We are in the famous weekend lodge of Vaclav Havel. The play is supposed to be about his first wife Olga (immortalized in Havel’s "Letters to Olga"). But again and again, Havel interferes with her, plays himself into the foreground with his needs and life plans.
In honor of Olga Havlova (1933 - 1996).
The playwright Anna Saavedra looks back onto Olga’s life - with a sense of irony of history and related absurdities, because Olga is never allowed to pick mushrooms alone: First, the state police is at her heels; right after the fall of communism, it is the bodyguard of the newly elected President Havel who follows her. With her straightforward manner, Olga is a cynical commentator on the political upheavals - from the wild dissident parties to state receptions. The biographical serves as the basis for the production’s sitcom-like portrait of a woman who defies life with self-irony.
Olga or Horrors from the Havel Cottage. Playwright: Anna Saavedra. Directed by: Barbora Schnelle, Henning Bochert. Performed by: Jeff Biehl, Ethan Hova, Jason Liebman, Natalia Payne.
The original production on 23 March 2016 at Theater LETÍ at VILA Štvanice in Prague, directed by Martina Schlegelova, won multiple Czech awards in 2016: the Theater Critics Award for best play of the year and best leading actress, and the Theater Journal Award for production of the year.
With a video message by the dramaturg of the original production, Marie Spalova, who commissioned and developed the play with the playwright.
Free and open to the public. Suggested donation $10. Seats are limited, on first-come first-served basis. RSVP through Eventbrite.
About
ANNA SAAVEDRA studied theater dramaturgy at the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno. She was a member of several theater groups such as Ateliér, Studio Dům of director Eva Tálská at the Husa na provázku as well as the Champ de tension clown company.
Her socially critical and feminist plays demonstrate a keen sense of the theatricality of language. They include these titles: Česká měna / Czech Currency (UA 2011), Tajná zpráva z planety matek: Mamma guerilla / Secret Report from the Planet of Mothers: Mamma guerilla (UA 2012, the text was written as part of her residency at the Center for Contemporary Drama of the Divadlo Letí Theatre), Kuřačky a spasitelky / Smokers and Saviors (UA 2012, 1. Place at the Ewald-Schorm-Prize 2011), Dealeři fyzické lásky / Dealers of Physical Love (premiere 2012), Dům U Sedmi švábů / House of the Seven Cockroaches (premiere 2013, Ewald Schorm Prize 2010), Poslední vlak do Hameln / Last Train to Hamelin (UA 2013), Olga: Horrory z Hrádečku / Olga: Horror in the House of Havel (UA 2016, Theatre Critics’ Prize for the Best Czech Play of the Year, as a guest performance in the production of Theater Divadlo Letí, directed by Martina Schlegelová, at the festival Ein Stück: Tschechien Berlin).
She also writes prose, her story Ley lines won the prize of the international literary competition Narraton V4 tournée (2013); radio plays for children, for Czech Radio she wrote the fairy tale Hubert a čarodějův kufr / Hubert and the Magician’s Suitcase (2016); or adaptations of classical plays for contemporary theater, e. g., Eva, Eva based on the play Gazdina roba (popular pejorative term for a woman/housekeeper who has left her husband) by Gabriela Preissová (premiere 2016).
As part of her collaboration with the Tripitaka association, she created social-theatrical works such as the play Paso a paso: Cesta zraněného bojovníka / Paso a paso: The Way of the Wounded Fighter (UA 2011), a treatment of life stories of young people from children’s homes and SOS Children’s Villages, or the documentary piece Samodiva, divadelní blues pro sólo matky / Solo Diva, Theater Blues for Single Mothers (UA 2013), based of stories of single mothers, in both productions played by the protagonists themselves. From 2011 to 2015, she worked as a dramaturge of the HaDivadlo Theater. Today she lives as a freelance writer in Brno.
