Trap Door Theatre Re-Stages BLOOD ON THE CAT'S NECK, Now thru 12/28

The Trap Door Theatre celebrates their 20th Anniversary Season by restaging their production of Blood on the Cat's Neck, written by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, translated by Denis Calandra, directed by Beata Pilch, inspired by the original Trap Door production directed by Andrew Cooper Wasser.

Marilyn Monroe versus The Vampires! The naked exploring alien Phoebe Zeitgeist studies human democracy through encounters with earthly inhabitants. Travel along with Phoebe as she sinks her teeth into a cast of lovers, models, butchers, teachers, soldiers, and girls. Originally directed for the Trap Door Theatre in November of 1996 "with sound and fury" by Andrew Cooper Wasser. Trap Door is proud to celebrate our 20th Anniversary Season with the production that originally put us on the map!

Cast: Jacob Alexander, Antonio Brunetti, Marzena Bukowska, Simina Contras, Nicholas Loumos, Lyndsay Rose Kane, Chris Popio, J. Keegan Siebken, Nicole Wiesner, and Carl Wisniewski.

Rainer Werner Fassbinder (Playwright) 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.

Beata Pilch (Director) born in the Polish district of Chicago, holds a Bachelor's Degree in Acting from the United States International University in San Diego, California, and a Master's Degree in Acting from the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California. Pilch founded Chicago's Trap Door Theatre in 1990 and still presides as its Artistic Director. She cultivated her life-long fascination with the avant-garde and obscure as a graduate student at the California Institute of the Arts. A Chicago native and frequent European traveler, she felt that a company that combined bold and physical European acting technique with rich European theatrical literature would provide Chicago's entertainment scene with a unique and vibrant voice. Beata remains true to her original mission and continues to travel abroad every year to research up-and-coming directors, playwrights and stage technique in Berlin, Budapest, Krakow, Zakopane, Paris and other continental cities.

Assistant Director Emily Lotspeich / Stage Manager Allison Goetzman/ Set Designer Richard Norwood / Costume Design Rachel Sypniewski/ Lighting Design Richard Norwood/ Sound Design Danny Rockett / Make-Up Design Zso?fia O?tvo?s / Graphic Design Michal Janicki

The show opens tonight, November 14, 2013 at 8PM and runs: Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays at 8PM and Sundays at 7PM, starting December 1. It closes on Saturday, December 28, 2013 at 8PM. There will be no performances on Nov. 28 or Dec. 26.

Admission: $20 on Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays; $25 on Saturdays. There will be a special benefit performance on Saturday, November 23 at 7PM. Tickets are $125 and include dinner and additional entertainment. www.trapdoortheatre.com for more details. TRAP DOOR THEATRE is located at 1655 West Cortland Ave. Chicago, IL 60622. For information/reservations, call 773-384-0494. To purchase online, visit www.trapdoortheatre.com.

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