SEASON 35 | JULY 21-29, 2023
the memo
By Václav Havel
July 21-29, 2023
Summer Youth Theatre
About the Show
The VORTEX’s award-winning Summer Youth Theatre presents The Memo, by Václav Havel, July 21-29, 2023, for 6 performances. Jelena Stojiljkovic Rhynes directs this sharp satire with a cast of young professionals, ages 13-17. The Memo parodies the merry-go-round of governmental bureaucracy in communist Czechoslovakia and remains relevant to our lives today.
Václav Havel wrote The Memo in 1965 as an ironic dissent against communist rule. Despite its veiled themes, the play was approved by government censors and published.
This 2012 translation by Paul Wilson brings contemporary resonance to Havel’s play, also known as The Memorandum. Havel was eventually imprisoned for his political activities from 1979-1983. He went on to become the final President of Czechoslovakia in 1989 and then the first democratically-elected President of the Czech Republic in 1993. The Memo is broadly considered Václav Havel’s masterpiece.
About the ARTISTS
Directed by Jelena Stojiljkovic Rhynes. Assistant Director Sarah Hogestyn. Scenic Design by Alex Casillas. Lighting Design by Patrick Anthony. Costume Design by Maddy Lamb. Sound Design by David DeMaris. Prop Design by Helen Parish.
Cast: Aditya Chakrabarty*, Avital Cuevas*, Hero Leya Gentle*, Rowan Hickle*, Saida Land*, Sharky Meehan*, Logan Russey*, Brooke Sterling*, Jack Stratton*.
Stage Manager: Hannah Michele. Assistant Stage Managers: Abigail Leman, Haley Perez. Company Manager: Ed-Macy Herring. Technical Direction: Daniel Hernandez. Assistant Scenic Design: Frederick Demps. Assistant Costume Design: Max Duffy*. Assistant Lighting Design: Lorelei Lemieux*. Assistant Sound Design: Seth Ellington. Photography: Eric Petersen. Video documentation: Jose Lozano. ASL-Interpretation: Monica Kurtz and Tim Ervin.
* Summer Youth Artists
Production Manager: Katie Hamilton. Director of Education and Social Justice Activation: Jasmine Games. Finance Director: Krystle Cline. Managing Director: Melissa McKnight. Producing Artistic Director: Bonnie Cullum.
ABOUT THE VORTEX’S SUMMER YOUTH THEATRE
Since 1991, SYT has provided high-caliber theatrical productions to Austin audiences as the jewel of VORTEX’s educational and community engagement. The Austin Chronicle named SYT “Best Theatre for Kids That Treats Kids Like Grownups.” 2021’s Pandemdem Edition received the B. Iden Payne Award for Jessica Cohen’s Outstanding Original Song. Nominated for dozens of local awards, SYT has received B. Iden Payne Awards for productions of youth theatre for The Commedia of Errors and Machinal; direction of youth theatre for The Commedia of Errors, The Physicists, Moby Dick, and The Frogs; acting in youth theatre for The Physicists and Moby Dick; and sound design for youth theatre for Machinal. Every year, students work with adult artists who are among Austin’s most celebrated theatre professionals. Bonnie Cullum, Producing Artistic Director of The VORTEX, founded SYT in 1991; she was inducted into the Austin Arts Hall of Fame in 2009.
Summer Youth Theatre 2023 is funded and supported in part by VORTEX Repertory Company, Six Square Austin’s Black Cultural District, a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts, and by the City of Austin Economic Development
Department. Sponsorships and community donations also help keep this program tuition-free. To support Summer Youth Theatre as a donor, contact vortex@vortexrep.org.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Jelena Stojiljkovic Rhynes is an accomplished actor, voiceover actor, choreographer, puppeteer, and director. She received a Masters in Theater Arts in Serbia, where she worked and lived before moving to Austin. She led drama and dance workshops with people with disabilities and is one of the founders of "Off frame/Van okvira,” the Serbian Regional Festival of Socially Engaged Theater. She was one of four dancers from Serbia in the French Cirque Nouveau project with “Care Blanc,” combining contemporary dance with circus skills. After over 25 years of theatre work in Serbia, she made her U.S. debut in The VORTEX’s 2018 production of Atlantis: A Puppet Opera. Also at The VORTEX, she stage managed Selfie! The Musical and SYT’s Pandemdem Edition: Another Great Depression. At Scottish Rite Theatre, she directed Jungle Book and stage managed Treasure Island In The Bay of Bengal, Little Red Chunari, and Judy Moody & Stink: Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Treasure Hunt. She performed in Pippi Longstocking and was assistant director and choreographer for Sunflower, an original musical about the story of Amalie and Vincent van Gogh. Jelena is passionate about the inclusion of vulnerable groups and about socially-engaged theatre.