Seduction | Switzerland
English Language Premiere
Playwright - Lukas Bärfuss
Translator - Neil Blackadder
Director – John Green
Partner –Goethe-Institut Chicago. The translation of Verführung was supported by the Goethe-Institut’s Theater and Dance Department.
Synopsis - Hauke is a con man who’s almost completed a six-year prison sentence. For much of that time, he’s been in therapy with Tania, whose task now is to help him reintegrate into society. She tells him that a woman called Sonja has come forward, claiming to be Hauke’s daughter. He agrees to meet her, and they hit it off. But is she really his daughter? Or is she motivated by the seven million that went missing? Who’s seducing whom? And just what role does Tania play in determining responsibility and what should happen next?
All staged readings begin at 6 PM followed by a talkback and complimentary reception.
Performances are FREE to the public and reservations are not required. DONATIONS help keep the festival free!
Lukas Bärfuss
Lukas Bärfuss, born in 1971 in Thun (Switzerland), is a playwright and novelist, essayist and dramaturge. His plays are performed worldwide, and his novels have been translated into twenty languages. In 2003 he received the prize for best young playwright for Die sexuellen Neurosen unserer Eltern (The Sexual Neuroses of Our Parents) and in 2005 he received the Mülheimer Dramatikerpreis for Der Bus. He received numerous awards, including the Berliner Literaturpreis (2013), the Schweizer Buchpreis (for Koala, 2014), the Nicolas Born Prize (2015). With Hagard, he was shortlisted for the Preis der Leipziger Buchmesse in 2017. In 2019, Lukas Bärfuss was awarded the Georg Büchner Preis. Most recently the following plays premiered: 2018 Der Elefantengeist at Nationaltheater Mannheim, 2020 Julien - Rot und Schwarz at Theater Basel, and 2021 Luther at Nibelungenfestspiele Worms. 2019 saw the publication of Malinois. Erzählungen, 2021 the essay collection Die Krone der Schöpfung. Lukas Bärfuss is a member of the Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung and lives in Zurich.
Neil Blackadder
Neil Blackadder translates drama and prose from German and French. He has contributed many translations to IVP, including of plays by Lukas Bärfuss, Mishka Lavigne, and Ewald Palmetshofer that were later produced by theatres in Chicago, London, New York, and elsewhere. In 2019, Neil retired from 25 years as a professor of theatre at Duke University and Knox College. He has received grants from the NEA, PEN, and the Howard Foundation, and serves as Translations Editor for Another Chicago Magazine. In Spring 2023, Neil was Translator in Residence at Princeton University
John C Green
John C Green was born and educated in the United Kingdom, where he received his undergraduate degree Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) in Theatre and Education from the University of London, his Master of Arts (MA) in Theatre and Film from the University of North London, and his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) from Plymouth University, where the focus of his research was on experimental actor training techniques in mid-20th Century Western theatre practice. He currently serves as an adjunct professor in theatre at Columbia College Chicago. His professional directing credits include four productions at the Edinburgh International Festival, and at international theatre festivals in the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Slovenia, Russia and Australia. In the United States he has directed plays, musicals, opera, and created site-specific installations at Pittsburgh State University Kansas, Butler University Indianapolis, Columbia College Chicago, and Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia. He has had a long association with the Indiana Repertory Theatre as guest director, and with Chicago’s International Voices Project. In addition to directing, Green is the author of two books on theatre and performance and has made presentations of his research at numerous international conferences, most recently in Italy. He is delighted to be collaborating once again with Neil Blackadder and Kendra Thulin on a third play by Lukas Barfuss for IVP.
Goethe-Institut Chicago As the globally active cultural institution of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Goethe-Institut advocates for understanding between Germany, Europe and the world. Our principal goals are to present contemporary German culture abroad, to support the teaching and learning of the German language and to develop an international network for the exchange of culture and ideas. Through partnerships with other cultural and educational institutions, the Goethe-Institut presents a range of diverse programming in the arts, humanities and social sciences, including film screenings, art exhibitions, lectures, literary events, and performances of dance, theater and music.