THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE/AMERICAN PREMIERE OF HAVEL’S NEW PLAY/OPERETTA HYBRID

by Václav Havel

adapted for the stage by Vladamír Morávek

Featuring music from The Bartered Bride by Bedřich Smetana

Translation and additional text by Edward Einhorn

Direction and musical arrangements by Henry Akona

At Manhattan’s 3LD Art and Technology Center,
80 Greenwich Street
Wed June 29 – Sat July 2, at 7pm

Tickets $18, or $35 with a meal ($12/$29 for students and seniors)

Call 212-352-3101 or visit www.sohothinktank.org

Untitled Theater Company No. 61 (UTC61) presents the English-language/American premiere or Václav Havel’s newest work, The Pig, or Václav Havel’s Hunt for a Pig, as part of Ohio Theatre/Soho Think Tank’s Obie-award winning Ice Factory. Presented for the first time last June in Brno, this play/operetta hybrid has never been seen outside the Czech Republic before. Translator Edward Einhorn and director Henry Akona’s interpretation celebrates the distinctly Czech nature of the piece, set at a zabijačka, a traditional Czech pig festival.

Václav Havel needs a pig he can slaughter and cook for a party with his dissident friends. An American journalist arrives for an interview. The villagers have a pig to sell, but where is it? And why is everyone singing The Bartered Bride? Food, drink, song, video, politics and celebration collide in this adaptation by experimental Czech director Vladimír Morávek of Havel’s text and Smetana’s music. The picnic setting offers the option of pre-purchasing a meal to enjoy during the show. Among its other attractions are live feed video, nine classically trained singers, and a seven piece live orchestra. A different band will entertain pre and post each performance.

UTC61 is a Theater of Ideas: scientific, political, philosophical, and above all, theatrical. UTC61′s relationship with former Czech President Vaclav Havel began during the 2006 Havel Festival, during which UTC61 presented all of Havel’s work at venues such as The Ohio, The Brick, and the Miller Theater. Since then UTC61 has had a close, ongoing relationship with both President Havel and the Czechs. Recent productions include and The Velvet Oratorio, an oratorio in honor of the20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution presented at the Walter Bruno Theater at Lincoln Center; Rudolf II, a collaborative project with the Czech Center which examined the life of the 16th Century Emperor in Prague; and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, an adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s novel presented at 3LD. UTC61′s publishing branch, Theater 61 Press, will also be releasing five books of previously unpublished translations of Havel’s work in Spring 2012.

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