“Abigail Henkin’s play Personal Speaker is an erudite discourse on the ‘strange, complex epoch’ we are living in at the moment. She exquisitely captured the devas- tating e ects of our inability to communicate e ectively and the lengths we go to in order to  t in. Not only did she perfectly acquire the satirical spirit of Václav Havel’s e Memorandum, she also used his text as a trampoline to catapult into a future bureaucracy where she let her black comedy skills run rampant. While staying true to the brief, she also managed to create well rounded characters engaged in complex relationships in this exceptional short play. She delivered a clever plot line, an astute paro- dy, a gift for performers, a fresh perspective on alienation and a scathing commentary on systems designed to keep people compliant.” –  2020 Jurors, Best Mini-Drama Student Contest

Each year, the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation organizes a contest for mini-drama inspired by one of Vaclav Havel’s plays, welcoming American and Czech undergraduate students of drama and performance studies to apply Havel’s integral values to contemporary society. More than 100 students have participated in the intercultural competition since its start in 2014. 

The Best Mini-Drama Student Contest award includes a two-week residency at the Academy for Performing Arts, Theatre Faculty (DAMU), for an American winner, and a two-week residency at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University for a Czech student. In 2021, the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation will extend the program in collaboration with Barnard College, Columbia University, and the Janacek Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno, Czech Republic.