Bates College presents the American and English-language premiere of a work by Hungary's leading playwright, Gyorgy Spiro, in performances at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, May 15 to 17, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, May 18, in Gannett Theater, Pettigrew Hall, 2 Andrews Road.

Spiro will be in residence at Bates during the theater production workshop that will present his play "Prah." This short piece is about two people who belong to the in-between generation of contemporary Hungary, explains Martin Andrucki, Charles A. Dana Professor of Theater at Bates. Born and raised under communism, the pair can't imagine how to reinvent their lives when they suddenly become rich.

"It's a darkly funny story about old habits confronted by new and unbelievable opportunities," says Andrucki, who is leading the workshop. Andrucki commissioned the translation of the play, which he hopes will be become the standard English-language version. Sharing the program with "Prah" is "Unveiling," written in the 1970s by Vaclav Havel, the Czech writer and dramatist who became the first president of the Czech Republic after the fall of the Iron Curtain.

Considered one of Hungary's greatest living playwrights, Spiro will be on campus during the performance week to discuss both his work and issues in contemporary cultural affairs in Hungary and in Central Europe.

"It's important to see how an insider views life in Hungary after the fall of communism. Seeing this play will help American audiences understand some of the world's headlines in terms of the everyday lives of ordinary people," said Andrucki.

"Unveiling" is one of three plays Havel wrote, during the crackdown following Czechoslovakia's "Prague Spring" of 1968, about a persecuted writer named Vanek. "Vanek is widely regarded as Havel's alter ego," Andrucki explained, "a man whose dissident politics have gotten him into trouble with the authorities and alienated him from his conformist friends."

In "Unveiling," a couple who invites Vanek to see their newly remodeled home try to sell Vanek on their consumerist view of life, with increasingly bizarre results. Havel's scathingly funny satire of materialism gone wild has proven popular with audiences worldwide. Admission is $6 for the general public and $3 for children and seniors. For more information, call 786-6161 or visit the Bates online box office at www.bates.edu/boxoffice.