Photo: Adela Vosickova
Present: Perfect explores the complex gestures through which we relate to symbols of our own past to forge senses of cultural identity.
Set in a museum of our collective memory, the play’s design invites the audience to explore a collection featuring valuable artifacts that commemorate alternative versions of key historical moments. Even with the guidance of the performers, it is, however, hard to determine which events are important, which are good to remember, and which are better to forget. The space slowly transforms into a bizarre “rage room” where events of the distant past return to the contemporary and forgotten history pervades current affairs.
Present: Perfect examines rupture points between dominant images and alternative ones, from Byzantine soldiers charged with removing the portrait of Christ from the Bronze Gate to Suffragette attacks on art in British galleries and today’s activists tearing down colonial statues throughout the West. Alongside the fanatical iconoclasts who uncompromisingly destroy all signs of a hostile ideology, a parallel crowd of equally fanatical iconoclasts defends the existing symbols to their last breath.
Present: Perfect (2021), Czech Republic. Created, designed and directed by: Jan Mocek. Performed by: Tinka Avramova, Irina Andreeva. Music: Matous Hekela. Production: Tana Svehlova. Lighting design: Vaclav Hruska.
Running time: 75 min. Language: English. Use of stroboscope.
The performance is followed by a talkback.
Free and open to the public. Suggested donation $10. Seats are limited, on first-come, first-served basis. Online registration through Eventbrite is required.
Creation of the performance was supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, State Culture Fund of the Czech Republic, Prague City, and Prague 7 Art District. The presentation in the US is organized by the Arts and Theatre Institute and supported by EU – NextGenerationEU, Czech Recovery Plan, and the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic.
About
JAN MOCEK is a theater maker and visual artist based in Prague. In his performances, he combines elements of pop culture, politics and personal experience to speak about the times we are living in, while also offering his audience an emotionally atmospheric and strongly sensual experience. His most recent performances, including The Radiant Cities (2016), Shadow Meadow (2017), Fatherland (2018), Virtual Ritual (2019), and I Am the Problem (2020) have been presented nationally and internationally at festivals, such as Fast Forward Dresden, Use the City Košice, Submerge Digital Arts Festival (Bristol) or 4+4 Days in Motion (Prague). Jan Mocek is a member of the IN-SITU - European Platform for Artistic Creation in Public Space. SixHouses is a production platform led by Tana Svehlova, which provides complex production support for Jan Mocek’s projects.
Performers
TINKA AVRAMOVA is an American/Bulgarian theater director, performer, and dramaturg based in Prague. Upon receiving her Master’s in Directing for Devised and Object Theatre in the Department for Alternative and Puppet Theatre at DAMU in Prague, Tinka has since been directing and working with other Czech artists in the alternative theatre scene. Her work deals with the juxtaposition of set/choreographed material and improvisation, placing the two in a dialogue and embracing the chaos and failure which inevitably ensues from such unstable and unknown situations. She is interested in revealing one’s “authentic self” on stage through task-based prompts and creating an intimate and honest relationship between performer and audience. Tinka is currently a pedagog at DAMU, teaching both the Dramaturgy and Stage Presence for the international master’s program and Czech bachelor’s program.
IRINA ANDREEVA is a theater director, performer, and choreographer. She is a founder of the Czech-Russian theater company Teatr Novogo Fronta (founded 1993 in St. Petersburg, Russia). Throughout her career, she has worked with numerous theatre companies, such as Do Theatre, Derevo, Nude Ants. Currently, Andreeva collaborates with the leading Czech theatres, including Rock Opera Prague, National Theatre Prague, DOT 504, and Tantehorse. She worked as a teacher at Die Etage school in Berlin. Andreeva is Jan Mocek´s close artistic collaborator and acted in his performances Radiant City (2016), Shadow Meadow (2017), I am the Problem (2020), Present: Perfect (2021).
Team
TANA SVEHLOVA is a production manager based in Prague and founder of a professional production platform SixHouses. She collaborated with various independent theatre companies including Nori Sawa Theatre, Farm in the Cave theatre studio and Art Prometheus production company. Since its founding in 2016, Sixhouses has provided complex production services for Mocek´s projects.
VACLAV HRUSKA is a theatre technician, lighting designer and musician. Born in Olomouc, Czech Republic, currently based in Prague, Vaclav is chief technician at Studio Hrdinu theatre, works with several other theatre companies and plays in a varying number of bands and musical projects meandering between harsh noise, post-hardcore and disco.
ABOUT THE 2023 REHEARSAL FOR TRUTH THEATER FESTIVAL
The 2023 Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival: Anew is organized by the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation and the Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association in partnership with the Polish Cultural Institute New York, GOH Productions, Trap Door Theatre, Centre of Jewish Culture ŠTETL, Jan Mocek, Martin E. Segal Theatre Center, Palissimo Company, and Romanian Cultural Institute.
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. The festival is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, Arts and Theatre Institute in Prague, and Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic.