Cast: Venice Averyheart, Emily Lotspeich, David Lovejoy, Keith Surney, Gus Thomas, and Nicole Wiesner.
Understudies: Dan Cobbler, Juliet Kang Huneke, Mitchell Jackson, and Gracie Wallace.
Director
Nicole Wiesner (Director) (she/her) joined the Trap ensemble in 1999, and currently serves as the Managing Director. Directing credits for the company: Minna, The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls, Phedre, Monsieur D’eon is a Woman, The Old Woman Broods, The White Plague, Decomposed Theatre Episode 5, The Martyrdom of Peter Ohey and Joan and the Fire. Some of her favorite Trap acting credits include First Ladies (dir. Zeljko Djukic, Joseph Jefferson Citation: Outstanding Actress); OVERWEIGHT, unimportant: MISSHAPE (dir. Yasen Peyankov); and the title roles in The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant; Nana (dir. Beata Pilch) and Alice in Bed. (Director Dado). Regionally, she has appeared at the Goodman Theatre in 2666, directed by Robert Falls and Seth Bockley; Shining City directed by Robert Falls; and Passion Play, directed by Mark Wing-Davy (After Dark Award, Outstanding Performance). Other credits include Shining City at the Huntington Theatre in Boston; Passion Play at Yale Repertory Theatre and Epic Theatre NYC; The Book Thief (dir. Hallie Gordon), South of Settling (dir. Adam Goldstein) and Dublin Carol (Dir. Amy Morton) at Steppenwolf Theatre; Dying City (dir. Jason Loewith) at Next Theatre, Great Men of Science (dir. Tracy Letts) at Lookingglass Theatre; and Phedre (dir. JoAnn Akalitis) at The Court Theater.
The Cuttlefish, or the Hyrcanian Worldview
Written by Stanisław I. Witkiewicz
Translated by Daniel Gerould
Directed by Nicole Wiesner
March 19–April 25, 2026
Runs: 8PM Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Sundays 4/12 and 4/19 at 3PM.
Admission: $32, with two for one admission on Thursdays.
Where: Trap Door Theatre is located at 1655 W. Cortland St.
Part philosophical farce, part surreal fever dream—Witkiewicz’s The Cuttlefish, or the Hyrcanian Worldview is a razor-sharp satire of art under pressure. In a world where creativity is consumed by control and individuality is crushed beneath the weight of conformity, an artist spirals into crisis—torn between integrity and survival, freedom and obedience. Witkiewicz exposes the seductive dance between artist and authority, where every act of creation risks becoming an act of submission. Decades ahead of its time, this anarchic comedy lays bare the modern artist’s impossible choice: stay true to your vision, or surrender it for comfort and applause.
Playwright
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.
Stage Manager: Kasia Olechno / Assistant Director: Dan Cobbler / Scenic Design: Merje Veski / Lighting Design: Richard Norwood / Costume Design: Rachel Sypniewski / Sound Design: Danny Rockett / Make Up Design: Zsófia Ötvös / Dramaturg: Milan Pribisic / Graphic Design: Michal Janicki