Trap Door Theatre Presents THE WHITE PLAGUE

Trap Door Theatre presents The White Plague.

On the brink of a world war, a mysterious plague starts killing everyone older than 45. A young doctor finds a cure, but what is the cost he is willing to ask the afflicted to pay?

Opens: Thursday, Dec. 5, 2019
Closes: Saturday, Jan. 11, 2020

Runs: 8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays

Admission: $20 on Thursdays and Fridays, $25 on Saturdays, 2 for 1 admission on Thursdays

Where: Trap Door Theatre, 1655 West Cortland Ave., Chicago, IL 60622

Featuring: Venice Averyheart, Dennis Bisto, Marzena Bukowska, David Lovejoy, Michael Mejia, Robin Minkens, Emily Nichelson, Keith Surney

Karel ?apek (Playwright) was a Czech journalist, novelist, science fiction and travel writer, essayist and playwright, born in 1890 in Bohemia, near the German border, what then was Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was a prolific author, producing about fifty books across genres, and in all of them, his goal was the political, moral and cultural enhancement of his native land. His older brother Josef became a painter but also coauthored with ?apek several books of short stories and two plays, The Life of the Insects (1921) and Adam, the Creator (1927). At the time, they were known as The Brothers ?apek, and the two of them are credited as introducing the neologism "robot" to the world as the word appeared for the first time in the title of ?apek's 1920 play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots). ?apek's style is sometimes offhand and exclamatory, sometimes scattered and intensely expressionistic, but always insistently enlightening, as he is considered, along with Bertolt Brecht, to have been the most didactic writer of the first half of the 20thcentury. In 1936, ?apek published his most famous novel, War with the Newts, his satire on Nazi Germany and totalitarianism that attacked his cultural and political foes. It is not surprising, then, that the Gestapo tried to arrest dead ?apek in March 1939 when German troupes marched into Czechoslovakia. ?apek died on Christmas day of 1938 of an inflammation of the lungs. His brother Josef was arrested instead and spent World War 2 in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp; he got liberated at the end of the war but died a few days later.

Nicole Wiesner (Director) joined the Trap ensemble in 1999 and currently serves as the Managing Director. Directing credits for the company include Minna, The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls, Phedre, Monsieur D'eon is a Woman and The Old Woman Broods. Some of her favorite Trap 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; Nana (dir. Beata Pilch) and Alice in Bed. (Director Dado).

Regionally, she has appeared at The Goodman Theatre in 2666, directed by Robert Falls and Seth Bockley; Shining City directed by Robert Falls; and Passion Play, directed by Mark Wing-Davy (After Dark Award, Outstanding Performance). Other credits include Shining City at the Huntington Theatre in Boston; Passion Play at Yale Repertory Theatre and Epic Theatre NYC; The Book Thief (dir. Hallie Gordon), South of Settling (dir. Adam Goldstein) and Dublin Carol (Dir. Amy Morton) at Steppenwolf Theatre; Dying City (dir. Jason Loewith) at Next Theatre, Great Men of Science (dir. Tracy Letts) at Lookingglass Theatre; and Phedre (dir. JoAnn Akalitis) at The Court Theater.

Set Designer J. Michael Griggs/ Original Music and Sound Design Danny Rockett / Costume Designer Rachel Sypniewski/ Lighting Designer Richard Norwood / Makeup Design Zsofia Otvos / Graphic Designer Michal Janicki/ Dramaturge Milan Pribisic / Choreographer Miguel Long / Stage Manager Anna Klos

Trap Door Theatre is committed to seeking out challenging yet obscure works and bringing them to startling life on stage. Whether it is a European classic rarely seen in the United States, an untarnished piece of American literature, or the playwright living next door, Trap Door will find these voices and present them to the public through innovative expression.

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