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Citizen Havel Comes to Williamsburg
Nov. 21st, 2006 12:48 amLast Friday, the 17th, Václav Havel came to The Brick theatre in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to see my production of his play Temptation. He brought his wife, the actress Dagmar Veškrnová, and a number of other guests, including the Czech Ambassador to the U.N., Martin Palous, the Consul General Halka Kaiserova (both of whom I'd met before), a number of other Czech dignitaries and friends who I didn't really get to meet . . . and former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. The performance was followed by a party celebrating the 17th Anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, at which the band Uncle Moon performed a set of songs by The Velvet Underground.
Oh. My.
It was quite a night. There are a few stories to tell, but those'll have to wait (and I can discuss Thursday and Sunday's performances as well). I'm getting requests from friends, family and cast for pictures, first and foremost.
So here's a bunch of photos of the evening, mostly, for whatever reason, unflattering ones with lots of closed eyes and/or silly facial expressions, but these are what I have:
Here, towards the end of the night, as Mr. and Mrs. Havel are leaving, they stop to pose with actors Timothy Reynolds, Christiaan Koop, Eric C. Bailey, Jessi Gotta (with Roger Nasser barely visible behind her), and me.
At curtain call, I come out in fireman gear (as suggested by a stage direction in Havel's play), to welcome the playwright and guests to The Brick and the party - and he gets a round of applause . . .
. . . and then joins the cast (here, Fred Backus and Jessi Gotta) on stage to accept that applause.
Marie Winn, who did the English translation of Temptation that I used, was there that night, and I got to speak with her and have her sign my copy of the published text of the play (as mentioned before, I had Havel sign my working draft of the script last week). To the rear, Havel and his wife are visible, at left (barely), my father and stepmother, at right, William Neiderkorn, composer of music for several plays in the festival.
I thank Havel for coming and he thanks me for the production.
Marie Winn talks to Havel and Albright. Ambassador Palous to the left.
Before the set, Havel says a few words to those assembled.
I had actually gone outside the theatre shortly after thanking Havel -- it was REAL hot in there from the massive crowd, and I'd just been stuck up in the tech booth (even hotter) running the show for 2 and three-quarters hours, plus running around plenty beforehand dealing with crowd control, seating issues, keeping the cast from finding out (not very successfully), etc. I was sweaty and worn out, the place was uncomfortably crowded, so I went outside for some air and to hang with friends, cast, and fellow bloggers (George Hunka, James Comtois, and Matt Johnston were there).
So I don't know what Albright was doing, adding a few words to what Havel had said or joining Uncle Moon for a kickass version of "All Tomorrow's Parties." I choose to believe the latter.
Don't know who's on the extreme ends, but otherwise, left to right, it's Halka Kaiserova, Madeleine Albright, Vaclav Havel, Edward Einhorn (festival director), and co-directors of The Brick Michael Gardner and Robert Honeywell.
Outside at the end of the night, the same group as at the top, plus Aaron Baker and the Ambassador to the right. I've just welcomed Havel to the great borough of Brooklyn. He's telling me that he'd like to get to Brooklyn more, but he REALLY doesn't like going over bridges, so it's very uncomfortable for him. I am looming ridiculously into his personal space as he's VERY soft-spoken and I wasn't even sure he was speaking to me at first. Mrs. Havel, who appears to be holding Excalibur, is shaking hands with Timothy -- she made a special point, it seemed, to thank and praise all of the actors in the show.
I'm telling Mr. Havel that I also don't like driving over bridges, but I've had to do it so often now I'm used to it. Neither of us is considering that there are indeed tunnels between Manhattan and Brooklyn/nearby Queens.
It may have something to do with the mind-control scanning coming from Fred Backus and Alyssa Simon, at rear, with the glowing cyborg eyes. Aaron Baker, a talented "blocker" of psychic attacks, is aware of this and is amused.
Either the glowy-eyed Alyssa has turned the focus of her psychic attack on my gut, or I'm taking in that Mr. Havel is saying he's never gotten used to going over bridges, that he's 70 now, and the fear only gets worse with age -- and I'll find this out someday. This is not reassuring.
More soon. The two quotes that come back to me most about the evening are: Walter Brandes coming up to me to tell me that Madeleine Albright had told him (and he paused a moment to reflect on how odd it was to say THAT) that Havel had turned to his wife during the show to remark that this was a much better production of the play then had been done in Prague.
Whoa. Nice ego-boo there.
And an email the next day from Alyssa noting that she was only then realizing how amazing it all was.
