The Pig, or Václav Havel’s Hunt for a Pig, photo by Arthur Cornelius.
Pictured (front to back, left to right): Katherine Boynton, Sandy York, Jenny Lee Mitchell, Jennifer Harder, Phoebe Silva, Michael Whitney, Terence Stone, Emily Shankman, Christopher Yustin, John Gallop, and Robert Honeywell.
The Pig, or Václav Havel’s Hunt for a Pig
Adapted/translated into English. 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. Untitled Theater Company No. 61, the company that brought you The Havel Festival, presents the English-language premiere of this theatrical-musical-technological-gastronomic extravaganza, translated by Edward Einhorn.
CRITICS PICKS for The New York Times and The Village Voice.
Produced twice at 3LD Art & Technology Center in New York City.
Cast: 8W, 8M (flexible). Running time: 70 minutes.
Lysistrata
A modern adaptation of Aristophanes' philosophical comedy, focusing on three elements of the human condition that have not changed in nearly 2500 years: war, sex, and, most of all, laughter. Full script at lysistratascript.com.
Originally produced at the Under Water Theater in Brooklyn, New York; subsequently produced in over 20 productions around the United States and in the countries of the United Kingdom, Canada, and Germany.
Cast: 11W, 5M (flexible) plus chorus; Running time: 70 minutes.
Iphigenia in Aulis
This new adaptation reexamines Euripides’ play about democracy versus ochlocracy (mob rule) and the role of religion in popular uprisings. Full script at iphigeniainaulis.com.
Produced at La MaMa Theatre in New York City; Produced at The Palace Theatre in London, Ontario; Produced at Barron Theatre at St. Andrews in Fife, Scotland.
Cast: 5W, 4M (flexible); Running time: 70 minutes.
Ela, Hela, and the Hitch
A translation of a play by Václav Havel, originally written for Ivan Vyscočil in the 1960's, but never performed until its recent rediscovery in 2010. The subject is two old women who go hitchhiking for the first time, but the style is pure absurdist wordplay.
Produced as a reading at The Bohemian National Hall/Czech Consulate
Cast 2W, 1M; Running time: 20 minutes.
To Prepare a Hard Boiled Egg
A translation of Eugène Ionesco’s 7 minute absurdist monologue—a detailed description of how to prepare a hard boiled egg.
Presented as part of the Off-Broadway production, Fairy Tales of the Absurd, at Theater 80.
Cast: One actor, either gender; Running time 7 minutes.