Working Class Immigrants Choose Survival Over The American Dream In IRONBOUND

At a bus stop in a run-down New Jersey town, Darja, a Polish immigrant cleaning lady, is done talking about feelings; it's time to talk money. Over the course of 20 years, and three relationships, Darja negotiates for her future with men who can offer her love or security, but never both. Award-winning playwright Martyna Majok's IRONBOUND is a darkly funny, heartbreaking portrait of a woman for whom love is a luxury-and a liability-as she fights to survive in America.

Co-Artistic Director Kelly Kitchens selected IRONBOUND for Seattle Public Theater's 2017-18 Season because it provides a complex, nuanced look at a working-class, immigrant single-mother and the battles she must fight, as well as the dreams she puts to rest just to scrape by. "Majok gives voice to those struggling to make it by another day," says Kitchens. "This play is written by a female playwright and at its center is a fully realized, gritty, funny, flawed, hardworking, heartbreaking female protagonist. For all those reasons and more, I knew this was a story that Seattle Public Theater had to produce. The intimate setting of our theater will allow the audience to immerse themselves in this story; to sit at that bus stop with Darja as her life unfolds and unravels gives a face and a heart to the struggles of so many who are trapped by both the consequences of their own decisions and things simply out of their control."

Award-winning local and regional actress Alexandra Tavares (The Seagull Project) will be stepping into the role of Darja for the production. She's joined by actors Roy Stanton (Tommy), Arjun Pande (Maks), and Nathan Brockett (Vic), who round-out IRONBOUND's four-person cast.

The production and design team for IRONBOUND includes Kelly Kitchens (director), Mike Dooly (assistant director), Julia Welch (scenic), Thorn Michaels (lighting), Rob Witmer (sound), Kelsey Rogers (props), Emily Cawley (dialect coach), and Ariel Bui (stage management). Sara Keats of The Umbrella Project will act as the dramaturg for the production.

Martyna Majok was born in Bytom, Poland, and aged in Jersey and Chicago. Her plays have been performed and developed at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Manhattan Theatre Club, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Women's Project Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center, and The John F. Kennedy Center, among others. Awards include The Dramatists Guild's Lanford Wilson Award, The Lilly Awards' Stacey Mindich Prize, The Greenfield Prize, Helen Merrill Emerging Playwright Award, Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding Original New Play or Musical at The Helen Hayes Awards, The Ashland New Plays Festival Women's Invitational Prize, The Kennedy Center's Jean Kennedy Smith Award, Marin Theatre's David Calicchio Emerging American Playwright Prize, New York Theatre Workshop's 2050 Fellowship, Aurora Theatre's Global Age Project Prize, National New Play Network's Smith Prize for Political Playwriting, Jane Chambers Student Feminist Playwriting Prize, and The Merage Foundation Fellowship for the American Dream. Commissions from Lincoln Center, The Bush Theatre in London, The Geffen Playhouse, La Jolla Playhouse, South Coast Rep, and Manhattan Theatre Club. Publications by Dramatists Play Service, Samuel French, TCG, and Smith & Kraus. Residencies at The Vineyard Arts Project with The Public Theatre, Ground Floor at Berkeley Rep, SPACE on Ryder Farm, Fuller Road, Marble House Project, and Ragdale. BA: University of Chicago; MFA: Yale School of Drama, The Juilliard School. She has taught playwriting at Williams College, Wesleyan University, SUNY Purchase, Primary Stages ESPA, NJRep, and as an assistant to Paula Vogel at Yale. Alumna of EST's Youngblood and Women's Project Lab. Martyna is a Core Writer at Playwrights Center and a member of The Dramatists Guild, The Writers Guild of America East, and New York Theatre Workshop's Usual Suspects. Martyna was a 2012-2013 NNPN playwright-in-residence and the 2015-2016 PoNY Fellow at the Lark Play Development Center. She is a 2018-2019 Hodder Fellow at Princeton University.

Seattle Public Theater produces compelling and socially relevant theater to spark conversation and ignite empathy in order to foster an intellectually curious and inclusive world. Every year, Seattle Public produces six shows as part of its professional Mainstage season at its location in Green Lake in addition to its robust education program and community events.

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