„Happy Birthday, Mr. Havel" - was the title of an article on the festival of complete theatre works by Václav Havel scheduled for the Autumn this year in New York in The New York Times. The festival, an active collaboration between the Aura-Pont and the organizers, will open on Havel's birthday, 5 October 2006. Václav Havel will attend some of the later events of the festival in person, as he will be staying in New York where he was invited by Columbia University.
The festival productions will be performed at the Brick Theater in Brooklyn and Ohio Theater in the Manhattan SoHo, with some readings taking place elsewhere. The "Havel season" will culminate with the American premiere of The Beggars Opera at the Miller Theatre of Columbia University. Edward Einhorn, the Artistic Director of the Untitled Theater Company #61, who started the idea of the festival, says in the article: "Havel's plays have a special resonance in today's America. The human rights erosion and human rights abuse make the political theatre in our country especially important."