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The American Emperor

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What does it mean to leave everything behind for a better future? In a desperate search for a new life, the poorest fall prey to unscrupulous exploitation. The American Emperor centers on the migration of Jews from the poorest region of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, Galicia, during the late 19th century. It follows the story of impoverished siblings Mendel and Rifke Beck as the promise of a better life in America looms large. While Mendel leaves for the New World, Rifke stays behind and moves up from her domestic role into one of a leader. 

The American Emperor (2018). Written by: Michal Ditte (Slovakia), based on a book by Martin Pollack. Director: Jacquelyn Claire de Villiers. Cast: Elizabeth Andrews (Rifke), Michaela Boruta (Slovak Name Litany), Jennette Cronk (Bertha Pappenheim, Trade Unionist), Michael Frishman (Mendel), Zane Gillion (Anti-Semite, Octopus, Boss, Galician), Pierre Louis le Grange (Mathias Komara, Galician), Megan Metrikin (Legend, Statue of Liberty, Galician), Caren Skibell (Translator, Receptionist, Galician), Drew Valins (John Doe, Workman). Translated by: Lucia Faltin. Stage directions: Megan Metrikin. Zoom background design: Anna Niklova. Dialect coach: Michaela Boruta. Running time: 90 min.

The play is based on the book Kaiser von Amerika: Die große Flucht aus Galizien (Emperor of America: The Big Escape from Galicia) (2010) by Austrian journalist and award-winning writer Martin Pollack. The publication focuses on the 1880s exodus of Galician Jews from the poor and increasingly anti-Semitic eastern stretches of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (present-day southeastern Poland and western Ukraine). Peasants, craftsman and other departers had to endure various struggles along their journey to the promised land. They became vulnerable to dishonest smuggler gangs, speculators, customs agents and fraudsters of all kinds. Michal Ditte’s adaptation builds on the book’s facts, events, newspaper articles and the fate of a real person, Mendel Beck. Ditte’s story about the past bears a striking resemblance to the ongoing anguishes of migrants today. 

The American Emperor (2018) received the 2018 DOSKY Award of the Slovak Association of Contemporary Theater for best production. 

The performance is followed by Q&A. It is free and open to the public.

This event will be broadcasted online, live on Zoom. RSVP is required to receive password for free viewing. RSVP online through Eventbrite.

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ELIZABETH ANDREWS manages her own photography studio in Manhattan's Upper East Side. She recently acted in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Saturday Night Live, & The Undoing. She creates powerful stories to spread enthusiasm and joy.

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JENNETTE CRONK  is an accomplished actress, singer, standup comedian, improviser and burlesque performer. Selected credits include performing with the Magnet Theater (Musical Megawatt, The Cast, Razzle Dazzle). Off Broadway/Regional: Hudson Guild Theater -Clouds like Waves, Mahaffrey Theater –Titanic: The Artifact Exhibit and her highly acclaimed one-woman character show at The Duplex – Fancy DuCan’s Country Cabaret. Jennette’s standup highlights include: Broadway Comedy Club, The Comedy Cellar, Standup NY, Eastville Comedy Club and Coconuts Comedy Club. She has been performing in the national touring production of Little Black Dress – The Musical for the last year. @Jennettecronk

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MICHAEL FRISHMAN  holds an MFA from the Asolo Conservatory in conjunction with Florida State University. Favorite roles include: Asher Lev (My Name is Asher Lev), Merton (Both Your Houses), and Peter Quince (Midsummer). Other theaters: The Pearl Theater, Asolo Rep, Geva Theater, Nebraska Shakespeare Festival, and The Theater at Monmouth.

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ZANE GILLION  is a South African-born actor and performer living in New York. He obtained a BA Drama degree from the University of Pretoria and has seventeen years of experience in the entertainment industry. He’s starred in major musical theater productions such as Priscilla, Queen of the desertDreamgirlsRent and The Color Purple, in South Africa and internationally, and presented popular TV programs, like the design-focused show Hatch. He has been trained in business role play and facilitated various sessions for companies in South Africa, focusing mainly on communication and leadership through role play and forum theatre.He is currently building his capacity in the development sector with a focus on sustainable development.

