Cast: Venice Averyheart, Caleb Jenkins, David Lovejoy, Manuela Rentea, Hannah Silverman, Keith Surney, and Kevin Webb.
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.
Director
Zeljko Djukic studied at the Belgrade Drama Arts School and the University of Maryland at College Park. He is the founder of the TUTA Theatre company. Among many productions he directed are The Dumb Waiter by Harold Pinter, Baal and The Wedding by Bertolt Brecht, Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov, First Ladies by Werner Schwab, and Judith: A Parting from the Body by Howard Barker. In 2009 he directed Tony Kushner’s Homebody/Kabul at National Theatre in Belgrade, Serbia. He is a recipient of the Fulbright Scholar Award for 2013. He currently teaches acting at the Academy of the Arts in Belgrade, Serbia.
Stage Manager: Kayci Johnston / Assistant Stage Manager: Kasia Olechno / Costume Design: Natasha Djukic / Lighting Design: Richard Norwood / Set Design: Natasha Djukic / Master Carpenter: Chirs Popio / Sound Design: Danny Rockett / Music Composition: Natasha Bogojevic / Prop Design: Merje Veski / Sewing Assistant: Emily Nichelson / Movement Consultant: Miguel Long / Graphic Design: Michal Janicki / Dramaturg: Milan Pribisic / Videography: Road 28 Productions
The Pragmatists
Written by Stanislaw I. Witkiewicz
Translated by Daniel Gerould
Adapted by Adam Ranđelović
Directed by Zeljko Djukic
September 21 – October 28, 2023 (Original Run)
In a setting that is at the same time a torture chamber, a chamber of the heart, and a chamber for a virtuoso recital, two former friends struggle for domination in an existential conflict. They share the same dilemmas, the same collapsing world, the same despair; they are “pragmatists” because instead of facing the ultimate mystery of existence, they attempt to find pain-killing evasions, which dooms them to live the past over again while experiencing the future in advance.
Danny Rockett – Best Sound Design
Natasha Bogojevic – Best Original Music
Venice Averyheart, Caleb Lee Jenkins, David Lovejoy, Manuela Rentea, Hannah Silverman, Keith Surney, and Kevin Webb – Best Ensemble
After his previous directing triumphs of First Ladies and Judith: A Parting from the Body, TUTA founding Artistic Director Zeljko Djukic returns from Serbia to Trap Door to direct Witkiewicz’s first ever published piece.
Gallery
Zeljko Djukic’s direction deals easily with the madness and delivers a play that is visually stunning and imaginatively choreographed.
Nancy Bishop, Third Coast Review
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!
Sergey Elkin, The Reklama
There is no denying the energy of the seven actors and their ability to slide seamlessly from clownishness to dolor to belligerence, and then back again to physical and verbal comedy.”
Michael Antman, Theatre in Chicago
The production sparkles with staging ingenuity thanks to director Zeljko Djukic
If you like Theater of the Absurd, then this show is for you!
Julia Rath, Around the Town Chicago
All the performers are marvelous—particularly the leads, Webb and Surney, who are absolutely convincing in pursuit of something unclear.
Mary Wisniewski, Newcity
Both the set and costume designs by Natasha Djukic are among the cleverest you’ll see in Chicago all year.
Mary Wisniewski, Newcity