R.I.P. Vaclav Havel

Dreadful sorry to hear the news that Vaclav Havel passed away today. I and about a hundred of my friends were fortunate to have gotten close to Mr. Havel’s magic thanks to Edward Einhorn, whose passion, drive and producing acumen led to the Havel Festival in Fall 2006. The experience was an eye-opener for me — and no doubt for Mr. Havel, as well. This was a cultural event of international importance. Havel was one of the great playwrights of the 20th century, a political hero and champion of human rights, and the first president of the Czech Republic. AND…you could have heard a pin drop from the American government in terms of support or interest. The whole thing was in the hands of a ragtag group of indie theatre artists. The surrealism of encountering Mr. Havel and former Secretary of State Madeline Albright at the tiny Brick Theatre will NEVER leave my mind. Shouldn’t this be at the Kennedy Center? But don’t get me wrong — lucky US!

I was in one of the shows in the festival. In terms of fame and attention our production was one of the festival’s backwaters, but I was thrilled at the opportunity, and remain proud of the work we did. Jeff Lewonczyk directed Richard Harrington and myself in the American premiere of an obscure Havel radio play called Guardian Angel. In it I played one of the long line of detectives on my actor’s resume (merged with one of the long line of psychotics). And I terrorize Harrington…absurdly, of course. I was very excited by the experience because I considered it my sort of “coming out” as a serious actor. (I’d trained to be one near 20 years earlier and, though I had performed frequently in the intervening time, I seldom, if ever, had the opportunity to play what you’d call a challenging role. I was most grateful at this opportunity to prove to myself, and everybody else, I could do it). Here’s a little essay I wrote about it at the time.

Me in "Guardian Angel", 2006. Photo by Tim Brown.

At any rate, the festival also gave me a chance to expose myself to a lot of Havel’s work (including much lesser known stuff). My admiration for the man is unbounded. HIS was the way a life should be lived. (Except for all that chain-smoking). If there is such a thing as a soul, I imagine right now his is grateful for the peace and the rest.