As stated by the director of Švanda's theater and director Daniel Hrbek , the aim is to introduce three original Czech plays in the USA, which has a repertoire. And also dignified to celebrate our round national birthday. "Our performance in Washington will be the biggest cultural event associated with the celebrations of the centenary of Czechoslovakia. In New York, at the time of our hosting, the Vaclav Havel Day event will take place. It's great that we have the opportunity to showcase our productions in this context and when the attention of part of the American public will be focused on our country and culture. It is a great opportunity and responsibility, " emphasizes Daniel Hrbek.
From September 19 to 23, the Swan Theater will play in Washington , where he will perform at the Davis Performing Arts Center, the popular scene of Georgetown University, which offered his Smichov colleagues their small and big hall with a capacity of 120 and 230 seats in the auditorium. In the New York City, Švanda's theater will be played at the Bohemian National Hall from September 25-27. An invitation to Washington came from the Czech Embassy, Georgetown University and The Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics. Czech theater makers also invited New York's Rehearsal for Truth, a human rights theme. "In my experience, the American Party is particularly interested in games related to the issues of the contemporary world and fighting the individual about their own freedom. The focus is also on migration and its impact on theater and society, " says Daniel Hrbek.
War Stories, Comedy by Havel and Kocáb
The program includes eight performances of three productions performed by actors from Švanda's theater for this purpose in English. The project also includes theater and students for whom English is their mother tongue. The clear program choice was The Good And The True , a chamber drama about Hana Pravda's acting and Holocaust survivor Milos Dobre. The title, performed by two London actors, Saula Reichlin and Isobel Pravda, was very successful in New York in 2014 and 2015 on off-Broadway and now returns to the "Big Apple".
The Protest / Rest comedy, compiled from Vaclav Havel's one-act booklet and her newly-written sequel, will now have its overseas premiere. For the first time, viewers in the United States will also see Pankrác'45 , an exciting drama telling about five different women who will meet in one of the Pankrác prisons at the end of World War II. "In New York, we're still working on introducing Natalie Kocab's fun scenes to tomorrow with New York actors - the title will be titled The Night Before The Funeral," adds Daniel Hrbek. He is curious about the reactions of colleagues from American theaters, as well as with the admission of educators and university students from both cities who are invited to the show. Part of the mini-festival of original Czech games will also be followed by moderate debates with ordinary American spectators, who would like to appeal to selected titles.
Annual training and VIP guests
Preparing to visit two cities in the USA took roughly a year. "We started translating the games into English, our actors took a language test with an American lecturer and started production," the director of Švanda's Theater calculates. He also goes overseas as the director of most of the productions and a relentless fundraiser who is looking for money for the project. The US Party, in cooperation with the Czech Embassy in Washington and the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation in New York, provides Czech guests with an extra weekly residence, providing them with accommodation, promoting the presentation and organizing discussion forums. And it works on invitations of VIP guests, including Madeleine Albright, Susanne Vega and other friends of the Smichov scene.
Other costs in the amount of about CZK 1,500,000 are partly paid by the Švandovo theater itself from the fund, created from its improved profit: "We have all requested public support. We still hope that the event with a clear international overlap and symbolic significance for the Czech Republic will ultimately be supported by a grant from the Ministry of Culture, " says Daniel Hrbek, who also deals with significant companies in the sphere of sponsorship.
At the beginning of July Švanda's theater will be staged with the production of Cry Baby Cry at the V4 festival in Hungarian Váca and in the autumn there will be another traditional guest in Slovakia. To the USA, over the past four years, this theater has played over 80 performances and wants to return in 2020.
Source: tz