From November through March!!!

The Performing Revolution in Central and Eastern Europe festival kicks off on November 6.  Presented by The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, in association with leading cultural organizations and academic institutions, the festival examines how the performing arts contributed to the 1989 revolutions in Central and Eastern Europe. The five-month festival features more than 25 events in theater, dance, music, film, and literature, as well as exhibitions and symposia.

Performing Revolution focuses on the performing arts in the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia. The festival considers “revolution” not only within the framework of the era’s profound social and political changes, but also in terms of ongoing experiments within a particular genre. From revivals of significant works from the period to new projects that reflect upon the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Iron Curtain and beyond, Performing Revolution is a celebration of the transformative power of the arts and their potential to reshape political and cultural systems.

On November 5, The Harriman Institute at Columbia University will host a pre-festival symposium that discusses the performing arts in the context of political change. The festival opens on November 6 with Rebel Waltz: Underground Music From Behind the Iron Curtain, featuring six bands from Eastern Europe, all playing in the U.S. for the first time. These bands performed in the 1980s as a form of political rebellion and 20 years later represent a successful movement for change. The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center will present Revolutionary Voices: Performing Arts in Central & Eastern Europe in the 1980s, a major exhibition that opens November 18 and examines how performances attempted to break boundaries set by the Communist state’s politicians and censors.  Among the many other events is a rare revival of the Theatre of the Eighth Day‘s landmark 1985 production of Wormwood, performed by the original cast; a book launch for the first multi-author anthology of Eastern European plays to appear in English, published and presented by the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center; and the U.S. premiere of Petrushka by theGyőr National Ballet from Hungary at The Joyce Theater.

Performing Revolution in Central and Eastern Europe is presented by The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts in partnership with the Czech Center New York; Goethe-Institut New York; Hungarian Cultural Center; Polish Cultural Institute in New York;Romanian Cultural Institute in New York; the Consulate General of Slovakia; the Consulate General of Slovenia; Abrons Arts Center; Agentura Dell’Arte; Austrian Cultural Forum; Dance New Amsterdam; Erste Bank Group; The Film Society of Lincoln Center; GOH Productions; The Harriman Institute at Columbia University; HERE Arts Center;Janeil Engelstad; The Joyce Theater; La MaMa E.T.C.; (le) Poisson Rouge; Martin E. Segal Theatre Center; The Tank; Theater for the New City; Theatre Department at Barnard College, Columbia University; Untitled Theater Company #61; WaxFactory; and the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Festival.

For more information, please visit the Festival website at www.performingrevolution.org.