Playwright: Tomáš Dianiška.
Translated from Czech By: Edward Einhorn and Katarina Vizina.
Directed By: Barbora Schnelle and Henning Bochert (Drama Panorama: Forum for Translation and Theatre)
Performed by: Zinzer Jay, Laura Heisler, Jason Liebman, Natalia Payne
Performed in English.
Blood, Sweat, and Queers is one of the most successful plays in contemporary Czech drama and deals with a sports scandal of the interwar period that was hushed up in the Czech Republic for a long time. It is inspired by the life of the successful athlete Zdena Koubková (1913-1986), celebrated in the sports world of the time as a “wonder woman” and holding several world records until she was identified as intersex in 1936, changed her gender, underwent surgery to become Zdeněk Koubek. Together with the main character’s life story, Dianiška’s play also describes the increasing fascism of the 1930s, permeated by homophobia, transphobia and gender stereotypes.
90 minutes; reading in English, talkback in English and possibly Czech
Sponsored by Drama Panorama
Produced by: Vaclav Havel Centre, Drama Panorama: Forum für Übersetzung und Theater e. V. (Forum for Translation and Theatre)
Part of Rehearsal for Truth International Theater Festival honoring Václav Havel, produced by the Václav Havel Center and the Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association.
About
TOMÁŠ DIANIŠKA (*1984) studied acting at the Theatre Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague and became an ensemble member of the F. X. Šalda Theatre in Liberec, where he played more than 30 roles. He is the main author and actor of the F. X. Kalba Theatre, which was originally founded as a “punk offshoot” of the F. X. Šalda Theatre, but later became independent and merged with the Palmovka Theatre. As a playwright, he was involved in the productions Zvrhlá Margaret (The perverted Margaret) or House of Love 2: Návrat hezkých hochů (The Return of the nice Guys) at the A studio Rubín Theatre. For the F. X. Šalda Theatre in Liberec, he wrote Googling and Fucking, Mickey Mouse je mrtvý (Mickey Mouse is Dead), LSDown, Logo, Dianiška je Bůh (Dianiška is God) and Atomová kočička (Atom Cat).
He has been a member of the Divadlo pod Palmovkou (Theatre under Palmovka) ensemble since September 2014. He has performed several plays at the PALM OFF studio stage: 1000 věcí, co mě serou (1000 Things I Think Suck; a theatre adaptation of the blog of the same name), Mlčení bobříků (The Silence of the Beavers), Jak sbalit ženu 2.0 (How to Pick Up a Woman 2.0, a theatre adaptation of the book of the same name by T. Baránek), Pusťte Donnu k maturitě! (Let the Donna Graduate from High School), Poslední důvod, proč se nezabít (The Last Reason Not to Kill Yourself; a theatre adaptation of the blog of the same name) and Bezruký Frantík (The Armless Frantík, written with I. Orozovich; transferred to the big stage of the theatre at Palmovka due to great audience interest), 294 statečných (294 Brave Ones) and Encyklopedie akčního filmu (Encyclopaedia of Action Film), both already conceived for the big stage. Tomáš Dianiška has also acted in all these productions and directed many of them.
In addition to his home theatre Divadlo pod Palmovkou, Tomáš Dianiška works as a writer and actor for several Prague theatres, including MeetFactory, Divadlo LETÍ, A Studio Rubín, Masopust Theatre Group, Chemické divadlo (Chemical Theatre), Divadlo X10 and others. He has worked as a director at the Chamber Theatre Aréna Ostrava (V. Klimáček: Comics) and at the Petr Bezruč Theatre in Ostrava – here he staged his plays Transky, body, vteřiny (Blood, Sweat, and Queers) and Špinarka.
He describes his plays as pop pieces that examine well-known cultural phenomena in a satirical way. In his original, eclectic style, he mixes different genres, incorporating dime novels, westerns or comic heroes alongside documentary material. He has received a number of important prizes for his plays. His production of his own play Transky, body, vteřiny (Blood, Sweat, and Queers) at the Petr Bezruč Theatre in Ostrava was named best production of the year and best Czech play of the year at the 2019 Czech Theatre Critics’ Awards. His play, 294 Brave was named best play of the year at the 2020 Theatre Critics’ Awards. His most recent play Tělo tajné agentky (The Secret Agent's Body) won the main prize for the best Czech premiere at this year's Theatre Critics’ Awards.
