PLAYWRIGHT:
Rainer Werner Fassbinder was best known for his powerful, offbeat, messy films. He made forty films by the time he died of a drug overdose at thirty-six. He began his work in the theatre in the late sixties, at twenty-two years old. He acted, directed, (loosely) adapted classics by Buchner, Goethe, Sophocles, Goldoni and others, wrote several of his own plays,and in a few years emerged as the leader of a group of performers who worked with him until his death in 1982. Fassbinder’s plays, like the films, are about varieties of alienation. The images Fassbinder created for the stage, and in films, linger as grotesque and brutal, possessing a strange, improbable truth. In a way, Fassbinder made a career out of despair- selling his own and others’ misery in endless variations, operating according to a system he did not create. Other works included in his controversial antitheater plays are: Bremen Freedom, Blood on the Cat’s Neck, Katzelmacher, and The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant.

DIRECTOR:
Beata Pilch is the Founder and Artistic Director of Chicago’s Trap Door Theatre since its inception in1994. She holds a Masters of Fine Arts degree in acting from the California Institute of the Arts. A frequent traveler and performer in Europe, Beata strives to continue her mission to present the Trap Door company of artists at international festivals and cities throughout Europe and Chicago. In the past, Trap Door has toured in France, Hungary, Romania (International Festival of Sibiu), and Chisnau, Moldova. Beata is a proud resident of Spain and most recently, created an international ensemble based out of Barcelona.

THE TROUBLEMAKER

Barcelona, Spain

March 1st – 29th, 2024  at Espai Piluso (Barcelona, Spain)

This fast-paced and provocative play centers around an aimless group of friends who’s lives are shaken up by the arrival of an immigrant worker. Small town mentality perpetuates itself into the routine violence and seduction of alienated foreigner.

Cast: Samuel Allan, Dermot Flanagan, Julia Fossi, Giovanni Galver Corral, Kelly Knight, Neema Lahon, James Monk, Sylwia Sienicka, Jakob Ulburghs, and Angelina Usenia.

Crew: Production Coordinator: Natalia Kliszczyk / Costume Design: Ensemble / Lighting Design: Beata Pilch & Natalia Kliszczyk / Music and Sound Design: James Monk / Sound Technician: Tomasz Staszak & Adrián Laiseca