Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival: POOL at Bohemian National Hall

POOL is a collaborative fusion of performance, visual art, and documentary that explores the male gaze, self-objectification, and the way power shifts as we move between looking, seeing, and being seen. In a society that sees self-objectification of the feminine both encouraged and derided by the dominant culture and its critics alike, internalized oppression is erased. POOL sets out to bring this intergenerational wounding into view.

In POOL, the unmet needs of patriarchy’s citizens are isolated, magnified, and transferred into a fabricated system in which the characters struggle with their perceived deficits according to an unexpected set of rules. On stage covered with rows of Barbie dolls, four performers enact a vivid triptych: two men, competing to satisfy their own narcissism; a ghost of a woman whose shattered identity lives among the infinite gazes of men; and a young girl whose solid, stable presence throws into high relief the others’ disturbances.

POOL (2023), Czech Republic/US. Choreography: Denisa Musilova. Dramaturgy: Mark DeChiazza. Performed by: Denisa Musilova, Mark DeChiazza, Vivienne Pankratova, Tom Rychetsky. Music, sound design: Ales Kauer.

Running time: 45 min.

Denisa Musilova developed the presented performance during her artist residency the Baryshnikov Arts Center in March 2023.

The performance is followed by a talkback.

Free and open to the public. Suggested donation $10. Seats are limited, on first-come, first-served basis. Online registration through Eventbrite is required.

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The 2023 Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival: Anew is organized by the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation and the Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association in partnership with the Polish Cultural Institute New York, GOH Productions, Trap Door Theatre, Centre of Jewish Culture ŠTETL, Jan Mocek, Martin E. Segal Theatre Center, Palissimo Company, and Romanian Cultural Institute.

The program is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. The festival is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, Arts and Theatre Institute in Prague, and Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic.