Instructors

Beata Pilch, born in the Polish district of Chicago, holds a bachelors Degree in Acting from the United States International University in San Diego, California, and a Master’s Degree in Acting from The California
Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California. Pilch founded Chicago’s Trap Door Theatre in 1990 and still resides as its Artistic Director. She cultivated her life-long fascination with the avant-garde and obscure as a graduate student at The California Institute of the Arts. A Chicago native and frequent European traveler, she felt that a company that combined bold and physical European acting technique with rich European theatrical literature would provide Chicago’s entertainment scene with a unique and vibrant voice.

Beata remains true to her original mission and continues to travel abroad every year to research up and coming directors, playwrights and stage techniques. Past favorite directing credits include: Madman and the Nun, Nana, Quills, The Bitter Tears of Petra Van Kant, The Fourth Sister, The Unveiling, Vatzlav, The Shoemakers, The Crazy Locomotive, and THEY. She is a featured performer in the work of international multi-media visual artist Catherine Sullivan. Most recently, Beata created a sister company, Trap Door International, that produces out of Barcelona, Spain.

She has performed in over 60 Trap Door productions and has toured abroad annually with the company to France, Romania, Hungary, Poland, and was the first ever theatre company to perform in The Republic of  Moldova. Beata is a proud resident of Spain.

Learn more about Beata’s work here