The Hosts
Trap Door International’s Artistic Director Beata Pilch and Barcelona based Actress and Project Manager, Julia Fossi, and co-owner and hostess, Julie Stephenson, set Actor Escape into motion!
Our Inspiration
Artistic team Beata Pilch and Julia Fossi, along with co-hostess Julie Stephenson, came together to create an enchanting environment in the vicinity of the ancient village of Alforja, located at the base of the majestic Prades Mountains, in the province of Terragona, Catalonia, Spain.
This magnificent place is a 18th Century villa situated in a small town near Reus and also close to some of the best areas to enjoy cultural and natural tourism and where the views are spectacular.
This team chose this place to offer a special gift to artists, local and abroad, that are searching for an “escape” into nature and themselves. This in turns creates a cultural exchange and unique
experience for the surrounding communities, offering performances and events for locals to attend.
It has been a dream to invite artists to submerge themselves into a safe, inspirational, and breathtaking countryside setting to find freedom in the exploration of the true self.
Our approach is to set the artist free and let them escape into another reality.
The Artistic Staff:
“If I were asked to nominate the first ladies of the Chicago avant-garde — and I am using that term not to mean ambitious post-collegiates in storefronts but women with career-long commitments to difficult, disturbing, self- ameliorating theater — I’d surely have Beata Pilch, the founder of the Trap Door Theatre”
Beata Pilch
Beata Pilch is the Founder and Artistic Director of Chicago’s Trap Door Theatre since its inception in 1994. She holds a Masters of Fine Arts degree in acting from the California Institute of the Arts. A frequent traveler and performer in Europe, Beata strives to continue her mission to present the Trap Door company of artists at international festivals and cities throughout Europe and the U.S. In the past, Trap Door has toured in France, Hungary, Romania (International Festival of Sibiu), and Chisnau, Moldova. Beata is a proud resident of Spain and most recently, created an international ensemble based out of Barcelona.
Julia Fossi
Julia Fossi is a Britsh actress living in Barcelona. She trained in London and worked her way up to equity status with a touring cabaret company, Amuse. Inc. She toured extensively in Rep and did pantomime season every year whilst in the UK. She now runs her own children's theatre in English, 2Bees Theatre, performing in schools around Catalunya while pursuing her screen and stage career. She is currently in La Templanza on Amazon Prime as Hudson the maid and was recently seen on stage last April as Else in Festen. Julia, along with her partner and two friends, owns Mas Baget, a country Masia near Tarragona. It is set up to accommodate groups running workshops, retreats and events.
