The Trap Door Theatre Presents Václav Havel's THE UNVEILING, 12/20-1/26

Trap Door Theatre will present Jan Novak's translation of Václav Havel's The Unveiling, directed by Beata Pilch. The Unveiling is a humorous commentary of a marginalized man taunted with the life he could be living. What happens when a man visits friends for the grand reveal of their new décor and discovers that their next project is him?

The cast features Tiffany Bedwell, Kevin Cox, and Michael Doonan. The creative team includes set designer Mike Mroch, lighting designer Richard Norwood, sound designer Danny Rockett, costume designer Mikayla Pasquale, stage manager Gary Damico, make-up designer Zsofia Ötvos, dramaturge Milan Pribisilic, and graphic designer Michal Janicki.

Performances are on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8PM from December 20, 2012 through January 26, 2013. Admission is $20 with 2-for-1 admission on Thursdays. Admission on Saturdays is $25. The Trap Door Theatre is located at 1655 West Cortland Avenue in Chicago. For information and reservations, call 773-384-0494 or visit www.trapdoortheatre.com.

Václav Havel (playwright) was a Czech playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and politician. Because of his family’s links to the cultural and political events in Czechoslovakia from the 1920's to the 1940's, the communists did not allow Havel to study formally. In the first part of the 1950's, Havel entered into a four-year apprenticeship as a chemical laboratory assistant and simultaneously took evening classes to complete his secondary education (which he did in 1954). For political reasons he was not accepted into any post-secondary school with a humanities program; therefore, he opted to study at the Faculty of Economics of Czech Technical University. He left this program after two years. Following his return from two years of military service, he worked as a stage technician - first at Divadlo ABC, and then, in 1960, at Divadlo Na zabradli. From 1962 until 1966, he studied Drama by correspondence at the Faculty of Theatre of the Academy of Musical Arts. Havel was the ninth and last president of Czechoslovakia (1989-1992) and the first president of the Czech Republic (1993-2003). He wrote more than 20 plays and numerous non-fiction works. Havel received much recognition before his death in 2011, including the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Gandhi Peace Price, the Philadelphia Liberty Medal and the Ambassador of Conscience Award.

Beata Pilch (Director) is the Artistic Director of the Trap Door Theatre. Born in the Polish district of Chicago, Beata 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 has produced, acted and/or directed in over fifty productions for Trap Door.

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