Internationally known Czechoslovak puppeteer, storyteller, and author Vit Horejs performs Czech & Slovak Tales with Strings, a one-man marionette show of fairy tales replete with kings, clever village maidens, witches, and spirits. Horejs’s century-old, hand-carved puppets speak in a dozen voices, dance, play violin, swim, and fly.
Director: Vit Horejs. Performed by: Vit Horejs. Running time: TBA. Presented by: GOH Productions, Czechoslovak American Marionette Theatre, Consulate General of the Czech Republic in New York.
The program consists of beloved Czech and Slovak fables such as Salt over Gold (a banished princess who values her father "only" as much as salt returns to save her father when salt disappears), The Stingy Tailor (a water goblin teaches a lesson to the egotistical tailor), and Kacha and the Devil (a shepherd outwits the devil who is pursued by a dance-loving shrew).
For fifty years, a set of 24-inch marionettes crafted in traditional Czech style sat in a dusty closet at Jan Hus Church, in the heart of Yorkville, New York City's Czech and Slovak neighborhood. After Vit Horejs discovered these antique puppets, a troupe was born. Horejs has toured with the marionettes across 34 continental states and performed for thousands of spectators young and old. Czech and Slovak puppetry was declared an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2016.
Free and open to the public. Suggested donation $10. RSVP through Eventbrite is required.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions for indoor events, seating capacity is limited and on first-come first-served basis. Reservations must be made in advance. Wearing a face mask is required. No tickets will be available at the door, and anyone who has not received pre-event confirmation will be turned away. Read about Festival Safety Protocol.
VIT HOREJS was born in Prague and escaped from communist Czechoslovakia in 1979. In 1990, with his fellow émigrés founded Czechoslovak American Marionette Theater (CAMT) in New York. He has translated, written, adapted, and directed over two dozen marionette plays for CAMT. He is a resident artist at La MaMa Theater and has performed on stage, in films, and on TV. His published works include Twelve Iron Sandals (1985), Pig and Bear (1989), and Faust(1993). He co-produced Faust on a String, an award-winning documentary about Czech puppetry, and wrote the lead essay for Czecho-Slovak-American Puppetry (GOH Productions, 1994). Horejs has received commission grants from: The Henson Foundation, the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, Foundation for Jewish Culture, Columbia University and New York Foundation for the Arts. In 2018, he received the Czechoslovak Society for Arts and Sciences (SVU) Award in recognition of his lifetime achievement in fostering the art form of Czech and Slovak puppetry.
Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre (CAMT) is dedicated to the preservation and presentation of traditional and not-so-traditional puppetry. CAMT’s first New York season in 1990 featured Johannes Dokchtor Faust, a Petrifying Puppet Comedye with a cast of antique Czech puppets discovered by Vít Hořejš at the Jan Hus Church, a historic cultural center in the heart of Manhattan’s original Czech neighborhood. CAMT’s 1994 Faust was presented as part of the Obie Award-winning Faust Festival in SoHo. At La MaMa E.T.C., the company performed Once There Was a Village; The Life and Times of Lee Harvey Oswald; Don Juan, or The Wages of Debauchery; The Prose of the Transsiberian and of the Little Joan of France; Rusalka, the Little Rivermaid; and Golem, which was co-produced by La MaMa and was later featured in the 1998 Jim Henson International Festival. Other works for New York seasons and tours include The Very Sad Story of Ethel & Julius, Lovers and Spyes, and about Their Untymelie End while Sitting in a Small Room at the Correctional Facility in Ossining, N.Y.; The Bass Saxophone; Hamlet; Twelfth Night; Kacha and the Devil; The White Doe, Or, The Piteous Trybulations of the Sufferyng Countess Jenovefa; A Christmas Carol, OY! Hanukkah, Merry Kwanzaa; and Twelve Iron Sandals. The company has played in 37 states in the U.S.A. and at international festivals in Poland, Turkey, Pakistan, and the Czech Republic.
(CAMT) is a program of GOH Productions, a nonprofit organization. CAMT receives public funds from SBA; the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and Council Member Carlina Rivera. Additional support: Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences, and Materials for the Arts. Thanks to Captain Lawrence Brewery.
This performance is supported by the Consulate General of the Czech Republic and Ceskoslovenska obchodni banka – Member of the KBC Group.
ABOUT THE 2021 REHEARSAL FOR TRUTH THEATER FESTIVAL
The 2021 Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival honoring Vaclav Havel is organized by the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation and Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association. The program is co-produced by the Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre, GOH Productions, Czech Center New York, Polish Cultural Institute New York, One-Eighth/Daniel Irizarry Theater, Slovak Consulate General in New York, Palissimo Company, and Arts and Theatre Institute in Prague, Czech Republic.
The 2021 Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and Council Member Ben Kallos. Additional support is by the Consulate General of the Czech Republic in New York, Ceskoslovenska obchodni banka – Member of the KBC Group, PACE.V4 – Performing Arts Central Europe, Visegrad Countries Focus, and International Visegrad Fund.