Edward Einhorn is a playwright, director, translator, librettist, theater journalist, and novelist. He is the Artistic Director of both Untitled Theater Company No.61 and the Rehearsal for Truth International Theater Festival. In 2006, he curated the Václav Havel Festival, which included all of Havel’s work, at multiple theaters throughout New York City, with Havel in attendance. Since then some of his work includes Cabaret in Captivity, songs and sketches from Terezin, written during the Holocaust performed at multiple venues in New York, London, ans Washington DC; The Marriage of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein, which received at Critics Pick from The New York Times chief reviewer Jesse Green, performed in at HERE in New York and Off-West End at The Jermyn Street Theatre in London; The Pig, or Václav Havel’s Hunt for a Pig, adapted from the work by Václav Havel and Vladimír Morávek, which played at The New Ohio and 3LD Theatres in New York and received a New York Times and Village Voice Critics Pick; The Velvet Oratorio, an opera-theater production following Havel’s character Vaněk through the Velvet Revolution, which played at Lincoln Center’s Walter Bruno Theatre and Bohemian National Hall; and directing The Last Cyclist, a play by Karel Švenk written in Terezin, which performed at La MaMa and was also shown on PBS affiliate WNET as part of their Theater Close Up series.
Katarina Vizina, native of Bratislava, Slovakia, holds an MA in Musical Theater from the Czech Republic and an MFA in Acting from Brooklyn College where she received the Fellowship for Outstanding Contribution to Theater. Katarina has been part of the traditional as well as the avant-garde New York theater scene since 2002. She has performed in plays, musicals, one woman shows, cabarets, sketch comedy, radio shows, movies, and countless voiceover spots. She sings and performs in English, Slovak, Czech, German, and Russian (you can talk her into Yiddish). When not performing, Katarina is the general to her three handsome sons, personal stylist to her lovely little princess and a tsarina to their father.
BARBORA SCHNELLE is a Berlin based Czech theater translator, theater critic, dramaturg, cultural manager, curator and editor. Her work focuses on the presentation of contemporary drama in the form of staged readings. In 2009 she founded Drama Panorama: Forum for Translation and Theater, non-profit association for which she works as artistic director of various projects, workshops and festivals dealing with contemporary drama and international theater exchange. In 2014, she founded the festival of contemporary Czech theater in Berlin “Ein Stück: Tschechien“, which she has been directed and curated ever since. The festival focuses on staged readings of contemporary Czech drama and shows in Berlin some outstanding Czech theatre productions. In 2018, she published the anthology of contemporary Czech drama in German translation Von Masochisten und Mamma- Guerillas as editor and translator (Berlin: Neofelis Verlag). In 2021 she translated und published the plays of the Czech political playwright Roman Sikora under the title Frühstück mit Leviathan (Berlin, Neofelis Verlag). This semester she is a guest lecturer at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
HENNING BOCHERT After graduating from University of Arts Berlin (Acting), Henning performed in productions in Berlin, Frankfurt am Main, and Zurich. He is a certified translator and has received numerous grants from the German Translators Fund, the Goethe Institute, the VG Wort, and the Berlin Senate. Since 1996, he has translated many film scripts, subtitles, and plays. Since 2013, he is on the board of Drama Panorama, and since 2014, he has been directing – together with Barbora Schnelle – the festival Ein Stück: Tschechien (New Czech Theatre). In the panorama #1 series in 2021, he directed, again with Barbora, the events onMultilingualism in Theatre.In 2022, he was a guest lecturer at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, at Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, and at Ruhr-Universität Bochum.He is a board member of the artists network raum4 and also a member of VTheA, Weltlesebühne, The Fence,VdÜ and BDÜ. He writes poetry, prose, and texts for theatre.
