Trap Door Theatre Extends THE UNVEILING Through Feb 9

The Trap Door Theatre is extending The Unveiling & Dozens of Cousins through February 9th, 2013. Written by Václav Havel, translated by Jan Novak and directed by Beata Pilch, the cast features Tiffany Bedwell, Kevin Cox, Ryan Czerwonko and Michael Doonan.

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. Dozens of Cousins was written in 2010 as a modern sequel to The Unveiling. This is it's first production in an English translation by Jan Novak.

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.

CREATIVE TEAM:

Set Designer Mike Mroch
Lighting Designer Richard Norwood
Sound Design Danny Rockett
Costume Designer Mikayla Pasquale
Stage Manager Gary Damico
Make-Up Design Zsofia Ötvos
Dramaturge Milan Pribisic
Graphic Design Michal Janicki

The production runs Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays at 8PM. Admission: $20, with two for one admission on Thursdays, $25 on Saturdays. TRAP DOOR THEATRE is located at 1655 West Cortland Ave. Chicago, Ill. For Information/Reservations, call 773-384-0494. To purchase online, go to www.trapdoortheatre.com.

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