Eat The Heart of Your Enemy | Poland
Playwright: Michał Bajer
Translator: Benjamin Paloff
Director: Max Truax
In collaboration with Trap Door Theatre
Synopsis: For as long as Romantic nationalism has generated myths and symbols to galvanize the Polish people, especially in the face of foreign occupation, there have been powerful individuals who are all too eager to harness that power to serve their own ends. In Michał Bajer's frightening and hilarious Eat the Heart of Your Enemy, myth and manipulation coincide as an expanding cast of hangers-on stand over the still-warm corpse of Frédéric Chopin and argue over the composer's dying wish: that his heart be removed and transported back to his native Poland.
Join us from 5:30 to 6:30 for a special pre-performance reception before each reading. Enjoy sweets, along with juice and coffee before we begin our reading. The reading will begin at 6:30 PM followed by a talkback.
Performances are FREE to the public and reservations are not required. DONATIONS help keep the festival free!
Michał Bajer (Playwright) photo by Maciej Czerski
Michael Bajer’s first play is Verklärte nacht (2005), directed by Paweł Miśkiewicz in Teatr Polski in Wrocław. His other theatrical texts are, among others, Strefa działań wojennych (2006), Mówca Ajasa (2014 – nominated for Gdynia Theatre Price) and Najlepsza wiosna (2018). He is associate professor at the University of Szczecin in Poland, where he teaches Enlightenment literature and creative writing. His academic work include books and articles on literary translation in 18th century. He also publishes essays and reviews in Ruch muzyczny – the oldest classical music magazine in Poland.
Benjamin Paloff (Translator)
Benjamin Paloff's books include the poetry collections And His Orchestra (2015) and The Politics (2011), both from Carnegie Mellon, and many translations from Polish, Czech, Russian, and Yiddish, including of recent plays by Michał Bajer, Dorota Masłowska, Magda Fertacz, and others. His most recent book, Lost in the Shadow of the Word: Space, Time, and Freedom in Interwar Eastern Europe, was named 2018 Best Book in Literary Studies by the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages. Twice a fellow of the National Endowment for the Arts, he is a professor of comparative literature at the University of Michigan.
Trap Door Theatre is back with its fourteenth year of presenting the most fascinating and provocative plays and this year is no different. EAT THE HEART explores the day after the death of the famous Polish pianist Chopin whose heart is to be sent back to home to Poland.
Trap Door Theatre is committed to seeking out challenging and obscure 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.
