Cast: Marzena Bukowska, Dan Cobbler, Genevieve Corkery, Cat Evans, Shail Modi, Emily Nichelson, Gus Thomas and James Wheeler.

Understudies: Maya Paletta

Directors

Miguel Long (Director) (he/him) joined the Trap Door ensemble in 2018. Miguel is a Chicago native theater artist and recently directed The Martyrdom of Peter Ohey, The Buttcracker: A Nutcracker Burlesque and Sex and the Windy City: A parody musical. He is honored and excited to be collaborating with Nicole Wiesner again, having last collaborated directing and choreographing Nana. Trap Door acting credits include Bowie in Warsaw (dir. Paweł Swiatek), Medea Material (dir. Max Truax), The Old Woman Broods and Monsieur d’Eon is a Woman (dir. Nicole Wiesner), and And Away We Stared (dir. Skye Fort and Mike Steel). Music Video choreography credits include: Weight (dir. Dave Holcombe). Trap Door Choreography credits include: The White Plague, Joan and the Fire, Medea Material, and Lipstick Lobotomy.

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, Joan and the Fire and Nana. 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.

Author

Bruno Jasienski was a Polish poet, novelist, playwright, Catastrophist, and leader of the Polish Futurist movement in the interwar period. Jasieński was also a communist activist in Poland, France and the Soviet Union, where he was executed during the Great Purge. He is acclaimed by members of the various modernist art groups as their patron. “What seems most astonishing is that, even now, over seventy years after his torture and execution in a Soviet prison, Jasieński is still such a socially awkward commodity, certain to make English-speaking readers as uncomfortable as Polish ones. Most of the greatest writers seem to have been born at the wrong time, but only a small handful of the truly odd ones feel as though they wouldn’t be quite at home – or embraced – at any time.” Soren Gauger

Stage Manager: Kayci Johnston / Scenic Design: Merje Veski / Lighting Design: Brenden Marble / Costume Design: Rachel Sypniewski / Music Composition & Sound Design: Danny Rockett / Choreography: Miquel Long / Make Up Design: Zsófia Ötvös / Props Design: David Lovejoy / Fight Choreography: Christian Boswell / Graphic Design: Michal Janicki