Featured image: Zuzana Kronerova, Hot Summer '68, GUnaGU Theatre, photograph by Ctibor Bachraty
Hot Summer of ’68 (How We Ran) is a historical tragicomedy based on a story of three Slovak women who decided to emigrate after the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact troops in 1968. Following the protagonists’ journeys as they emigrate to Vienna, London, Haifa, and New York before they finally reconvene in Toronto, the play recounts key historical events through the banalities of daily life. As they search for a new home, Erika, Petra, and Sonya cannot make the meals they used to cook or even find the ingredients. The memories of their homemade cuisine become analogous to meanings of home and freedom.
Hot Summer of '68 (How We Ran) (Slovakia). Playwright: Viliam Klimacek. Director: Christina Franklin. Cast: Emma Andriatch (Erica), Abigail Ludrof (Petra), Stephanie Windland (Teresa). Translated by: Katarina Cockrell. Running time: 90 min.
The reading is followed by Q&A. It is free and open to the public. Suggested donation $10. Today, we ask you to help us support our Best Mini-Drama Student Contest program by purchasing a printed copy of one of the winning plays. You will contribute to the continuation of life-changing opportunities for creative talents. > Buy student plays
The event will be broadcasted online, live on Zoom. RSVP is required to receive the Zoom link. RSVP online through Eventbrite.
VILIAM KLIMACEK is an artistic head of the theater, director, writer and actor, manager. He has written a lot of prosaic books and poems. In 1985 Klimacek co-founded The GUnaGU Theatre in Bratislava, one of the most prominent alternative theaters in Slovakia. His extensive dramatic work makes him one of the most prolific playwrights in Slovakia and many of his plays have been staged on the Slovak as well as world stage. Klimacek´s dramatic work represents a bridge connecting the socialist period with the post-socialist era. A number of his plays received prizes at home and abroad – he is a six-time holder of the Prize of The Alfred Radok Foundation, two times he won the DRAMA competition for the best Slovak drama. Klimacek studied general medicine at the Faculty of Medicine of Comenius University in Bratislava. After graduating, he worked for nine years as a surgeon and anaesthetist.
CHRISTINA FRANKLIN is a Brooklyn-based theater artist. She received a BFA in Directing, Playwriting, and Production from the University of The Arts and went on to work with various companies including The Lark, National Black Theatre, and The Signature. Recent directing and associate credits include: The Last Five Years (OOTB), Don’t Stay Safe (Prospect Theatre Company), The Wolves (The Professional Performing Arts School), Coal Country, For Colored Girls…, White Noise (The Public Theater), and Slave Play (NYTW). She has written and directed for Royal Family Productions and TADA! Youth Theater, earning several National Youth Theatre awards and nominations. In addition to directing and writing, Christina currently teaches at The Professional Performing Arts School. Matthew 5:14!
EMMA ANDRIATCH is a New York City-based actor. She trained at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Recent credits include: The Phantom Tollbooth (National Tour), Estuary: An Artist/Mother' Story (Joe's Pub, Kimmel Center) and Spring Awakening (Regional).
ABIGAIL LUDROF is a New York City-based actor, singer songwriter, and improviser who looks forward to performing with her improv team, Bigfoot Slaps in the dungeons of New York bars when the world opens up again. Recent credits include: Confidence and the Speech (Theater Row), The Sinner (USA Network), The Shape of the Stars (Strangemen Theater Company). Instagram @hotbluealienlady
STEPHANIE WINDLAND is an actress, producer, and director, born and raised in NYC. A graduate of Fairleigh Dickinson University in musical theater, she has since been seen in national tours, on regional stages, and in many a back room of a NYC bar. Her favorite acting credits include Belle in Beauty and The Beast (La Comedia Dinner Theater), Robin in the world premier of My Mother My Sister and Me (The Bickford Theater) and Purdue in Dead and Buried (Dreamcatcher Rep.). In addition to her work as an actress, Stephanie played a crucial role in the creation and production of P’s In A Pod, where she also stars in the role of Polly. During this wild year she’s written and directed a few short films, and is currently working on a feature film with her friends. stephaniewindland.com
KATARINA SLUGENOVA COCKRELL was born in 1966 in Trencin (Slovakia), and spent the first half of her life in Bratislava. After studying English and Slovak at the School of Philosophy of Comenius University she has been living in Washington DC since 1991 and considers herself an equal citizen of Bratislava and Washington. After two years in the newsroom of Voice of America and a one-year engagement at the Foreign Service Institute, where she taught Slovak to the U.S. Ambassador Ralph Johnson and other diplomats, she permanently settled into freelancing and makes a living as an interpreter and translator. Touring with various delegations allowed her to visit all 50 U.S. states, which has provided with amazing free education. In addition to diplomats, judges, journalists, mayors, police, business leaders and others she had the opportunity to interpret for six U.S., Slovak and Czech Presidents. She specializes in medical and pharma translation and is a particularly enthusiastic fan of clinical trials. In literary translation she favors theater plays with common, simple spoken language of dialogue. She particularly delights in the fact that English translations of original Slovak plays help to promote Slovak culture abroad and reach wider international audiences. She has been working with the Slovak Treatre Institute in Bratislava since 1999.
This event is supported by the Consulate General of Slovakia in New York.
ABOUT THE 2021 SPRING WEEKEND: CONCERNING HUMAN IDENTITY
The 2021 Spring Weekend: Concerning Human Identity is organized by the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation (VHLF) and Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association (BBLA) in partnership with the Polish Cultural Institute New York and Consulate General of Slovakia in New York. Spring Weekend is part of the annual Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival honoring the playwright and human rights activist Vaclav Havel. It showcases contemporary European plays through stage readings performed and directed by New York City–based actors and directors.
The 2021 program has been conceived in consultation with Attila Szabo, Deputy Director, Hungarian Theatre Museum and Institute; Vladislava Fekete, Director, Theatre Institute in Bratislava; Zuzana Ulicianska, Chair of the Slovak Center – International Association of Theatre Critics; Tomek Smolarski, Performing Arts Programming, Polish Cultural Institute New York; and Martina Peckova-Cerna, Head of International Cooperation Department, Arts and Theatre Institute in Prague.
The program 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. Promotion partners include the Czech Center New York, GOH Productions/Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre, and PACE.V4 (Performing Arts Central Europe).