The Pig, or Vaclav Havel's Hunt for a Pig

Title: The Pig, or Vaclav Havel's Hunt for a Pig
Playwright: Václav Havel and Vladimír Morávek
featuring music from The Bartered Bride by Bedřich Smetana
Adapted into English by Edward Einhorn
Director/Musical Arranger: Henry Akona
Choreographer: Patrice Miller
Venue: 3LD Art + Technology Center
Producer(s): 3LD Art + Technology Center
and Untitled Theater Company #61
with the assistance of the Czech Consulate of New York and the Czech Center; originally developed at, and with the continuing support of, New Ohio Theater's Ice Factory Festival

Synopsis: 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 and directed by Henry Akona. Join us at a traditional Czechoslovakian zabíjačka feast. Reserve a table and enjoy a meal or just sit back and enjoy the party.

This is Havel's last play. It began its development in the Czech Republic when Vladimír Morávek stumbled upon an interview between Havel and an American journalist wherein Havel tells the story of trying to find a pig in communist Czechslovakia. The text grew and bounced between Morávek and Havel, and later Edward Einhorn was thrown into the mix for an American workshop. The end result, sadly produced after Havel's passing, is a rich meta-tapestry of performance and food.