EVA DANICKOVA works as a dramaturg and translator of contemporary Czech drama. Eva works with Aura-Pont and Dilia theatre and literary agencies, translating plays by authors such as Arnošt Goldflam, Petr Zelenka, Lenka Lagronová or Petr Kolečko. After completing BA in Theatre Studies at London Metropolitan University, Eva pursued her master’s degree in Dramaturgy at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, followed by a doctorate in Collaborative Theatre Translation at the University of Hull.
Eva has staged a number of Czech plays in translation in the UK and beyond, including The Green Room by Arnošt Goldflam at the Etcetera Theatre, Boiled Heads by Marek Horoščák at Tristan Bates Theatre, or Poker Face by Petr Kolečko at the King’s Head Theatre and Voila Europe Festival with the LegalAliens theatre company.
Eva read scripts for the National Theatre and worked for the Royal Court Theatre during the International Residency.
Eva wrote two libretti for the Tête à Tête Opera Festival at Riverside Studios in London in 2011 (The Moonflower, music Mario Ferraro) a 2012 (Insein, music Chris Warner). She has also worked on community theatre projects with Parrabbola (a multilingual production of William Shakespeare’s The Winter's Tale in Ostrava, Romeo and Juliet in Accrington).
BARBORA SCHNELLE is a Berlin-based Czech theater translator, theater critic, dramaturg, cultural manager, curator, and editor. In 2009, she founded Drama Panorama: Forum for Translation and Theater, where she works as artistic director of various projects and workshops 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 produced and curated ever since. For the Leipzig Book Fair 2019 she wrote a programmatic study of contemporary Czech drama. In 2018, she published the anthology of contemporary Czech drama in German translation Von Masochisten und Mamma-Guerillas (Berlin: Neofelis Verlag). In 2021, she translated und published the plays of the Czech political playwright Roman Sikora under the title Frühstück mit Leviathan (Breakfast with Leviathan; Berlin, Neofelis Verlag). In 2022, she taught as a guest lecturer for contemporary Czech theater 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
JEFF BIEHL Broadway: Machinal (Roundabout). Off-Broadway: The Unbelieving (The Civilians), The Merchant of Venice (TFANA), Life Sucks (Drama Desk Nom. Outstanding Actor, Wheelhouse), Catch As Catch Can (Page73), Charles Francis Chan’s Jr's Exotic Oriental Murder Mystery (NAATCO), 10 Out of 12 (Soho Rep), Poor Behavior(Primary Stages), Burning (New Group), Issac’s Eye (EST). Regional: premieres at Yale Rep, Denver Center, Woolly Mammoth, and Humana Festival. FILM: Worth, A Master Builder, Ricki and the Flash. TV: The Path, Vinyl, Mysteries of Laura, Forever, Southland, all Law & Orders. Juilliard.
ETHAN HOVA has appeared on Broadway in The Nap as well as the Broadway National Tour of The Humans. He has performed internationally in Abu Dhabi and all over the United States: Guards at the Taj (Woolly Mammoth), Intelligence(Arena Stage), (Not) Water (New Georges), and The Wong Kids in the Secret of the Space Chupacabra (CTC/LaMaMa). His television credits include New Amsterdam, NCIS, Blue Bloods, FBI, Blacklist, Blindspot, Search Party, and more. He holds a BFA in Drama from Carnegie Mellon University and has dedicated much of his career to advancing new play development through readings and workshops.
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.
DRAMA PANORAMA is a forum linking the work of theatre translators and playwrights with theatre practitioners and theatres. It organises workshops, readings and panel discussions on topics related to international theatre exchange. The aim of the project is to create an open forum for German and international theatre translators, to establish a dialogue with theatres, and to campaign for the recognition of translators in the theatre-making process. Theatre translation is an interactive process and should be further developed with theatres; our work helps to explore new ways of working together in practice. We hope that in the long-term this will result in a network of translators, playwrights and theatre practitioners (directors, actors, dramaturgs). We would also like to give young translators the chance to learn more about their craft, talk to experienced translators and benefit from their knowledge. We use various different formats to pursue these aims, e. g. readings, panel discussions, guest productions, workshops, etc.
The program is organized by the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation, with support of the Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association and the Consulate General of the Czech Republic in New York.
The event is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. The program 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.