The Snow Palace

SummerNITE was home to the 2000 production of The American professional premiere of British playwright Pam Gems, "extraordinary study" of the "inspired" Polish playwright Stanislawa Przybyszewska: THE SNOW PALACE. This production was directed by Nicholas Bowling, Artistic Associate at Chicago's Court Theatre.

THE SNOW PALACE tells the story of Pryzybyszewska's haunted final days. A recluse, she avoids contact with the real world; yet her imaginary world, fueled by her growing addiction to morphine, is vibrant and vital. She is ardent in pursuit of her artistic obsession: an epic play in which her two great loves; her two great heroes Maxim Robespierre and Georges Danton battle for the soul of the French Revolution. Central to Pryzybyszewska's life and her search for identity is her relationship with her corrupt and distant father who was also a famous artist and intellectual. Playwright Pam Gems - whose plays have appeared throughout Great Britain and on Broadway - captures the twists and complexity, the romance and ardor which marked Pryzbyszewska's relations with these three larger-than-life men who are the center of her life and her art.