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PIERRE LOUIS LE GRANGE is a 36 year old actor and singer, originally from Pretoria South Africa. He completed his Bachelors in Music, specializing in Opera, in Potchefstroom South Africa. After that he completed post graduate studies in Florence Italy before he moved to New York City. For the last 8 years he has been performing in musical theatre and plays in and around NYC.

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MEGAN METRIKIN  was born in South Africa and completed her theater studies at The University of Cape Town (UCT). She is currently based in New York, where she has written and is performing in Finding Fellini, which won “Best Solo Show" at the Midtown International Theatre Festival and" Best Actress "at United Solo Festival. Finding Fellini has been performed at Theatrelab, La Mama, The New York Fringe and Frigid Festival. Megan performed the Lead role in Sophiatown, designed by William Kentridge, which showed at the Chicago Festival, Toronto Festival and Glasgow Festival, as well as in San Francisco, St. Paul, Montpellier, Nice, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Basil, Frankfurt, Soweto, Johannesburg and Cape Town. She worked extensively at the Market Theater. Credits include The Dybbuk and Flight directed by Barney Simon, Speed the PlowThe TempestCowboy MouthHamletLa Ronde, Exit The KingMan is ManLove Story in MaputoKaldewey FarceTooth and Nail (Handspring Puppet Company) and The Lulu Sex TragediesT. Megan worked for a few years in Cape Town’s super experimental Glass Theatre. Credits include, The New Modernists Play12 hour William BlakeThe Duchess of Malfi, More Mysteries of Love and The Dark Content. Megan’s work has also included films such as “Shot Down", which won at the Mannheim film festival and The Howling IV.

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CAREN SKIBELL  is an actor, writer, and native Texan with degrees from The New School for Drama, Northwestern University, and The Second City Conservatory in Chicago. She’s taught improvisation and playwriting in school, college, and museum education. Some of her plays won NYC and LA festivals while others have been finalists in Australia. Caren writes and performs sketch comedy independently, with IN Studios NYC, and for the show, “We’re Geniuses in France” when she lived in Chicago. Favorite acting performances include Clouds Like WavesNYC Fringe, performing at Live Bait Theatre (Chicago), and Great American Railway Journeys (BBC Television).   www.CarenSkibell.com

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DREW VALINS is a native of Tampa Florida, and a NYC based actor for the past fifteen years. Drew is a member of the Drilling Company in NYC, the producer of the longstanding tradition “Shakespeare in the Parking Lot” and “Shakespeare in Bryant Park,” where he has performed in many plays and most recently directed and played Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. As a six year member of the Alliance for New Music Theatre, in Washington, DC, Drew has played Vaclav Havel’s alter ego, Vanek, in Protest, Unveiling and the original musical Vanek Unleashed. Drew has two solo shows based on the life and work of Franz Kafka: A Report to an Academy, and Franz/Drew which was nominated for best actor and playwright in the Midtown International Theater Festival in NYC. For more about Drew please visit www.drewvalins.com.

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JACQUELYN CLAIRE DE VILLIERS is a South African award-winning actor, director and playwright now living in New York City. Some highlights include – I love you, you’re Perfect, Now ChangeAnnieHONK, Fiela’s ChildMacbeth, An Unromantic Comedy and Boy meets Boy. She’s also been a member of Cape Town Theatre Sports team for five years, and toured internationally with Theatre for Africa.  Co-wrote & performed: The Search for the Perfect DishTower of TonguesShe Gau (received new female playwrights award), Virtual BioscopeFor Better for Wors (awarded “Search for New Plays” writers grant), Pineapple Velvet. Co-wrote and directed: Imbumba/Samesyn - awarded the Beeld aardvark Prize for text and direction, BoekmanSUIGThe Groen GhoenThe Afrikaner, Jericho, Wood for the Trees with Fresco Theatre. Directed: Noah of Cape Town, White Men with Weapons, Fafi (NY Fringe Fest), Clouds Like Waves (NY Winterfest) and Lost Property (Jersey City Theater Center). Resident director of the international production of the Broadway musical Hairspray in SA. Collaborated with Spitfire Company in Prague on Miss AmeriKa by Mirenka Cechova. Wrote the short film screenplay Dreamflight for the EBU (shared third place with Poland 2009) and Picture this (took first prize 2010). Head writer for the Soul Buddyz 4 series (SABC). Sketch director for Laugh out Loud for MNet. Theater reviewer for NY Theatre Guide and StageBiz in NYC. 