Cast
LAURA HEISLER: Broadway: Coram Boy. Off-Broadway includes: Kin (Lortel and Drama League nominations), The Patron Saint of Sea Monsters, Doris to Darlene, and People Be Heard (all at Playwrights Horizons); Orpheus Descending (TFANA); Everything Will Be Different (Soho Rep); The Mistakes Madeline Made (Naked Angels); The Given (Studio Dante); BFF (WET); Too Much Memory (Rising Phoenix). Regionally, Laura has appeared at The Geffen, Yale Rep, Williamstown, Woolly Mammoth, McCarter, Humana Festival, South Coast Rep, The Old Globe, Shakespeare Theatre DC, O’Neill Playwrights Conference, NY Stage & Film and many others. TV: Evil, Law & Order: Organized Crime, Grey’s Anatomy, Chicago Med, The Americans, Madam Secretary, Elementary, The Middle (recurring), Bones, Numb3rs, The Defenders, Ugly Betty. Film: The Harbinger, We Go On, YellowBrickRoad, Coach, Cold Souls.
JASON LIEBMAN Some theatre credits include Tiger Style! (Eugene O’Neill National Playwright’s Conference), Finks (Ensemble Studio Theatre), Dunkfest ’88 & Tapefaces (Ars Nova), Playing in Traffic (Women’s Project), Fight Girl Battle World, Men of Steel & Living Dead in Denmark (Vampire Cowboys), Hamlet (New World Theatre). Film: Emoticon ;), Motion Sickness, Arranged. TV: Gossip Girl, Plot Against America, Bull, Law & Order, and (saved the best for last...) Big Wolf on Campus. Member of Ensemble Studio Theatre.
NATALIA PAYNE New York theater credits include Crumbs from the Table of Joy (Keen Company), Fairview (Soho Rep, TFANA - 2019 Pulitzer Prize), The Last Match (Roundabout), Me, Myself & I (Playwrights Horizons), Aliens with Extraordinary Skills (WP Theater), Jailbait (Cherry Lane), New Jerusalem (Classic Stage Company), deathvariations (59E59). Regionally, Natalia has appeared at Berkeley Rep, Yale Rep, Arena Stage, The Old Globe, Studio Theater (Helen Hayes Award nomination), New York Stage & Film, and The O’Neill. TV: Recurring roles on “Workin’ Moms” (CBC/Netflix) and “Cardinal” (CTV/Hulu), and guest appearances on “Law & Order: S.V.U.” (NBC), “Sensitive Skin” (HBO Canada), “Ransom” (CBS), “Murdoch Mysteries” (CBC), “Reign” (CW), “Dark Matter” (SYFY). Film: The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond, The Word, Crazy Love. Natalia has also narrated numerous audiobooks (AudioFile Earphone Award winner) and is a frequent narrator for Apple News + Audio. Originally from Toronto. BA in Theater Studies from Yale University.
ZINZER JAY (they/them) is a non-binary performer, playwright, political strategist, and self-described “jester for justice.” They strive to imbue humor and a frothy frivolity into every aspect of their work, both on the stage and on the campaign trail, because they staunchly believe that radical joy is an integral ingredient to achieving a collective and sustainable liberation.
Zinzer has utilized their theatrical background (University of Michigan, The Juilliard School) to reinvent and revitalize the political organizing process - this is not your Dad’s America anymore, honey!
They have designed interactive workshops, led grassroots initiatives, and executed large scale digital organizing campaigns for the Biden-Harris Administration, Stacey Abrams ‘22, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, Planned Parenthood, SEIU, Climate Action, Broadway Advocacy Coalition, and Elizabeth Warren’s presidential bid.
Previous written works include: Tale As Old As Time (dir. Christian Borle); They, B, C’s; Diary of a Snowflake; Dynamite: A Wicked Sweet Musical and Stitches: A Solo Show.
ABOUT THE 2024 REHEARSAL FOR TRUTH INTERNATIONAL THEATER FESTIVAL
Rehearsal for Truth International Theater Festival, honoring Václav Havel, is a showcase of contemporary European theater organized each year in New York City. Conceived in 2017 as a shared endeavor of the Václav Havel Center (VHC) and Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association (BBLA), the festival honors the legacy of Czech playwright, dissident and political thinker Vaclav Havel.
Each edition of Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival addresses current sociopolitical trends in Central and Eastern Europe, offering New York audiences a unique opportunity to witness the region’s theatrical zeitgeist.
The program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. The festival is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.