OPENING: TRAP DOOR THEATRE'S THEY 12/7/17-1/13/18

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THEY

Written by Stanislaw I. Witkiewicz

Translated by Daniel Gerould & C.S. Durer

“They are running everything but no one knows who THEY actually are?” Using the text of Stanislaw Witkiewicz, They examines who THEY are and if the secret government really exists.

Adapted and Directed by:

Beata Pilch

Cast Featuring Mary-Kate Arnold, Daniel Chenard, Halie Ecker, Adam Huizenga, and Carl Wisniewski

When:                   
Opens: Thursday, December 7, 2017 at 8PM
Closes: Saturday, January 13, 2018 at 8PM
Runs: Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays at 8PM

Admission: $20 on Thursdays and Fridays;  $25 on Saturdays, with a special Holiday 2-for-1 Admission on Thursdays and Fridays
Where:  TRAP DOOR THEATRE 1655 West Cortland Ave.  Chicago, IL 60622
For Information/Reservations: 773-384-0494 To purchase online www.trapdoortheatre.com

They tragically examines how the beauty in love and art is poisoned by the toxic remedy of normalization and the destruction of freedom and imagination.

Stanislaw I. Witkiewicz (1885-1939) is one the most brilliant figures of the European avant-garde, Witkiewicz was a poet, painter, playwright, an expert on drugs, an early spokesman for a radically non-realistic theatre and an original philosopher and social critic of mass culture, post-industrial society, and the rise of totalitarianism. He was also a pioneer in serious experimentation with narcotics and prophetically recognized the growing importance that they would have on Western civilization. Politics, revolution, and even art were similar “drugs.” Witkiewicz committed suicide shortly after the outbreak of War in September of 1939. He is best known for his plays The Madman and the Nun, The Mother, The Water Hen, The Anonymous Work, and The Shoemakers.


Beata Pilch- (Director) born in the Polish district of Chicago, holds a Bachelor's Degree in Acting from the United States International University in San Diego, California, and a Master's Degree in Acting from the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California. Pilch founded Chicago's Trap Door Theatre in 1990 and still presides as its Artistic Director. She cultivated her life-long fascination with the avant-garde and obscure as a graduate student at the California Institute of the Arts.  A Chicago native and frequent European traveler, she felt that a company that combined bold and physical European acting technique with rich European theatrical literature would provide Chicago's entertainment scene with a unique and vibrant voice. Past favorite directing credits include: Madman and the Nun, Nana, Quills, The Bitter Tears of Petra Van Kant, The Fourth Sister, The Unveiling, Vatzlav, The Shoemakers, The Crazy Locomotive. Most recently, Beata directed Blood on the Cat’s Neck in Barcelona, Spain. She is a featured performer in the work of international multi-media visual artist Catherine Sullivan. She has performed in over 60 Trap Door productions and has toured abroad annually with the company to France, Romania, Hungary, and Poland. She will perform in the next touring production Occidental Express at the international theatre festival in The Republic of Moldova next fall, 2018.
             
Assistant Director Sami Ismat/ Sound Designer Danny Rockett/ Lighting Design Richard Norwood /Set Design Stefan Roseen/Costume Design Rachel Sypniewski/Graphic Design Michal Janicki/Video Design David Holcombe/Dramaturge Milan Pribisic/Stage Managers Mihta Garan and Elizabeth Melio




Special Art Event: Trap Door is proud to announce its first art show in rep! Original Artwork will be on display throughout the run, with a special artists reception following the performance on Friday, December 8, beginning at 9:30. Exhibiting artists include Kevin Moeller, Brain Morgan, Marzena Bukowska, Robin Rios, CJ Hungerman, Lovietta Simpkins, George Bowles, Poppy G, Bernadette Zawiesjska, Michael Garvey, ter Arts Zawitkowska, Alex XII- Paintings/artwork.