A new production of Václav Havel’s Unveiling comes to Chelsea this month (photo courtesy Untitled Theater Company No. 61)
UNVEILING
Torn Page
435 West Twenty-Second St. between Ninth & Tenth Aves.
Thursday – Saturday, October 1–17, general admission $2, suggested donation $25
untitledtheater.com
tornpage.org
In honor of what would have been Václav Havel’s ninetieth birthday — the first president of the Czech Republic and acclaimed dissident playwright died in 2011 at the age of seventy-five — Edward Einhorn and Untitled Theater Company No. 61 are bringing a revival of Havel’s 1975 absurdist one-act play Unveiling (Vernisáž) to Torn Page in Chelsea, in association with the Czech Center New York. Part of the Vaněk Trilogy that also includes Audience and Protest, the work continues the story of Ferdinand Vaněk, a kind of Havel alter ego who battles authoritarianism.
In Unveiling, running October 1–17 in a production directed by Einhorn using a translation by Jan Novák, Vaněk is invited to see how two of his friends, Vera and Michael, have upgraded their apartment, where they get caught up in a debate about moral integrity and Communism in a way that relates to what is happening today, when Americans are faced with ever-more-ethical choices nearly every day. When the couple shows him their new confessional, he asks, “What do you do with it?” The cast features Craig Anderson, Bob Brader, and Yvonne Roen, with costumes by Ramona Ponce.
On October 5 ($27.50), the play will move to the Bohemian National Hall on the Upper East Side for one night only, with live ASL translation, followed by a panel discussion and a reception with goulash.
And on October 12 at Torn Page, Untitled Theater Company No. 61 will present a staged reading of Einhorn’s Frida Vaněk, a modern sequel to Unveiling starring Vas Eli, Nalina Mann, Alyssa Simon, and Richard Toth, about Ferdinand’s niece, whose mother dies, leaving behind a file that contains some surprising information. General admission is $2, with a suggested donation of $10. Seats are limited for all performances.
As Havel himself said, “Truth and love must overcome lies and hatred.”
[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer; you can follow him on Substack here.]