Wolly Mammoth Presents Free Panel Discussion 1/31

FREE PANEL DISCUSSION in conjunction with Woolly Mammoth's production of Pig Iron Theatre Company's HELL MEETS HENRY HALFWAY (starting Feb. 2)

DISSIDENTS AND SUBVERSIVES: From Gombrowicz to Hell Meets Henry Halfway on Saturday, January 31 at 2pm by Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

Panel followed by a sneak peek at a Pig Iron tech rehearsal in the theatre.

Communist Poland banned the work of literary bad-boy Witold Gombrowicz, a radically individualistic and openly bisexual champion of free speech. While in exile, he assumed a pseudonym and released a gothic serial called Possessed about a haunted castle, a mad prince, and a randy tennis coach. Who else could translate this subversive bit of absurdism to the stage but Philadelphia's award-winning Pig Iron Theatre Company, an American dance-clown-theatre ensemble with its own streak of anarchy.

Moderated by ALLEN KUHARSKI, Chair of the Department of Theater at Swarthmore College and dramaturg of HELL MEETS HENRY HALFWAY

Panelists include:

● ADRIANO SHAPLIN, playwright of HELL MEETS HENRY HALFWAY and Artistic Director of The Riot Group

● TOM SELLAR, editor of THEATER magazine and faculty at the Yale School of Drama
● KRYSTYNA ILLAKOWICZ, faculty at Yale University's Department of Slavic Languages
FREE, but reservations recommended. RSVP to discussion@woollymammoth.net.

Panel made possible by generous support from the Embassy of Poland and Georgetown University.