The 2013 Ig Nobel Awards Ceremony
An opera inspired by the lives of George and Charlotte Blonsky
By Improbable Research
At Sanders Theatre, Harvard University
Directed by Henry Akona
September 12, 2013
Lyrics by Marc Abrahams
With the music of Gounod, Beethoven and Rossini
Arranged and orchestrated by Henry Akona
Upcoming events:
The Theater of Václav Havel
The Czech Center, Chicago
September 27, 2013
The Czech Center, Los Angeles
September 29, 2013
Upcoming revivals:
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
West Coast Premiere
At Sacred Fool’s Theater in Los Angeles
Directed by Jaime Robledo
September 2013
From the novel by Philip K. Dick
Adapted by Edward Einhorn
Music by Henry Akona
The Pig
3LD Art + Technology Center
Directed by Henry Akona
February 2014
Václav Havel needs a pig to 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 and politics collide in this theatrical celebration.
Text by Václav Havel
Adapted for the stage by Vladimír Morávek
With music from The Bartered Bride by Bedřich Smetana
Arranged and orchestrated by Henry Akona
Translation and additional text by Edward Einhorn
The Velvet Oratorio
In honor of the 25th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution
Directed by Henry Akona
November 2014
A retelling of the Velvet Revolution through text, choral music, and scenes inspired by Václav Havel’s Vaněk plays. The text for the oratorio draws upon U.S. State Department documents and corresponding Czechoslovak and Soviet documents and interviews with journalists, diplomats, and ordinary people who were in the streets of Prague in November 1989.
Libretto by Edward Einhorn
Music by Henry Akona
Dramaturgy by Karen Lee Ott