Performance History

2024/2025 season

in repertory

• Medea Material (October)
• The Martyrdom of Peter Ohey (September)

2023/2024 season

• Nana (April)
• Mother Courage and her Children (January)
• The Pragmatists (September)

2022/2023 season

• Bowie in Warsaw (May)
• Joan and the Fire (March)
• Princess Ivona (December)
• The Ugly One (September)

2021/2022 season

• Medea Material (June)
• The Martyrdom of Peter Ohey (February)
• Queen C (October)
• Dinner with Marx (October)

2020/2021 season

• And Away We Stared (July 2021)
• Discourse Without Grammar (April)
• Decomposed Theatre (December)
• ALAS (July 2020)

2019/2020 season

• Lipstick Lobotomy (February)
• The White Plague (December)
• Love and Information (September)

2018/2019 season

• The Killer (May)
• 25/25 Festival (Trap Door celebrates 25 years, April)
• Tango (February)
• The Old Woman Broods (December)
• Naked (September)

2017/2018 season 

• Monsieur D’eon is a Woman (May)
• Letter of Love (The Fundamentals of Judo) (March)
• The Locketeer (January)
• THEY (December)
• Occidental Express (October; Romania, Hungary, Republic of Moldova: September 2018)

2016/2017 season

• Into The Empty Sky (May)
• The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (March)
  
• Phèdre (January)
• Fantasy Island for Dummies (September)

2015/2016 season

• No Matter How Hard We Try (May)
• How to Explain The History of Communism to Mental Patients (March; Romania: May 2016)
• The Duchess of Malfi (January)
• The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls (October)

2014/2015 season

• The Universal Wolf (August)
• The Woman Before (May)
  
• La Bête (March)
  
• Cookie Play (January)
• John Doe (Premiered in Poland: August 2014; Chicago: September 2014; Poland: February 2015)

2013/2014 season

• Regarding the Just (June; France: November 2014)
• Vatzlav (April)
• Judith: A Parting from the Body (January)
• Blood on the Cat’s Neck (November)
• The Balcony (September)

2012/2013 season

• Core of the PUDEL: Gutting the Legend of Faust (April)
  
• The Unveiling and Dozens of Cousins (December)
• The Arsonists (October)

2011/2012 Season

• Smartphones (July)
• Anger/Fly (May)
• They Are Dying Out (February)
• the word progress on my mother’s lips doesn’t ring true (December; Romania/Hungary: June 2013)
• OVERWEIGHT, unimportant: MISSHAPE – A European Supper (October)

2010/2011 season

• First Ladies (March)
• Hamletmachine (January)
• Me Too, I am Catherine Deneuve (Chicago: October 2010; Georgia: December 2010; Washington D.C.: April 2011; France: April 2012)

2009/2010 season

• Chaste: An Awful Comedy (May)
• Minna (January)
• 12 Ophelias: A Play with Broken Songs (September)

2008/2009 season

• A Couple of Poor, Polish-Speaking Romanians (May; Romania and Poland: May 2010)
  
• Horses at the Window (March; Romania: May 2009; Virginia and New York: November 2009)
  
• The Unconquered (November)
• No Darkness Round My Stone (September)

2007/2008 season

• Beholder (May)
• The Beastly Bombing (March)
• Eva Peron (December)
• Emma (October)

2006/2007 season

• The Swan (March)
• Alice in Bed (January)
• The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant (September)

2005/2006 season

• Request Programme (June)
• The Fourth Sister (March)
• Old Clown Wanted (Premiered in New York: November 2005; Chicago: December 2005; Romania: May 2007)

2004/2005 season

• The Crazy Locomotive (Chicago Remount: September; New York Fringe Festival: August 2005; Romanian Tour: May 2007)
• AmeriKafka (June)
• People Annihilation or My Liver is Senseless (January)
• Letters to the President (November)
• Garden of Delights (October)

2003/2004 season

• The Venetian Twins (July)
• Katzelmacher (March)
• Nana (December)
• The Flies (October)

2001/2002 season

• The Architect and Emperor of Assyria (May)
  
• Quills (January)
• The Shoemakers (October)

2000/2001 season

• Automobile Graveyard (June)
• Morocco (May)
• Porcelain (March)
• Night Coil (January)
• The History of the Devil (January)
• Baal (November)
• Ten Tiny Fingers, Nine Tiny Toes (September)

1999/2000 season

• Forty-Deuce (July)
• The Homosexual, (or The Difficulty of Sexspressing Oneself) (May)
• Pitchfork Disney (May)
• La Ronde (April)
• Lebensraum (March)
• The Crazy Locomotive (January)
• Pre Paradise, Sorry Now (October)

1998/1999 season

• Bondage (August)
• Feedlot (June)
• The Killing Game (May)
• Polaroid Stories (March)
• Poona the Fuck Dog (January)
• Orpheus Descending (November)
• Squat, a play with music (September)

1997/1998 season

• Alien Hand (May)
• The Mother (April)
• Sugar Down, Billie Hoak (March)
• Bremen Freedom (December)
• Road to Nirvana (November)
• Feverdream Cocktail (October)

1996/1997 season

• Some Things You Need to Know Before the World Ends (August)
• Dad’s Ham (May)
• Dutchman (April)
• Big Mother (March)
• Audience: The Vanek Plays (February)
• Deathwatch (January)
• Boys of the Peggy August Club (December)
• Troy Women (November)
• The White Whore and the Bit Player (September)

