Adaptation of Jean Racine's PHEDRE Opening Next Week at Trap Door Theatre

The Trap Door Theatre will present Phèdre by Jean Racine, adapted by Paul Schmidt, and directed by Nicole Wiesner, running Thursday, January 5, 2016, through Saturday, February 11, 2016, playing Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8PM.

Physical evocations of the myths of ancient Greece, as well as a critical eye toward societal conventions combine to create a modern take on this classic story of forbidden love.

Phèdre will star Tiffany Bedwell, Dennis Bisto, Abby Blankenship, Halie Ecker, John Kahara, Emily Lotspeich, Ann Sonneville and Carl Wisniewski.

Creative Team: Assistant Directors Gary Damico and Skye Fort/ Set Designer J. Michael Griggs / Lighting Design Richard Norwood/ Costume Design Rachel Sypniewski/ Sound Design/ Composer Danny Rockett / Make-Up Design Zsófia Ötvös / Graphic Design Michal Janicki/ Dramaturg Milan Pribisic / Stage Manager Gary Damico.

Admission: $20 on Thursdays, Fridays; $25 on Saturdays; 2 for 1 Admission on Fridays at the Trap Door Theatre, 1655 West Cortland Ave. Chicago, IL 60622. For more information and reservations, call 773-384-0494 or go online at www.trapdoortheatre.com.

Jean Racine (Playwright) was a French poet and playwright born in 1639. From age nine he was reared in a Jansenist convent and chose drama as a career in defiance of his upbringing. His fame rests on his neoclassical tragedies, Britannicus (1670), Bérénice (1671), Bajazet (1672) and Phèdre (1677) Through some odes and sonnets written to Louis XIV, he attracted the attention and interest of the King. In Paris he met Molière, the great comic playwright and actor-manager, who staged in 1664 Racine's first tragedy with mediocre success. His first great success came with Andromaque (first performed in 1667) which established Racine's most appreciated theme, that of the tragic folly and blindness of passionate, uncontrollable love. Phèdre, the most profound and poetic of his tragedies, uses Euripides as a source and inspiration. In 1672 Racine became the member of the French Academy and two years later obtained the office of treasurer of France, the position conferring nobility. Eight months after the premiere of Phèdre Racine cut all links with the commercial stage, married a pious young woman and accepted, with Nicholas Boileau, the high honor of writing the official history of the reign of Louis XIV. During the next twenty years, he wrote only two plays notable for the presence of choral interludes on the ancient Greek model. He died in 1699.

Nicole Wiesner (Director) has been a member of the Trap Door Theatre since 1999. Directing credits include Meg Miroshnik's Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls and Howard Barker's Minna. Favorite Trap Door 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 and Nana, (dir. Beata Pilch); and Alice in Bed. (Director Dado). Other credits include Shining City, (dir. Robert Falls); Passion Play, (dir. MarK Wing-Davy, After Dark Award, Outstanding Performance) at the Goodman Theatre; The Book Thief (dir. Hallie Gordon), South of Settling (dir. Adam Goldstein) and Dublin Carol (Dir. Amy Morton) at Steppenwolf Theatre; Shining City, (dir. Robert Falls) at the Huntington Theatre in Boston; Passion Play (dir. MarK Wing-Davy) at Yale Repertory Theatre; Passion Play (dir. MarK Wing-Davy) at the Epic Theatre in NYC; Dying City (dir. Jason Loewith) at Next Theatre, Great Men of Science (dir. Tracy Letts) at Lookingglass Theatre.

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