The Pragmatists at Trap Door Theatre

Chicago Reader - Recommended

"...This attraction/repulsion cabaret of doomed souls is compelling because the struggle they engage in is one we all know too well. They want what they can’t have, don’t appreciate what they do have, and are convinced that they’re somehow missing out on what others surely possess. Some would call it purgatory, others just our ordinary day-to-day."

Around The Town Chicago - Recommended

"...If you like “Theater of the Absurd”, then this show is for you! “The Pragmatists”, directed by Zeljko Djukic and written by Stanislaw I. Witkiewicz in 1919, is a hodgepodge of profundity and bafflement. A dark comedy mix of burlesque, tomfoolery, existentialism, and fantasy with a touch of cabaret, this highly existential show can be funny, but its roots are sad and depressing."

Chicago Theatre Review - Recommended

"...But there is no denying the energy of the seven actors — Venice Averyheart, David Lovejoy, Manuela Rentea, Keith Surney, Kevin Webb, Hannah Silverman, and Caleb Lee Jenkins — and their ability to slide seamlessly from clownishness to dolor to belligerence, and then back again to physical and verbal comedy. Although I was baffled by this play, I would like to see it again. Armed with a little foreknowledge, I think its impact would be immeasurably greater on me — and on any other audience members who came to this unusual theatrical experience unprepared for what they were about to witness."

Third Coast Review - Recommended

"...Two old friends, their bonds apparently fractured by despair at a collapsing world or something else entirely, meet again. One is artistic and the other is a practical man, a businessman. Are they both pragmatists? That's the question posed by Trap Door's latest adventure, The Pragmatists, by avant-garde playwright Stanislaw I. Witkiewicz. Director Zeljko Djukic brings the style he honed as founder of Tuta Theatre Company, directing European marsters such as Brecht, Ibsen and Chekhov, to choreograph this stylish and often mystifying play."