Life in this House is Over is an original dance-theatre piece about the social awkwardness of grief, inspired by the writing of Anton Chekhov. Structured as a funeral and funeral after party, the piece enters into a tragicomic world beyond known logic, asking the questions Chekhov posed years before: how do we move forward when an uncertain future presses on a dying past, where emblems of nostalgia are intertwined with the complexities of human suffering? Is connection possible in a world drawn taught by the force of imminent change? This piece hits an inflection point between past and future, and is a powerful sum of collective and individual experiences, and a subconscious reaction to the living world of memory.

Just as the writing of Chekhov approached the blurred frontiers of past and future, so do we as artistic collaborators. Springing forward from director Samantha Shay's Fulbright Scholarship at Tanztheater Wuppertal, this piece looks back to look forward through a unique collaborative constellation. By gathering artists from two significant artistic lineages of live performance: current and former artists of Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, as well as Grotowski Institute-based physical theater company, Teatr ZAR, whose work is deeply rooted in “theater of sound” through exhibitions to learn traditional folk songs, the performance will be a kaleidoscope of artistic influences, erupting from one medium to the other, refusing to impose a single viewpoint, leaving the door open for the audience to comprehend a myriad of themes. By collaborating with artists from these two companies, we have the opportunity to reflect on the lineages of two post-war artists: Jerzy Grotowski, of Poland, and Pina Bausch, of Germany, and the relationship between the two, and how their work resonates today.

This project will invoke the cross-generational tensions vitally woven into Chekhov's text, written at the precipice of change. In content, form, and context, we look at our histories (both personal and shared) in the face and see what, if anything, can be salvaged - and what must be left behind. Our production will be built around the vibration of a community caught at an inflection point between an imperfect past and an unknown future. We make a multilayered statement that will resonate beyond the performance itself, plunging into the permeability of time as an intergenerational and multicultural creative community.

This project is partly funded by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Fund for the Promotion of Culture, a state earmarked fund, as part of the Dance programme of the National Institute of Music and Dance. It a co-production between the Grotowski Institute, Teatr ZAR, and Source Material, in cooperation with the Pina Bausch Zentrum.

Director: Samantha Shay

Co-creators & performers: Ditte Berkeley, Kamila Klamut, Anthony Nikolchev, Aleksandra Kugacz-Semerci, Mertcan Semerci, Julie Shanahan, Julie Anne Stanzak, & Tess Voelker.

Choreographers Emily Castelli, Lukasz Przytarski, Julie Shanahan, Samantha Shay, Ekaterina Shushakova, and Julie Anne Stanzak.

Text: Anton Chekhov, Kamila Klamut, Aleksandra Kugacz-Semerci, Mertcan Semerci, Julie Shanahan, Julie Anne Stanzak

Assistant Director Sara Europaeus

Stage designer: Salmah Beydoun

Lighting and FX MFO/Marcel Weber

Dramaturg: Georgia Peterson

Lighting Technician: Sam House

Costume Designer Angela Trivino

Sound designer & Music Dramaturg Aslaug Magnusdottir

Singing coaches Ditte Berkeley, Orest Sharak

Producer: Ornella Salloum

Production Managers: Lucy Jenkins and Ben Coxon

Props Master: Suzannah Inglis

Stage Manager: Danielle Harris

The piece has undergone many drafts and iterations over time when it began as a student project. Numerous artists have made contributions to its ongoing artistic growth. The artists whose imprint lives on with tremendous gratitude for their involvement in the project are: Sam Szabo, Sadie Schwolsky, Keenan Reilly, Sandy Levitan, Donna Simone Johnson, James Cowan, Kaiso Hill, Nikhil Pai, Tiara Jackson, Raven Scott, Miles Hartfelder, Nina Caussa-Rius, Jenna May Cass, Annelise Lawson, Stephanie Regina, Josephine Ann Endicott, Emily Castelli, Oleg Stepanov, and Lukasz Przytarski.