Trap Door Theatre is an American,

Jeff Award The Joseph Jefferson Award, more commonly known informally as the Jeff Award, is given for theatre arts produced in the Chicago area. Founded in 1968, the awards are named in tribute to actor Joseph Jefferson, a 19th-century American theater star ...

-winning, avant-garde theatre company based in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. Its focus is on European and original experimental material.

History

Trap Door Theatre, founded by Beata Pilch and Sean Marlow, was incorporated in 1990 as a

nomadic A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the popu ...

company touring theatre in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

Zakopane Zakopane ( Podhale Goral: ''Zokopane'') is a town in the extreme south of Poland, in the southern part of the Podhale region at the foot of the Tatra Mountains. From 1975 to 1998, it was part of Nowy Sącz Voivodeship; since 1999, it has been par ...

, and

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. In 1994, Trap Door brought its European tradition to the United States, creating a permanent home for the company in Chicago. Trap Door Theatre is located in Bucktown in Chicago in a converted performance space which seats 45.

Ensemble

*Maryam Abdi *Venice Averyheart *Dennis Bisto *Abby Blankenship *Marzena Bukowska *Holly T. Cerney *Gary Damico *Bill Gordon *David A. Holcombe *John Kahara *Lyndsay Rose Kane *Anna Klos *Emily Lotspeich *Miguel Long *David Lovejoy (Associate Managing Director) *Leslie Lund *Michael Mejia (Company Manager) *Emily Nichelson *Beata Pilch (Artistic Director, Co-Founder) *Chris Popio *Manuela Rentea *Ann Sonneville *Keith Surney *Nicole Wiesner (Managing Director) *Bob Wilson *Carl Wisniewski *Max Truax (Resident Director) *Kate Hendrickson (Resident Director) *Richard Norwood (Resident Light Designer) *Danny Rockett (Resident Sound Designer) *Zsófia Ötvös (Resident Makeup Artist) *Rachel Sypniewski (Resident Costume Designer) *Milan Pribisic (Resident Dramaturg) *Michal Janicki (Resident Graphic Designer) Honorary Members include Tiffany Bedwell, Danny Belrose, Antonio Brunetti, Summer Chance, Dani Deac, Ewelina Dobiesz, Kristie Hassinger, Sean Marlow (Co-Founder), Kim McKean, Catherine Sullivan, Andrew Cooper Wasser, Michael Garvey, Bob Rokos, Tiffany Joy Ross, Wesley Walker, Michael S. Pieper, and Krishna Le Fan.

Notable productions

*''How to Explain The History of Communism to Mental Patients'' (March 2016, Romania: May 2016) *''La Bête'' (March 2015) *''First Ladies'' (March 2011) *''Beholder'' (May 2008) *''Nana'' (December 2002) *''Lebensraum'' (March 2000) *''Porcelain'' (March 2001) *''Beholder'' (May 2008) *''Emma'' (October 2007) *''The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kan''t (September 2006) *''Old Clown Wanted'' (New York: November 2005; Chicago: November 2005; Romania: May 2007) *''My Liver is Senseless'' *''AmeriKafka'' *''The Crazy Locomotive'' (New York: August 2005; Chicago: June 2005; Romania: May 2007) *''Horses at the Window'' (March 2009 Romania: May 2009 Virginia, New York: November 2009) *''Me Too, I am Catherine Deneuve'' (October 2010 Georgia, December 2010 Washington DC, April 2011 France, April 2012)

Awards and honors

Joseph Jefferson Award citations *Best Original Music (Danny Rockett, ''How to Explain the History of Communism to Mental Patients'') *Best Actor in a Principal Role (Kevin Cox, ''La Bête'') *Best Costume Design (Rachel Sypniewski, ''La Bête'') *Best Original Incidental Music (Ovidiu Iloc, ''The Word Progress on my Mother’s Lips Doesn’t Ring True'') *Best Actress in a Principal Role (Nicole Wiesner, ''First Ladies'') *Best New Work (Ken Prestininzi, ''Beholder'') *Best Ensemble (''Nana'') *Best Supporting Actress (Sharon Gopfert, ''Lebensraum'') *Best Supporting Actor (Eric Johnson, ''Lebensraum'') *Best Ensemble (''Lebensraum'') *Best Ensemble (''Porcelain'')

References

External links

Official website
{{Chicago Theaters Theatre companies in Chicago