Yeah, Vaclav Havel and Madeleine Albright at The Brick. A scrappy little indie theatre at Metropolitan and Lorimer in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. More than anything for me, I'm just glad it happened to The Brick.
photos by Nils Hill, Yolanda Hawkins, and Eric C. Bailey
Oh. My.
It was quite a night. There are a few stories to tell, but those'll have to wait (and I can discuss Thursday and Sunday's performances as well). I'm getting requests from friends, family and cast for pictures, first and foremost.
So here's a bunch of photos of the evening, mostly, for whatever reason, unflattering ones with lots of closed eyes and/or silly facial expressions, but these are what I have:
Here, towards the end of the night, as Mr. and Mrs. Havel are leaving, they stop to pose with actors Timothy Reynolds, Christiaan Koop, Eric C. Bailey, Jessi Gotta (with Roger Nasser barely visible behind her), and me.
At curtain call, I come out in fireman gear (as suggested by a stage direction in Havel's play), to welcome the playwright and guests to The Brick and the party - and he gets a round of applause . . .
. . . and then joins the cast (here, Fred Backus and Jessi Gotta) on stage to accept that applause.
Marie Winn, who did the English translation of Temptation that I used, was there that night, and I got to speak with her and have her sign my copy of the published text of the play (as mentioned before, I had Havel sign my working draft of the script last week). To the rear, Havel and his wife are visible, at left (barely), my father and stepmother, at right, William Neiderkorn, composer of music for several plays in the festival.
I thank Havel for coming and he thanks me for the production.
Marie Winn talks to Havel and Albright. Ambassador Palous to the left.
Before the set, Havel says a few words to those assembled.
I had actually gone outside the theatre shortly after thanking Havel -- it was REAL hot in there from the massive crowd, and I'd just been stuck up in the tech booth (even hotter) running the show for 2 and three-quarters hours, plus running around plenty beforehand dealing with crowd control, seating issues, keeping the cast from finding out (not very successfully), etc. I was sweaty and worn out, the place was uncomfortably crowded, so I went outside for some air and to hang with friends, cast, and fellow bloggers (George Hunka, James Comtois, and Matt Johnston were there).
So I don't know what Albright was doing, adding a few words to what Havel had said or joining Uncle Moon for a kickass version of "All Tomorrow's Parties." I choose to believe the latter.
Don't know who's on the extreme ends, but otherwise, left to right, it's Halka Kaiserova, Madeleine Albright, Vaclav Havel, Edward Einhorn (festival director), and co-directors of The Brick Michael Gardner and Robert Honeywell.
Outside at the end of the night, the same group as at the top, plus Aaron Baker and the Ambassador to the right. I've just welcomed Havel to the great borough of Brooklyn. He's telling me that he'd like to get to Brooklyn more, but he REALLY doesn't like going over bridges, so it's very uncomfortable for him. I am looming ridiculously into his personal space as he's VERY soft-spoken and I wasn't even sure he was speaking to me at first. Mrs. Havel, who appears to be holding Excalibur, is shaking hands with Timothy -- she made a special point, it seemed, to thank and praise all of the actors in the show.
I'm telling Mr. Havel that I also don't like driving over bridges, but I've had to do it so often now I'm used to it. Neither of us is considering that there are indeed tunnels between Manhattan and Brooklyn/nearby Queens.
It may have something to do with the mind-control scanning coming from Fred Backus and Alyssa Simon, at rear, with the glowing cyborg eyes. Aaron Baker, a talented "blocker" of psychic attacks, is aware of this and is amused.
Either the glowy-eyed Alyssa has turned the focus of her psychic attack on my gut, or I'm taking in that Mr. Havel is saying he's never gotten used to going over bridges, that he's 70 now, and the fear only gets worse with age -- and I'll find this out someday. This is not reassuring.
More soon. The two quotes that come back to me most about the evening are: Walter Brandes coming up to me to tell me that Madeleine Albright had told him (and he paused a moment to reflect on how odd it was to say THAT) that Havel had turned to his wife during the show to remark that this was a much better production of the play then had been done in Prague.
Whoa. Nice ego-boo there.
And an email the next day from Alyssa noting that she was only then realizing how amazing it all was.
Yeah, Vaclav Havel and Madeleine Albright at The Brick. A scrappy little indie theatre at Metropolitan and Lorimer in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. More than anything for me, I'm just glad it happened to The Brick.
photos by Nils Hill, Yolanda Hawkins, and Eric C. Bailey
