Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival Honoring Vaclav Havel Presents: SCALE 1:5

"What matters is not whether a play is light-hearted or serious, but--be it comedic or otherwise--whether it speaks to people about their problems, how it speaks to them, what impact it has on them. . . We wish only to put on plays that meet certain standards of urgency, that are intellectually penetrating, complex, challenging, and powerful."

--Vaclav Havel, "The Kind of Theater We Want to Do," from a letter to Alfred Radok, August 4, 1963

The Vaclav Havel Library Foundation (VHLF), together with the Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association (BBLA), will partner with Czech, Hungarian, Polish, and Slovak performing arts and cultural institutions to host the second year of a unique festival presenting the best in contemporary Central European theater.

The Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia have worked together consistently in the performing arts for almost thirty years. The result of their collaboration has been an outpouring of outstanding dramatic works that pose important questions about immigration, European identity, reconciliation with fascist and communist pasts, and a host of other essential issues. The region's unusual creative energy deserves to be promoted and acknowledged internationally, especially as it has resulted in-to borrow Havel's words-theatrical productions that are at once urgent, intellectually penetrating, complex, challenging, and powerful.

The 2018 REHEARSAL FOR TRUTH festival will present four performances in the original languages with English supertitles, followed by talk-backs with the artists and after parties hosted by the countries cultural institutes and consulates general in NYC. There will also be two staged readings, one panel discussion and a Gala event in honor of The Honorable Madeleine Albright. These events will take place at The Bohemian National Hall (321 East 73rd Street). All REHEARSAL FOR TRUTH productions are free to the public except the Gala Event. The festival is supported by The Bohemian Benevolent & Literary Association, NYC Cultural Affairs and New York City Council Member Ben Kallos.

SCALE 1:5

Saturday, September 29, 2018

12 p.m. & 3 p.m.

Presented by: HOPPart, Budapest, Hungary

Director: Tamas Herczeg

Cast: Tamas Herczeg, Magdolna Kiss Diana, Kata Szilagyi, Zoltan Friendenthal, Tama Kereszteny

Supported by Placcc Festival and in-situ

The Hungarian company HoPPart will bring the alternative musical show SCALE 1:5 to the streets of New York by using a portable sound system and headphones to take the audience for a walk around Yorkville and the Bohemian National Hall neighborhood. The players will follow the traces of the Czech, German, and Hungarian communities that formerly inhabited this part of the Upper East Side. Scale 1:5 has been adapted and performed in Budapest, Prague, Kosice, Marseille, Graz, and Brussels.

The members of HOPPart represent an alternative musical style. Each member of the company is professional actor, singer and multi-instrumentalist musician. While creating a theatre piece, they do everything themselves: collective writing and directing, working on the musical arrangement, singing and accompanying themselves on musical instruments.

Book free tickets on Eventbrite:

12 p.m. show: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/rehearsal-for-truth-scale-15-12pm-show-tickets-48942695921

3 p.m. show: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/rehearsal-for-truth-scale-15-free-tickets-47699921750