Trap Door Theatre Presents VATZLAV, Beg. Tonight

THE TRAP DOOR THEATRE presents Vatzlav, written by SLAWOMIR MROZEK, Directed by: Beata Pilch

Cast: Trap Door ensemble members John Gray, Ann Sonneville, Holly Thomas Cerney; with Associate ensemble members Johnny Graff, Eddy Karch, Mike Mazzocca, Leslie Ruettiger, J. Keegan Siebken, Mike Steele

SLAWOMIR MROZEK-recognized in Poland, a country rich with great poets and playwrights, as one of its greatest dramatists, Mroz?ek was born in 1930 in a small town near Krako?w. He was a consistent critic of state communism from his earliest years as a journalist and cartoonist, and had to emigrate to France after he condemned Poland's part in the Warsaw Pact's invasion of Czechoslovakia. He also lived in Italy and Mexico and became a French citizen in the late 1970s. He moved back to Poland in the 1990s and returned to France at the beginning of the 21st century and died there, in Nice, France in August of 2013. His most famous play Tango (1965) had its world premiere in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. In 1965 a Polish critic Jan Kott observed that while Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz and Witold Gombrowicz, Mroz?ek dramatic predecessors, were ahead of their time, Mroz?ek has arrived right on time both in Poland and in the West. Mroz?ek, not unlike Va?clav Havel in Czechoslovakia, wrote political, critical allegories cloaked in absurdist comedy. Some perceived Mroz?ek as a kind of "Polish Ionesco." His plays poke fun at contemporary mores and life in 20th century communist-dominated Poland. Periodically banned in Poland, his plays were performed in cities around the world including New York City where they were produced several times Off Broadway and at La MaMa Theatre Club.

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. Beata remains true to her original mission and continues to travel abroad every year to research up-and-coming directors, playwrights and stage technique in Berlin, Budapest, Krakow, Zakopane, Paris and other continental cities.

Assistant Director Gary Damico / Dramaturge Milan Pribisic/ Lighting Design Richard Norwood / Sound Design Przemyslaw Bosak / Costume Design Rachel Sypniewski / Stage Manager Meg Eaton/ Fight Choreography Mathias Maloff/ Graphic Design Michal Janicki/

When: Opens:
Closes: Saturday, May 24, 2014 at 8PM

TONIGHT, April 24, 2014 at 8PM
Runs: Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays at 8PM and Sundays at 3PM (Starting May 4)

Admission: $20 on Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays; $25 on Saturdays and 2-for-1 Admission on Sundays Where: TRAP DOOR THEATRE 1655 West Cortland Ave. Chicago, IL 60622

For Information/Reservations: 773-384-0494 To purchase online www.trapdoortheatre.com
What: Mrozek's Vatzlav is a spoof of the rights of humankind or a manual on what NOT to do with your freedom!

Mrozek's Vatzlav welcomes the audience to an enchanted island of enTRAPment wherein a genius professor pimps his own daughter, Justice, and where the generous job-creating entrepreneurs are blood-sucking vampires and an old, blind guardian of the law, named Oedipus, proclaims that "In the dark, good is indistinguishable from evil."