A PINK CHAIR
(In Place of a Fake Antique)
An encounter with visionary theater artist Tadeusz Kantor
Watch more videos shot during the making of A PINK CHAIR »
In A PINK CHAIR (In Place of a Fake Antique), The Wooster Group takes on one of the greatest figures in 20th century avant-garde theater: the iconic Polish stage director Tadeusz Kantor (1915-1990). Joining the Group as our guide and dramaturge is Kantor’s only daughter, Dorota Krakowska. Together, we explore Kantor’s penultimate production, I Shall Never Return, and through it, his lifelong obsession with the myth of the return of Odysseus.
Production Credits
A PINK CHAIR
(In Place of a Fake Antique)
with Zbigniew Bzymek, Enver Chakartash*, Hai-Ting Chinn (2023), Jim Fletcher, Ari Fliakos, Gareth Hobbs (2016-2020), Dorota Krakowska (on video), Andrew Maillet, Erin Mullin, Suzzy Roche, Danusia Trevino, and Kate Valk
Directed by Elizabeth LeCompte
Dramaturge: Dorota Krakowska
Lighting: Jennifer Tipton and Ryan Seelig
Lighting Associate: David Sexton (2019-2023)
Sound and Original Music: Eric Sluyter and Omar Zubair
Video and Projections: Robert Wuss, Zbigniew Bzymek
Stage Manager: Erin Mullin
Costumes: Enver Chakartash
Assistant Directors: Matthew Dipple and Enver Chakartash
Choir Music Director: Gareth Hobbs (2016-2020), Hai-Ting Chinn (2023)
Additional Video: Wladimiro Woyno, Irfan Brkovic (2019-2020), Yudam Hyung Seok Jeon (2023), Andrew Maillet (2023)
Multimedia Cueing System Engineering: Wladimiro Woyno, Andrew Maillet
Technical Fellow: Emery Reyes (The Performing 2018)
Lighting Board Operator (The Performing Garage 2018 ): Matthias Neckermann
Set Construction: Joseph Silovsky Studios
Technical Director: Jacob Bigelow (2017-18), Bill Ballou (2019-2020), Joseph Silovsky (2023)
Production Manager: Bona Lee
* During the April 28 - June 2, 2018, performances at The Performing Garage, Scott Shepherd and Matthew Dipple performed the roles normally performed by Enver Chakartash.
Translations and musical arrangements by The Wooster Group
Thanks to the following people for their contributions to this piece: Ruud van den Akker, Eric Dyer, Laura Hopkins, and Bozkurt Karasu (set elements); and Antonia Belt, Claudia Hill, and Elizabeth Jenyon (costume elements).
Excerpts from the film of I Shall Never Return courtesy of the filmmaker Andrzej Sapija
Special thanks to Scott Shepherd and Paul Lazar
A PINK CHAIR (In Place of a Fake Antique) was co-commissioned by the Instytut Adama Mickiewicza, Poland, and the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College, where it premiered at the Bard SummerScape Festival in 2017.
A PINK CHAIR was performed at the 2023 Festival International New Drama (FIND) with support from Polnisches Institut Berlin.
This piece was made possible with support from the National Endowment for the Arts Art Works Program; the Trust for Mutual Understanding; and the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Theater Project Transitions Program, with lead funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Production History
2016 February 23 - March 11: Rehearsals at The Performing Garage
2016 November 28 - 2017 December 23: Rehearsals at The Performing Garage
2017 January 2 - 26: Rehearsals at The Performing Garage
2017 April 26 - June 21: Rehearsals at The Performing Garage
2017 July 7 - 12: Rehearsals at the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York
2017 July 13 - 23: Performances at Bard SummerScape, LUMA Theater, the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York
2018 February 19 - March 21: Rehearsals at The Performing Garage
2018 April 5 - 15: Performances at the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater (REDCAT) in Los Angeles, California
2018 April 28 - June 2: Performances at The Performing Garage
2019 September 10 - 27: Rehearsals at The Performing Garage
2019 November 15 - 17: Performances at Festival d’Automne à Paris / Les spectacles vivant du Centre Pompidou, Paris
2020 January 23 - February 2: Performances at NYU Skirball Center, New York City
2023 February 17 - March 8: Rehearsals at The Performing Garage
2023 April 5 - 6: Rehearsals at The Performing Garage
2023 April 20 - 22: Performances at the Festival Internationale Neue Dramatik (FIND), Schaubühne, Berlin, Germany
