The Pagmatistis by Trap Door Theatre will be shown at Cricoteka as a preview of the programme accompanying the exhibition “(Un)Dead Class”, scheduled to open in February 2025. The Pragmatists by Stanisław I. Witkiewicz was created as the first theatrical play subject to the principles of ‘pure form’ formulated by the author. Witkacy’s work inspired Tadeusz Kantor – the Cricot 2 Theatre under his leadership started with Witkacy’s The Meadow (1956), and in the following years reached for the artist’s subsequent texts: In a Small Manor House (1961), The Watering Hen (1967), Nadobnisie i koczkodany (1973) or a fragment of Tumor Mózgowicz used in The Dead Class (1975). ‘The Pagmatistis’ by Trap Door Theatre will be seen in Poland for the first time; after Krakow, they will also be seen at the S.I. Witkiewicz Theatre in Zakopane on 21 February and in Warsaw at the Druga Strefa Theatre on 1 March.
The Pagmatistis by Trap Door Theatre from Chicago is the first adaptation of a drama by Stanislaw I. Witkiewicz in the United States. We invite you to two performances at Cricoteka on 15 and 16 February at 6.30 pm.
Trap Door Theatre is thrilled to continue its tradition of touring their productions internationally with their groundbreaking and provocative performances of European contemporary theatre. This February, Trap Door embarks on a tour throughout three major cities in Poland with last year’s production of The Pragmatists, written by Polish master Stanislaw Witkiewicz and directed by guest director from Serbia, Zeljko Djukic. In honor of playwright Stanislaw Witkiewicz’s 140th birthday, Trap Door has been invited to celebrate this annual event by performing their critically acclaimed production in Krakow, Zakopane, and Warsaw. The tour’s first stop is at the prestigious Cricoteka-theTadeusza Kantor Museum and Modern Cultural Institution in the magical city of Krakow. The incomparable Tadeusz Kantor was a stage director, creator of happenings, painter, set designer, writer and actor in his own productions, and was always fascinated by the writings of Witkiewicz and staged several of his plays, The Cuttlefish, The Water Hen and Madman and the Nun to name a few. In 1955, Kantor inspired a group of visual artists to help him create the Cricot 2 Theatre, which then became an incubator for his creativity. Trap Door Theatre shares a similar aesthetic with Kantor’s ideology, mainly in the process of his staging, Kantor had pushed the limits of any traditional concept of theatre, as the Trap Door ensemble of artists strive to do the same in today’s ever-changing, fast paced climate of society. Trap Door’s productions resonate with Witkiewicz’s theory of “pure form” in that they attempt to create a metaphysical feeling within the artist and spectator. Having written over a century ago, Witkiewicz’s forecast of a socjety moving toward increased collectivity and individual freedom becoming diminished, continues to evoke a desolate emptiness for the future. One that Trap Door artists hope to continue by creating an awareness of the human condition for their own communities and beyond. Trap Door’s signature style of performance was inspired by the Teatr Witkacy in Zakopane, Poland, a theatre dedicated to the works of this remarkable playwright. The ensemble will continue their tour and perform at this extraordinary theater that influenced its inception, the Teatr Witkacy in Zakopane. Trap Door’s tour will end at the Teatr Druga Strefa in the great city of Warsaw.
The Pragmatists will tour its productions from February 15 – March 1, 2025.
The cast includes Venice Averyheart, Caleb Lee Jenkins, David Lovejoy, Manuela Rentea, Hannah Silverman, Keith Surney, and Kevin Webb. In a setting that is at the same time a torture chamber, a chamber of the heart, and a chamber for a virtuoso recital, two former friends struggle for domination in an existential conflict. They share the same dilemmas, the same collapsing world, the same despair; they are “pragmatists” because instead of facing the ultimate mystery of existence, they attempt to find pain-killing evasions, which dooms them to live the past over again while experiencing the future in advance. “
Zeljko Djukic’s direction easily deals with the madness and delivers a play that is visually stunning and imaginatively choreographed.” – Nancy Bishop, Third Coast Review
The touring production team includes Natasha Djukic (Scenic Design), Carolina Durian (Lighting Design), Danny Rockett (Music Composition/Sound Design), Kasia Olechno (Stage Manager), David Lovejoy (Master Carpenter), Nicole Wiesner (Tour Manager), and Beata Pilch (Artistic Director/Producer).
About the Artists
Stanislaw I. Witkiewicz (1885-1939) is one the most brilliant figures of the European avant-garde. Witkiewicz was a poet, painter, playwright, an expert on drugs, an early spokesman for a radically non-realistic theatre and an original philosopher and social critic of mass culture, post-industrial society, and the rise of totalitarianism. He was also a pioneer in serious experimentation with narcotics and prophetically recognized the growing importance that they would have on Western civilization. Politics, revolution, and even art were similar “drugs.” Witkiewicz committed suicide shortly after the outbreak of War in September of 1939. He is best known for his plays The Madman and the Nun, The Mother, The Water Hen, The Anonymous Work, and The Shoemakers.
Zeljko Djukic studied at the Belgrade Drama Arts School and the University of Maryland at College Park. He is the founder of the TUTA Theatre company. Among many productions he directed are The Dumb Waiter by Harold Pinter, Baal and The Wedding by Bertolt Brecht, Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov, First Ladies by Werner Schwab, and Judith: A Parting from the Body by Howard Barker. In 2009 he directed Tony Kushner’s Homebody/Kabul at National Theatre in Belgrade, Serbia. He is a recipient of the Fulbright Scholar Award for 2013. He currently teaches acting at the Academy of the Arts in Belgrade, Serbia.
About Trap Door Theatre
Trap Door Theatre is committed to seeking out challenging and obscura works. Whether a forgotten European classic, an international project rarely seen in the United States, or an untarnished piece of American literature, Trap Door seeks diverse voices and presents them through innovative expression. We mix established and imaginative techniques to illustrate the absurdities of living in today’s society.
Collaboration: Wojewódzka Biblioteka Publiczna w Krakowie
