The Visit  | 

Born on January 5, 1921, in Konolfingen, Switzerland, Friedrich Dürrenmatt had writing in his blood. His grandfather—a well-known satirist and political poet—encouraged the young boy to develop a questioning spirit, which would characterize his later works. In fact, the memory of his grandfather inspired Dürrenmatt throughout his career. As a young man, Dürrenmatt attended the University of Bern, where he studied literature, theology, philosophy, and science. It was here that he first became interested in playwriting after becoming a regular patron of the operettas. Among his favorite playwrights were Aristophanes and Thornton Wilder. After transferring briefly to the University of Zurich, Dürrenmatt decided to withdraw from school and try his hand at playwriting. At the age of twenty-two, he set about composing his first play, a lyrical and apocalyptic comedy which was never produced. Over the course of the next few years, he struggled to earn a living as a writer and had to turn to the writing of short stories, mystery novels, and radio plays to make ends meet, but he never gave up writing for the stage. His breakthrough came in 1952 with the comedy THE MARRIAGE OF MR. MISSISSIPPI, in which he first began to formulate his own unique style of theatre: a dark, dreamlike world populated by characters who, though frighteningly real, are often distorted into caricature. The playwright found that dark comedy was a most effective medium through which to expose the grotesque nature of the human condition. THE MARRIAGE OF MR. MISSISSIPPI evoked strong reactions from Dürrenmatt’s audiences and established him as one of the finest European dramatists of his day. Dürrenmatt’s most popular plays include ROMULUS THE GREAT (1949), THE VISIT (1956), THE PHYSICISTS (1962), and PLAY STRINDBERG (1969). His many awards include the Drama Critics’ Circle Award and the Schiller Prize. He died in 1990.

Maurice Valency (1903-1996) was a playwright, author, critic, and popular professor of Comparative Literature at Columbia University. He was best known for his award-winning adaptations of plays by Jean Giraudoux (The Madwoman of Chaillot, Ondine, The Enchanted, and The Apollo of Bellac) and Friedrich Dürrenmatt (The Visit). Valency’s version of The Madwoman of Chaillot became the basis of the Jerry Herman musical Dear World on Broadway. Valency’s version of The Visit became the basis of the Kander and Ebb musical The Visit on Broadway. Valency’s original plays include The Thracian Horses, Regarding Electra, and Conversation with a Sphinx, and he wrote numerous textbooks on drama.

Darko Tresnjak is happy to be back at Pasadena Playhouse, where he directed Amadeus last season. He is acclaimed for his work on A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, which earned him the Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Awards. He also received an Obie Award for his direction of Ionesco’s The Killer at Theater for a New Audience. From 2004 to 2009, he was Artistic Director of the Old Globe Shakespeare Festival, and from 2011 to 2019, he led Hartford Stage. Tresnjak has directed plays, musicals, and operas at institutions such as the Roundabout Theatre Company, Public Theater, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford Shakespeare Festival, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Huntington Theatre Company, Geffen Playhouse, Metropolitan Opera, Santa Fe Opera, and Los Angeles Opera.