NY International Film Festival to present US Premiere of Dirt,
a European Award-winning Solo Play About Racism

Robert Schneider's award-winning solo play Dirt by is set to premiere in New York City at the Player's Theatre Loft Space (115 McDougale St. ). German Theatre Magazine awarded Schneider Best Playright of the Year in 1993 for Dirt.

Dirt was translated by SWS Professor Paul F. Dvorak.

New York, NY – The 11 th annual New York International Fringe Festival and Dreck Productions are proud to present the U.S. Premiere of Dirt, the acclaimed European award-winning one-man show written by Robert Schneider, directed by David Robinson and performed by Christopher Domig. Performances run from August 10 – 22 at The Players Theatre Loft Space (115 MacDougal St.) in NYC.

Dirt was the most frequently performed solo show in Austria, Germany and Switzerlandin the 1990’s. The influential German theatre magazine Theaterheute awarded Robert Schneider Best New Playwright Of The Year (1993) for Dirt. The play centers on Sad, an illegal immigrant froAugust 15, 2007 charming, cynical, humorous, violent and sad. Although he loves the English language and American culture he misses his homeland. As Sad continues to talk it becomes increasingly clear that he has a love-hate relationship with himself, his heritage and the western world he currently lives in. Haunting and compelling, Dirt is a telling story about racism and the havoc it wreaks in the human spirit.

Dirt (“Dreck”), written by Austrian Playwright, Robert Schneider, premiered in 1992 in Vienna, where it was performed in German, its original language. In 1993, Dirt premiered in Hamburg, Germany at the Thalia Theatre and was awarded the Dramatist’s Prize at the “Potsdam Theater Days”, selected by the jury as the “best contemporary stage work.” Schneider’s first novel Schlafes Bruder (“Brother of Sleep”) was published in 1992 and immediately became a worldwide success, with translations into 24 languages. He received numerous awards including the Premio Grinzane Cavour (the most important literary prize in Italy for foreign language literature) and the Prix Médicis ( Paris, France).

Austrian/American actor Christopher Domig grew up in Salzburg, Austria. The Denver Post proclaimed Domig to be “A steady, forthright presence” in their review of Shakespeare’s The Winter Tale at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival. His other credits include a national tour of Great Expectations, the world premiere of Secrets (Karl Jung) at The Players Club and regional work at the Water Tower Theater and Greenstage in Seattle. He received a MFA from SMU.

Director David Robinson is based in Seattle and his credits include God’s Country, Coriolanus, Into the Woods, Blinding Light, Sisyphus, Revenge, Un-conscious, and Lovers and Madmen at Seattle Shakespeare, Greenstage, American Play Lab, Brit/American Theatre Festival and Dimensions Theatre Project.

Dirt is translated by Paul Dvorak, who teaches German language and literature at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Paul F. Dvorak, SWS Professor of German