an Academy, A Message from the Emperor (Austria/Czechia) | Music Theater
Playwright: Franz Kafka. Academy Directed by: Henry Akona. Original Music for “Emperor” by: Martin Bresnick. Cast: Markus Hirnigel. Percussionists: Makana Kai Noah Medeiros, and Chad Beebe. Translation: Mark Harman. Piano Performance and Arrangement by: Maria Dessena.
Jumpcore (Poland) | Dance
Choreography and performance: Paweł Sakowicz. Dramaturgy: Mateusz Szymanówka. Music: Indecorum. Costume: Doom 3k.
Mariupol: Diaries of War and the Tree of Life (Ukraine/USA) | Documentary Theater
Compiled by: Daria Kolomiec. Poetry by: Serhiy Zhadan. Directed by: Virlana Tkacz. Performed by: Marina Celander, Hanna Datsko, George Drance, Darien Fiorino, Silvana Gonzalez, Susan Hwang, Daria Kolomiec, Diana Kuzminova and Petro Ninovskyi.
Commander and Effemery (Czechia) | Dance on film
Commander:
Directed/Choreographed By: Viliam Dočolomanský. DP: Václav Fronk. Edited by: Karel Šindelář. Sound: Jiří Graf, NAPA Records. Cast: Julian Hajduk Brown, Heřman Tajovský, František Souček, Tomáš Richard Brenton, Michal Vrubel, Kryštof Brož, Kryštof Koníček, Oliver Vyskočil, Mikuláš Rychetský a další.
Ephemera:
Directed/Choreographed by: Viliam Dočolomanský. Co-Directed by: Jiří Matoušek. Concept: Viliam Dočolomanský, Lucia Škandíková, Farm in the Cave. DP: Václav Fronk. Edited by: Karolína Čejková. Sound: Eva Svobodová. Cast: Eliška Vavříková, Gioele Coccia, Andrej Štepita, Eleftheria Iliopoulou, Julian Hajduk Brown, Lukas Blaha, Barbora Ješutová, Barbora Nechanická, Monika Částková, Simona Dejmková, Matĕj Petrák, Karolína Grygarová, Kamila Růtová, Jakub Kohout, Eliška Řezníčková, Adéla Garabiková, Julie Kubrychtová, Omar Torrico.
The Zlin Project (Czechia) | Puppet theater
Directed by: Marta Hermannová. Scenography by: Iva Ščerbáková. Scenographic collaboration: Dominik Migač. Music by: Vojtěch Cibulka. Cast: Anna Datiashvili, David Bolech. Dramaturgy: collective. Voiceover: Marek Bečka. Production: Adam Bureš
Blood, Sweat, and Queers (Czechia/Germany) | staged reading
Playwright: Tomáš Dianiška. Translated from Czech by: Edward Einhorn and Katarina Vizina. Directed by: Barbora Schnelle and Henning Bochert. Performed by: Zinzer Jay, Laura Heisler, Jason Liebman, Natalia Payne.
BOA (Poland) | Dance on film
Choreography and direction: Paweł Sakowicz. Text and dramaturgy: Anka Herbut. Sound Design: Justyna Stasiowska. Light design: Jacqueline Sobiszewski. Costumes: Milena Liebe. Cast: Magda Grąziowska, Ewa Kaim, Katarzyna Krzanowska, Radosław Krzyżowski, Aleksandra Nowosadko, Przemysław Przestrzelski, Łukasz Szczepanowski. Production: The Helena Modrzejewska National Stary Theatre in Kraków. Duration: 70'
The Last cyclist (Czech/American) | Theater on film
Original play by: Karel Švenk. Written by: Naomi Patz. Directed by: Edward Einhorn. Performed by: Craig Anderson, Lynn Berg, Kirsten Hopkins, Timur Kocak, Ambrose Martos, Jenny Lee Mitchell, Eric Emil Oleson, Patrick Pizzolorusso, Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld, Clay Westman, Judy Blazer, Marina Dessena
Helver's Night (Slovakia/Poland) | Theater
Written by: Ingmar Villqist. Directed by: Anton Korenči. Costume and design by: Sisa Korenčiová Zubajová. Cast: Peter Čižmár, Diana Semanová
here moscow calling (Romania) | Romanian Theater on film
Directed by: Catinca Drăgănescu. Cinematic Creation and Stage Movement by: Simona Deaconescu. Set Design by: Gabi Albu. DOP by: Carmen Tofeni. Video Editing by: Bogdan Giurcă. Lighting Design by: Dragoș Mărgineanu/ Alexandru Medveghi.
Translation (in Romanian) by: Raluca Rădulescu. Cast: Nicoleta Lefter, Alex Călin, Liviu Romanescu, Răzvan Rotaru.
The Feminist’s Handbook to Eastern Europe (Estonia) | Cabaret
Cast: Kaisa Ling (vocals and percussion), Rene Allkivi (vocals and piano)
noon (Czechia) | Dance on film
Commissioned by: Divadlo Continuo and Divadlo Archa. Directed by: Pavel Štourač. Concept: Divadlo Continuo. Dramaturgy: Divadlo Continuo, Marek Turošík. Visual concept, stage design by: Helena Štouračová a Pavel Štourač. Music / Sound design by: Elia Moretti et al. Light-design by: Jan Hugo Hejzlar. Filmmaking by: Amador Artiga. Cast: Sara Bocchini, Kateřina Šobáňová, Natalia Peták Vaňová, Sean Henderson, Felix Baumann, Pavel Štourač Markéta Lábusová (violin, voice ), John Robin Bold ( guitars, electronic ), Petr Tichý (double bass), Urban Megušar (violoncello). Production: Zuzana Bednarčiková, Markéta Krejčová, Art Prometheus. Booking: Nikola Križková
Lowlands (Romania) | Workshop presentation
Written by: Nobel Prize Winner Herta Müller. Adapted for stage by: Mihaele Panainte. Translated by: Dr Jozefina Komporaly. Directed by: Natália Gleason-Nagy. With: Annabel McConnachie, Susie K. Taylor, Calaine Schafer, Miguel Loyola, and Vas Eli
Production Photos for 2024
