Event Listing - Theater
Thu May 1 - Sun May 18

Eastenders Repertory Company presents

3 Vanek Plays


Tel. (510) 568-4118
Website
$15 - $20
Tickets
Box Office: (510) 568-4118

Location
Date and Time
JCC East Bay
1414 Walnut St.
Berkeley, CA 94709
cross street: Rose St.
district: Berkeley

Thu May 1 (8pm)
Sat May 3 (8pm)
Sun May 4 (2pm & 7pm)
Mon May 5 (8pm)
Wed May 7 (8pm)

Description
Eastenders Repertory Company returns to the Jewish Community Center of the East Bay with 3 Vanek Plays: Audience, Unveiling, and Protest by former president of the Czech Republic, Václav Havel. Imprisoned for four years by the repressive Communist regime, Havel originally wrote Audience and Unveiling in the mid-1970s to entertain a small gathering of fellow writers, all of whom had their work banned in their native countries. The Vanek plays have since been produced more often and in more countries than any other of Havel’s plays – and been so influential that three of Havel’s fellow playwrights, Pavel Kahout, Pavel Landovský and Jirí Dienstbier, were inspired to write their own Vanek plays around the same central character. Ferdinand Vanek, the fictional protagonist of the trilogy, is Havel’s alter-ego, a 'dissident' playwright. In Audience we see Vanek working in a brewery in a bleakly absurd and comical encounter with his boss, the Brewmaster; in Unveiling we follow our hero as he visits a frighteningly and avidly consumerist, conformist couple; finally, in Protest, Vanek confronts his friend, a successful TV writer, whom he tries to convince to sign a petition renouncing the government.

Audience
Directed by Susan E. Evans
Assistant Director Alexandra Nikolchev
Unveiling
Directed by Susan E. Evans
Assistant Director Jennifer Daly
Protest
Directed by Gina Baleria

at Jewish Community Center of the East Bay
1414 Walnut Street
Berkeley, CA

Runs: Thurs., May 1, Sat., May 3, Sunday, May 4, Thurs., May 15, Sat., May 17, Sunday, May 18.

Plays: Thurs & Sat. at 8:00 p.m. & Sunday evenings at 7:00 p.m., Sun. matinees (May 4, 18) at 2:00 p.m.

On Monday, May 5, and Wed., May 7, only: Audience will be presented together with a staged reading of Morass, a Vanek play by Pavel Kohout. The performance will be followed by a moderated discussion about the role, ethical responsibilities and freedoms of the artist in a political context.

TICKETS: $20 All Performances; $15 Member, KQED, KTEH, TBA, student and senior discounts.

For more information call (510) 568-4118