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MICHAL DITTE (b. 1981) is a Slovak playwright, dramaturge and project manager. Michal has written numerous theater plays, such as Kvik Story (2001, Wanted: Slncovy kon (2005), Venusa v sieti (2004) that have been staged in many Slovak theaters. He writes also for radio and television. In 2000, he co-founded the independent theater company Poton Theater. He was an editor of the magazine Javisko (Stage) and a manager of the festival Scenicka zatva (Theater Harvest) in the city of Martin, Slovakia. He has collaborated with cultural organizations in the area of creative writing and cultural management. Currently he coordinates the Antenna network of Slovak independent culture. 

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MARTIN POLLACK (b. 1944) is an Austrian journalist, translator, and award-winning author. Until 1998 he was an editor with the journal Der Spiegel in Vienna and Warsaw. He is the recipient of the Austrian Booksellers’ 2007 Tolerance in Thinking and Acting Prize of Honor, the Georg Dehio Book Prize of the German Cultural Forum for Eastern Europe, the 2011 Leipzig Book Prize for European Understanding, the 2012 Stanislaw Vincenz Prize, and the 2015 State of Upper Austria Culture Prize. His books include Galizien: Eine Reise durch die verschwundene Wel Ostgaliziens und der Bukowina (1984, 2001), Der Tote in Bunker. Bericht uber meinen Vater (2004; translated into English by William Hobson as The Dead Man in the Bunker: Discovering My Father, 2008), Von Minsk nad Manhattan. Polnische Reportagen (2006), Warum wurden die Stanislaws erchossen? (2008), Kaiser von Amerika. Die grosse Fluch aus Galizien(2010), Kontaminierte Landschaften (2014), and Topographie der Erinnerung (2016).

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MICHAELA BORUTA  is an adjunct instructor at the NYU School of Professional Studies Jonathan M. Tisch Center of Hospitality. Michaela holds an MA in Translation and Interpreting, specialization English and Arabic Language and Culture from Comenius University – Slovakia, along with a certification in Foreign Languages: Middle Eastern, Arabic from New York University, School of Continuing and Professional Studies. Her broad areas of expertise include public relations, marketing, sales, fundraising, negotiations, linguistics and team management. Michaela runs a New York City-based event company for a wide range of corporate, non-profit and private clients.

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ANNA NIKLOVA  is an artist, designer and illustrator with a BFA in illustration from Fashion Institute of Technology (New York City), currently doing an MA in Graphic Communication Design at Central Saint Martins, University of Arts, London. She works in digital and print media. Anna has illustrated two children’s books, printed and published her own zines, and has exhibited in New York City and Prague (Czech Republic).

ABOUT THE 2020 SPRING WEEKEND

The 2020 Spring Weekend is organized by the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation (VHLF) and Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association (BBLA), in partnership with Polish Cultural  Institute New York and Untitled Theater Company #61. 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 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; and Tomek Smolarski, Performing Arts Programming, Polish Cultural Institute New York.

Special thanks to the Consulate General of Slovakia in New York for their help with promoting the event.

The program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. 

All Spring Weekend productions are FREE. Today we ask you to make a donation of $5, or any amount you can. You can donate here or when you register for an event through Eventbrite. All proceeds will benefit children from New York City schools in Elmhurst, Queens, which has been one of the worst hit neighborhoods by COVID-19. Your contribution will allow us to buy colored pencils and other art supplies for children whose parents are often essential workers and first responders. Every dollar counts!

Earlier Event: May 29
Mine Flowers
Later Event: May 31
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