Piven Theatre: ROSA LUBLIN Adapted/Directed by Robin Chaplik, Jeff Award “Best New Adaptation”
Robin Chaplik is an award-winning playwright, freelance director, author, and teaching artist based in Chicago. Her play ROSA LUBLIN (produced by Piven Theatre) won the Joseph Jefferson Award (Equity) for “Best New Adaptation.” Honored for her direction as well (“One of the 10-Best Productions of the Year” – Pioneer Press), she was invited by the College of DuPage to remount ROSA LUBLIN and direct Julia Pascal’s THE DYBBUK. Other favorite Chicago productions include John Patrick Shanley’s THE BIG FUNK (Joseph Jefferson Award-Nominated) for Clock Productions, THE ILLUSION (Joseph Jefferson Award-Recommended) for the Piven Theatre, and the critically acclaimed COOL SHOES for Collaboraction Theatre Company’s Sketchbook Festival. Ms. Chaplik has worked with numerous other theatres in Chicago including Steppenwolf, Redmoon, Strawdog, Raven, Fox Theatricals, Bailiwick, and Babes with Blades. In New York, she devised and directed GUERILLA WARFARE IN TEXAS (a solo work by the Ridiculous Theatre Company’s Rob Lanier) for the 12th Street Repertory Company and performed in Anne Bogart’s production of DANTON’S DEATH.
From 2000 to 2007, Ms. Chaplik was a Resident Artist with Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s renowned Steppenwolf For Young Adults program where she specialized in arts integration, professional development, and curriculum design. Her innovative work has been featured on Chicago Educator on CPS-TV and in The National Council of Teachers’ English Journal. She has taught and lectured at the University of Chicago, the Art Institute of Chicago, Northwestern University, the Terra Foundation of American Art, DePaul University, Valparaiso University, Northeastern University’s Chicago Teachers’ Center, and the Chicago Public Schools Best Practices Conference. Ms. Chaplik has held key artistic, educational and administrative positions with the Piven Theatre Workshop where she currently teaches Viewpoints and Composition. Ms. Chaplik is a graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts (Experimental Theater Wing).
Ms. Chaplik was awarded the Manhattan Women in the Arts Gold Medallion “for presenting positive images of women in the popular arts” for her Marvel Comics miniseries SHE-HULK: CEREMONY (reprinted in the 2010 hardcover omnibus WOMEN OF MARVEL: CELEBRATING SEVEN DECADES). She is the author of over a dozen electronic children’s books for Nickelodean, Sesame Street, Hasbro, and Pixar/Disney.
“This world premier casts a pall and a spell…the first act alone is reason enough to see ROSA LUBLIN.”
– Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
“Like a swiftly moving but horrific nightmare…all consuming and unstoppable…an exquisite rendering of Rosa, radiating caustic wit and high intelligence”
– Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times
“ROSA LUBLIN comes to life at Piven…particularly challenging and stimulating…Chaplik keeps the dramatic stakes high with an inventive transcription of the text and strong, vivid, understated performances from her small cast. ROSA LUBLIN is a heartbreaking story that never resorts to emotional manipulation.”
– Bruce Ingram, Pioneer Press
“Intense, dark, heart-rending – ROSA LUBLIN leaves one almost breathless…Simply yet effectively staged and beautifully acted…Chaplik’s creative and extremely effective adaptation and direction are a result of her clear commitment to the material. She has drawn first-rate performances from the actors.”
– Gila Wertheimer, Chicago Jewish Star
“Robin Chaplik’s production [of THE BIG FUNK] is fabulous.”
– Chicago Reader
“A moving and earnest work of art…masterful stage vision…an elaborate tour de force of redemptive stage magic…audiences will no doubt leave Clock Productions’ staging [of THE BIG FUNK] feeling renewed and provoked.”
– Lucia Mauro, chicagotheater.com
“Director Robin Chaplik’s staging [of THE ILLUSION] is wonderful.”
– Kevin Heckman, PerformInk
“The brisk pace and robust characterizations of this production [of THE ILLUSION] render it one of the most coherent and entertaining versions of the play in recent memory.”
– Mary Shen Barnidge, Chicago Reader
“A fast-paced, hilarious spectacle [THE ILLUSION].”
– Ben Winters, New City