Matei Vișniec's "Joan and the Fire" Opens in Chicago

We are pleased to announce our new partnership with Trap Door Theatre from Chicago for the premiere of “Joan and the Fire”, a sarcastic parable on power and history written by internationally acclaimed Romanian-French author Matei Vișniec and presented with the support of RCI New York.

The play, which opens at Trap Door Theatre in Chicago on March 9, examines the way in which history is constantly used and abused to suit political ends. When a group of thespians performing a play about Joan of Arc are visited by Joan herself an unexpected struggle ensues in which the actors and the revered Virgin of Orleans fight to impose their own version of the famous story.  

JOAN AND THE FIRE

Written by: Matei Vişniec

Translated by: Jeremy Lawrence

Directed by: Nicole Wiesner

Cast: Carolyn Benjamin, Cat Evans, Lauren Fisher, Juliet Kang Huneke, Emily Lotspeich, Emily Nichelson, Tia Pinson, Manuela Rentea.

Set Design: J. Michael Griggs 

Lighting Design: Richard Norwood / Costume Design: Rachel

Sypniewski 

Original Music and Sound Design: Danny Rockett 

Make-Up Design: Zsófia Ötvös 

Graphic Design: Michal Janicki 

Dramaturg: Milan Pribisic

Assistant Dramaturg: Ember Sappington

Choreography: Miguel Long / Fight Choreographer: Bill Gordon 

Assistant Director: David Lovejoy

Stage Manager: Anna Klos

More about the show and tickets: https://trapdoortheatre.com/joan-and-the-fire/

Matei Vișniec (born 1956) is a prolific Romanian-French writer of fiction, poetry and drama. His many awards include prizes from the Romanian Writers’ Union, the Romanian Theatre Union (UNITER), the Avignon Festival, the French Society of Writers and Composers, and the 2016 Jean Monnet Award for European Literature. In Romania, Vișniec has achieved quasi-canonical status since the fall of communism (his work was banned prior to 1989); most professional and amateur theatres stage his work on an ongoing basis, and the Suceava Theatre in Northeastern Romania was named in the playwright's honor. Most recently in France he became a Knight of the National Order of Merit in France.

Trap Door Theatre, located in the bustling neighborhood of Bucktown, strives to be Chicago’s haven for rarely produced and provocative works staging both local and international visionary, innovative and challenging plays and playwrights.