Trap Door Theatre

Upcoming Events

The Cuttlefish, or the Hyrcanian Worldview
Comedy/Drama
Runs Mar 19Apr 25, 2026
Part philosophical farce, part surreal fever dream—Witkiewicz’s The Cuttlefish, or the Hyrcanian Worldview is a razor-sharp satire of art under pressure. In a world where creativity is consumed by control and individuality is crushed beneath the weight of conformity, an artist spirals into crisis—torn between integrity and survival, freedom and obedience. Witkiewicz exposes the seductive dance between artist and authority, where every act of creation risks becoming an act of submission. Decades ahead of its time, this anarchic comedy lays bare the modern artist’s impossible choice: stay true to your vision, or surrender it for comfort and applause.
1655 W. Cortland
Chicago IL 60622
773-384-0494
“No other theater can consistently suspend reality to create overwhelming and oftentimes-otherworldly atmosphere, usually before the action or dialogue even begins, like Trap Door Theatre. To say that they are the foremost purveyors avant-garde theater in Chicago is to understate this portal to alternate realms. Hidden down a narrow walkway, next to a bar, behind a restaurant, on a side street in Bucktown is a black trap door that opens into the extremes of theatrical imagination. You could drive by it and easily miss this purgatorial paradise of the sublime surreal,” Venus Zarris, Chicago Stage Review