Hungary L!ve Festival New York, 2022: Hungarian Contemporary Art Festival

Established in 2018, Hungary L!ve Festival is a unique and innovative art festival held every two years in New York to showcase the outstanding, critically acclaimed works of Hungarian artists.

All productions are free to attend, but registration is required (see ticket section below).

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Festival Schedule:

DOLLARDADDYS: EAST
May 23, 8:00 PM – HERE Mainstage

Emőke Kiss-Végh and Tamás Ördög are young Hungarian actors and theatre-makers, known for their unorthodox shows and projects staged in flats and unusual venues. Dollardaddy’ s (Dollár Papa Gyermekei) are one of the youngest Hungarian ensembles, true risk-takers in every sense: experimenting on the boundaries of real life and theatre in a minimalistic style. The performance is realized in the frame of Tampere University’s project Re-Connect / Re-Collect – Crossing the Divides through Memories of Cold War Childhood, inspired by the collected memories. This international and interdisciplinary research analyzes memories of diverse childhood experiences from post socialist and Cold War countries; and tries to build bridges between academic research and arts through the representations of these personal stories. It aims to establish dialogues among people divided by multiple borders – geopolitical, economic, generational and cultural – and which borders, albeit in a different form, are still there today.

KRISZTIÁN GERGYE COMPANY: “…AND ECHO”
May  24, 7:30 PM – HERE Mainstage 

The performance is followed by a talkback: CAREER OF DANCE ARTISTS.

“…and Echo” is a contemporary opera performance that portrays the main character, a woman’s inner stories with a unique bond of two other essential art forms, puppetry and contemporary dance performance. It is a mirror play: the story of an opera singer’s personal drama, which carries the weight and inevitability of Greek tragedies. The contrast between the reality of life and that of stage existence tends towards surreality. Lies and truths blend together. Just as in life, one cannot see clearly, but the performance takes place as life does. The magic of Puppet Theater reveals a private mythology in which the reflection not only looks back, but also responds. It is also a kind of reverse Bluebeard story, in which there is only Judith, without a man, trapped in the castle. Krisztián Gergye, dance-choreographer-director, Viktória Vizin, opera singer, and Péter Zombola, composer, worked on the idea for the production for several years. The final production combines contemporary dance, contemporary opera and contemporary puppet theater to create a truly all-round artistic performance. The premiere was held in the Chamber Hall of the National Theater in Miskolc as part of the Bartók Plus Opera Festival, which has always been about inspiration, support and inclusion of talented and value-creating artists, so the premiere could not have been in a more appropriate venue.

ÉVA DUDA DANCE COMPANY: MIRROR
May 25, 7:30 PM – HERE Mainstage

MIRROR was premiered at the 20th Budapest Dance Festival in March 2020 for the 10th Jubilee of the Company. MIRROR is looking back to the most powerful moments from the first decade of the team’s artistic work, by creating a retrospective show with young and energetic dancers. MIRROR is one of the purest dance shows of the company, with highly skilled dancers who present the best of their qualities. From wild and dynamic sequences of intense choreographies through passionate partnering scenes to almost totally silent parts are followed by each other with the mark of Eva’s unique style on each moment. Eva Duda’s early works are based on highly energetic and dynamic physicality. In MIRROR she turned back to this purely physical approach, which evokes that extraordinary momentum she is known for. Polishing this “language” for more than a decade, spiced up with remarkable dancers, it became one of the most characteristic shows she has ever created.

 

Everybody has something to hide. To be successful in operative work, the informant has to ease into and stay credible in different roles. He or she should not raise suspicion in his or her private life, should gain the trust of the subject and show absolute loyalty to his or her handler. This story is set in Hungary in the 1960’s. The secret police have Michael Besenczy under surveillance. Besenczy is Hungarian but has been living in England since his childhood. As a young man, he came back to his home country to study film directing at the University of Theatre and Film Arts. There is a strong suspicion that he is working with British intelligence. Agents placed around him are commissioned to form intimate friendships, erotic relationships with the subject in order to learn as much as possible about him and provide privileged information. But no matter how good they are at their job, they cannot hide from the secret police’s and each other’s observant gaze. In the end, they might find themselves vulnerable upon discovering their deepest fears in the eyes of their subject. Observers is Kelemen’s third production for Trafó House of Contemporary Arts, Budapest (a renown Budapest contemporary performing arts venue) and the focus is yet again on the workings of Hungarian society, on an episode of Hungary’s recent socialist past that as many others, has not been openly discussed.

