THE VELVET ORATORIO Makes Its World Premiere 11/19 During The NYPL's Performing Revolution

The Velvet Oratorio, a new piece written in honor of the 20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, will have its world premiere on November 19 as part of New York Public Library for the Performing Arts' upcoming festival, Performing Revolution in Central and Eastern Europe. The Velvet Oratorio is an evocative retelling of the Velvet Revolution through found text, choral music, and scenes inspired by Václav Havel's Vanêk plays. Performers will include a choir, a string quartet and a separate cast of 12.

The piece is organized as a series of alternating scenes and choruses, the chorus representing the crowds in Prague during the events spanning November 17, 1989 to January 1, 1990. The text for the oratorio is based partly upon recently released U.S. State Department documents and corresponding Czechoslovakian / Soviet documents and interviews with journalists, diplomats, and ordinary people who were in the streets of Prague during the revolution.

Untitled Theater Company #61 (UTC61) is a Theater of Ideas: scientific, political, philosophical, and above all, theatrical. UTC61 has been collaborating with the Czech theater community since it produced the 2006 Havel Festival, the first-ever presentation of Václav Havel's complete dramatic works. Since then, UTC61 has focused on many topics of Czech interest, the most recent event being "Prague 1600," a series of play readings at the Bohemian NationAl Hall. Other recent projects include the calypso musical version of Cat's Cradle, the Festival of Jewish Theater and Ideas, the NEUROfest, and the Ionesco Festival.

Written by Edward Einhorn
Composed and Directed by Henry Akona

Bruno Walter Auditorium,
Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
111 Amsterdam Avenue
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
(at Lincoln Center)
Thursday, November 19, at 6pm

Bohemian NationAl Hall
321 East 73rd Street
Monday, November 30, at 7pm

All tickets FREE. For information, visit www.untitledtheater.com, call 212-866-1073, or email theaterofideas@gmail.com

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