1995/1996 season

• Blood on the Cat’s Neck (May)
• Tattoo (May)
• Orgasmo Adulto Escapes from the Zoo (March)
• Trapunto: A Patchwork of Solo Performances (February)
• The Maids (February)
• The Gnädiges Fräulein (January)
• Aria Da Capo (December)
• The Saints (November)
• Dr. Faustus (October)
• The Inevitable Crunch Factor (September)

1994/1995 season

• Women Behind Bars (June)
• Ivona, Princess of Burgundia (January)
• Birdbath (December)
• The Madman and the Nun (June)

Awards

Joseph Jefferson Award Citations:

• Special Award, for “Opening a magical door to an evocative and surreal world over the last 25 years” 2019
• Best Original Music (Danny Rockett, How to Explain the History of Communism to Mental Patients) 2017
• Best Actor in a Principal Role (Kevin Cox, La Běte) 2015
• Best Costume Design (Rachel Sypniewski, La Běte) 2015
• Best Original Incidental Music (Ovidiu Iloc, the word progress on my mother’s lips doesn’t ring true) 2012
• Best Actress in a Principal Role (Nicole Wiesner, First Ladies) 2011
• Best New Work (Ken Prestininzi, Beholder) 2009
• Best Ensemble (Nana) 2004
• Best Ensemble (Porcelain) 2001
• Best Supporting Actress (Sharon Gopfert, Lebensraum) 2000
• Best Supporting Actor (Eric Johnson, Lebensraum)2000
• Best Ensemble (Lebensraum) 2000

After Dark Awards:

• Best Original Incidental Score (Beholder) 2008
• Best Ensemble (Emma) 2007
• Best Ensemble (The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant) 2006
• Best Costumes (Beata Pilch, The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant) 2006
• Best Production (The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant) 2006
• Best Lighting (Richard Norwood, Old Clown Wanted) 2005
• Best Actress (Marzena Bukowska, People Annihilation or My Liver is Senseless) 2005
• Best Production (People Annihilation or My Liver is Senseless) 2005
• Best Production (Porcelain) 2001
• Best Director (Michael Pieper, Lebensraum) 2000
• Best Production (Lebensraum) 2000
• Best Sound Design (Bob Rokos, Sugar Down, Billie Hoak) 1997

Orgie Awards:

• Best Director (Tracy Letts, People Annihilation or My Liver is Senseless) 2005
• Best Actress (K.K. Dodds, AmeriKafka) 2005

The Cultural Programs of the French Embassy Award:

• First Place: The Architect and Emperor of Assyria 2002
• First Place: The Automobile Graveyard 2001
• First Place: Deathwatch 1997

Other acknowledgments:

• The Chicago Design Archive recognizes Trap Door Theatre’s Resident Graphic Designer Michal Janicki’s production poster designs as part of their permanent collection. (2024)
• Neil Blackadder recognizes Trap Door as one of the rare and vital companies to stage international work on Howl Round Theatre Commons (2024)
• Trap Door Theatre in The Encyclopedia of Polish Theatre (2024)
• Trap Door Theatre in American Theatre: Lost and Found in Translation: Where Are All the International Plays? (2024)
• Trap Door Theatre featured in Borderless Magazine (2023)
• Trap Door Theatre featured in The Mercurian , A Theatrical Translation Review (2021)
• Staff Pick, “Best Off Loop Theatre” in Best of Chicago Reader (2019)
• Interview with artistic director Beata Pilch in Ensemble: An Oral History of Chicago Theater, compiled and created by Mark Larson (2019)
• Prop Design by Zsofia Otvos featured in Setting the Stage by Design Chicago as part of Year of Chicago Theatre Celebration (2019)
• Award of Excellency for Occidental Express by Ministry of Culture from Romania – Sălaj County Center (2018)
• Trap Door’s resident graphic designer, Michal Janicki’s production image of the word progress on my mother’s lips doesn’t ring true received front cover credit for Domnica Radulescu’s: Theatre of War and Exile.
  
• Runner up for Best Off-Loop Theatre in Best of Chicago Reader (2017)
• Zoltan Balasz Best Director for How to Explain History of Communism…, International Festival in Baia Mare, Romania (2017)
• Worth Magazine: Editor’s Picks: Emily DeNitto (2015)
• Time Out Chicago: Best Storefront Theatres in the city (2014)
• Chicago Reader: Best String of Theatrical Stunners (2011-12 Season)
• Chicago Tribune: Best Fringe Theatre of 2010 (Chaste)
• Chicago Sun-Times: Best Theatre of 2010 (Chaste)
• Huffington Post: Best of Chicago Theatre 2010 (Chaste)
• Chicago Tribune: Top Five Shows of 2008 (Beholder)
• Chicago Tribune: Top Five Shows of 2006 (The Fourth Sister)
• Chicago Tribune: Top Ten Chicago Theater Performances of 2005 (K.K. Dodds in AmeriKafka)
• Windy City Times: Best Scenic Design (No Darkness Round My Stone)
• Windy City Times: Best Ensemble Award, 2004 (Katzelmacher)
• Gay Chicago Magazine: “Best of Stage” for 2007 (Emma)
• New City Magazine: Top Five Shows of 2008 (No Darkness Round My Stone)
• New City Magazine: Top Five Guilty Pleasures for 2007 (Eva Peron)
• Performink: End of Year Review for 2008: “Best Production” (No Darkness Round My Stone)
• Performink: 2002, Best Theatre Making the Best of It.
• Chicagocritic.com: Best Production of the Year (People Annihilation or My Liver is Senseless)
• Performink: End of the Year Round-up “Best Production” (Request Program) and “Best Performance” (Carolyn Shoemaker, Request Program)
• Steadstyle: Best Production of the Year Award for (Morocco and Quills)