PÁL ZÁVADA, ISTVÁN MOHÁCSI, JÁNOS MOHÁCSI: A MARKET DAY (staged reading)
May 27, 7:30 PM – HERE Mainstage

This reading is followed by a talkback.

1946, Kunvadas – a fictional Hungarian village near Szolnok. Not many of the Jews came back home who were deported during the Second World War, which had just ended. A teacher in the village, Sándor Hadnagy is accused of war crimes putting him in the crossfire of political battles. In the meanwhile lynching mood increasingly over takes the village. Poverty and hunger are generating histeria making the villagers look for an enemy: they get into mobs and begin to act upon their own jurisdiction. And history repeats itself very quickly. Pál Závada used true events and original documents to write his novel “Egy piaci nap” which became one of the most important contemporary literary works of the past years. The Kossuth prize-winner writer based the story on a brutal, shocking and for many people, unknown series of events of the Hungarian past: the pogroms against the Jews of Kunmadaras. Závada tells a larger story of humanity about our historical traumas and the responsibility of community through questioning the people’s motivations behind the events at Kunmadaras. The Mohácsi brothers created the stage adaptation of the Libri literary prize-nominated novel and the Radnóti Theatre closed its 2017-2018 season with a Hungarian premiere.

LÁSZLÓ GÖNDÖR & ÉVA KATONA: LIVING THE DREAM WITH GRANDMA
May 28, 5:00 PM – HERE Mainstage

Living the Dream with Grandma is a lyrical, yet humorous one-man-show about processing third-generation trauma. This unique multimedia piece takes place over a month, in the middle of the pandemic lock-down in Budapest, Hungary, when László Göndör, the 35-year-old author suffering from an identity crisis, moves in with his 97-year-old grandmother, a Holocaust survivor. Over 32 days, the grandmother and grandson try to grasp each other’s pain and trauma, as well as their profound mutual love.

By making use of video and audio documentation recorded during their cohabitation, their conversations are reenacted, demonstrating the deep impact that the Holocaust and its related traumas have had on their personalities and relationship.

By presenting the gap between the two generations and the loving relationship between them, the piece facilitates the process of understanding and acceptance – both for those who have been through similar life situations and those for whom the topic is unknown.

The text was written and edited by Zsófia Bódi, Kornél Laboda and László Göndör from the documented conversations and recollections of László Göndör and his grandmother, Éva Katona.

Trailer

DJ BOOTSIE TRIO & VJ KEMURI
May 28, 9:00 PM – HERE Mainstage

GÁBOR HERENDI: TOXIKOMA (Film screening)
May 29, 6:00 PM – HERE Mainstage

Prior to the screening, there will be a panel discussion: ART AND ACTIVISM

The screening will be followed by a talkback with the film’s lead actor, Áron Molnár

Toxikoma is based on the memoirs of Győző Szabó in which the two lead characters, a drug addict alpha male and Dr Imre Csernus, a psychiatrist playing God, flex their muscles, challenge each other and finally become friends. The story outlines the most difficult years of a young man moving from the countryside to Budapest, for years falling further and further in the world of drugs. Upon his arrival in Budapest, Győző worked as a waiter, a graphic artist, a toy maker and also ventured into the swirling world of actors. He eventually ends up in a wild, seemingly eternal heroin spiral, with everything falling apart around him: family, work, future – but finally he decides on the tapering-off cure. It is during this cure that he meets the psychiatrist Dr Csernus. The film is about the fight between the egos of two dominant males who need to realize that they can only progress together.

WORKSHOPS

Workshops of movement, dance and voice. Designed for artists who are interested in performing arts. The workshops are lead by Éva Duda, Márta Kelemen and Krisztián Gergye.

 

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Until further notice, performances and events at HERE are Vaccinated Only Performances; all patrons attending performances will be required to show proof of a complete COVID-19 vaccination (NY Excelsior pass or vaccination card) and be masked while inside the building.

In addition to showing proof of full vaccination status and a picture ID:

All patrons will also be required to wear masks (KN95 or KF94 masks are strongly recommended).

We ask all audience members to please stay home if they have a sore throat, are feeling sick in any other way, or have been recently exposed to COVID-19, and to please contact the box office for refunds or exchanges.

All of our performers, technicians, and staff members are required to be fully vaccinated and masked unless they are onstage performing. Additionally, they are participating in an active testing regimen to keep everyone as safe as possible.

HERE’s Comprehensive Site Safety and Reopening Plan can be found at reopening.here.org. The designated HERE Site Safety Monitor will be present at every performance and will be responsible for enforcing compliance with this Safety Plan. HERE reserves the right to revise protocols as the rate of transmission changes and in light of new scientific data that may present itself.