Based on A Report to an Academy by Franz Kafka, Kafka’s Monkey is a one-woman performance that touches on themes of origin, selfhood, and collective responsibility. The protagonist asserts that she has evolved from ape to man in five short years in order to escape imprisonment.

While taking place in the world of 1917, the play highlights current questions of body autonomy. How does a person survive under increasingly constrictive conditions? What parts of ourselves do we give up? What does freedom truly mean if one being’s freedom is at the expense of another’s?

About the Artists:

Isabel Shaida, Red Peter, is a performer, organizer, and movement director based in Bozeman, MT. She devises original, ensemble-driven projects and grounds her theater and political work in the physical. A SITI Conservatory alum, she has performed with Monica Bill Barnes & Company, Double Edge Theatre, and Migration Theory.

Naomi Shafer, Director, is a circus artist, storyteller, and arts leader whose work explores performance, community, and social impact. For nearly a decade she led Clowns Without Borders USA, bringing play to communities affected by conflict and disaster. She co-founded 406Cirque, a nonprofit contemporary circus center in Bozeman, MT, and holds a rubber chicken from the San Francisco Circus Center’s Clown Conservatory.

Alexandra Bodnarchuk, Choreographer, is a Carpatho-Rusyn American choreographer and cultural activist whose work has been recognized across the U.S. and Europe for its emotionality and innovative expression of cultural identity. A 2021 Ann & Weston Hicks Choreography Fellow at Jacob’s Pillow, she is Artistic Director of Doma Dance Theater.

Colin Teevan, Playwright, is a celebrated playwright, translator, and writer for screen. His work has been produced by many leading theaters, including the National, the Young Vic, the Soho Theatre, and the National Theatre of Scotland.

This production of Kafka’s Monkey was originally developed and performed with Tinworks Art.

Sponsorship for MASS MoCA’s winter theater productions is provided by J.H. Maxymillian, Inc.