May 1st Celebration of Czech literature
On May 1st, students of all levels of Czech language, recited poetry, read Czech prose, and performed Czech plays, to mark May 1st, the Czech “day of love”.
Josef Čapek’s classic stories about a cat and a dog, Povídání o pejskovi a kočičce, is an old favorite on our students’ repertoire: in yet another memorable performance, Nikhil Benesch as a cat and Ashley Morse as a dog, set out to clean their house. James Clark movingly recited Vladimír Holan’s “Milostná píseň“ (Love poem). Abigail Weil read an excerpt from Jaroslav Hašek’s story “Moje zpověď“ (My Confession). Three second year Czech students captivated their audience by performing an abridged version of Václav Havel’s 1975 play, Vernisáž: Giula Dossi as Věra, Austin Muller as Havel’s alter-ego Bedřich, and William Lobkowicz as Michal. Finally, Kayla Oakley, Guangchen Chen, Jenya Mironova, and Nicole Burgoyne, read parts from Karel Hynek Mácha’s Romantic epic poem Máj (May, 1836).
This event was coordinated by Veronika Tuckerová. Sophia Tucker performed a musical interlude.
