COLD COUNTRY Comes to ExPats Theatre

Expats Theatre will present the live stage production of Cold Country, by Swiss playwright Reto Finger.  Cold Country is directed and translated by Karin Rosnizeck and opens Saturday, September 27th at 7:30 pm running through October 19th at Atlas Performing Arts Center, Lab 2, 1333 H St NE in Washington, DC.

The Play:  "Strangers are not good in difficult times," warns the pastor, his words echoing through the isolated Swiss mountain village. But Hanna's world is already crumbling. Two years after her brother's mysterious death, and under the pastor's unsettling gaze, her voice is stifled by the community's rigid silence. When hikers from the city arrive, they become unwitting catalysts, prompting Hanna to confront the unspoken truths that bind her. As secrets unravel and the corset of tradition is ripped away, Hanna's suppressed rage erupts, revealing the devastating price of enforced silence. This Kleist Prize-winning play examines a young woman's individual resistance against oppressive conformity.

The Playwright: Reto Finger was born in Bern in 1972 and grew up in the country near there. He graduated in 1999 with a law degree and worked for two years in the district court of Zurich. In 2002, he was commissioned to write plays for Theater in der Winkelwiese and Theater an der Sihl, two off-theatres in Zurich. In July, 2004, he staged a reading of Schwimmen wie Hunde at the Burgtheater Vienna as part of the Authors' Workshop. In 2005, he received the Kleist Encouragement Award for Kaltes Land (Cold Country). In 2006-2007, he was author in residence at the Nationaltheater Mannheim. There he developed the series of Fingers Freunde which he continued at the Schauspielhaus Zurich. In the following years, he was author-in-residence and guest dramaturg at the Schauspiel Essen und the Schauspielhaus Bochum. For the latter, he dramatized Max Frisch's novel Stiller, which premiered in a production by Eric de Vroedt in April, 2016.

The Cast:  

Mike Crowley* as Jakob Hauser

Maryanne Henderson as Jasmin

David Bryan Jackson* as Father Hoffmann

Elgin Martin as Tobias

Sadie O'Conor as Hanna Hauser

Melissa Robinson as Kathrin Hauser

*Member of Actors' Equity Association

Production and Creative Team:

Director: Karin Rosnizeck

Stage Manager: Amberrain Andrews

Set Designer/Projection Designer: Tennessee Dixon

Lighting Designer: Ian Claar

Costume Designer: Donna Breslin