Kirsten Kelly is the director of Ivona, Princess of Burgundia.

Once upon a time, there was an exotic land called Burgundia—a decadent, magical world that took your breath away at every turn. The landscape was strewn with magical colors; the trees, houses and clothes were so luxurious that they could only exist in a fairytale.

At the seat of this lovely land are the King and Queen of Burgundia, a chic and happy couple who seem to emanate light wherever they go. Their very presence is awe-inspiring. Even more awesome, though, is their prized young Prince Philip—their handsome and charming heir.

Since they are icons, all of Burgundia aspires to imitate their manners and appearance. However, appearances can be deceiving—much like masks, presenting a public reality but concealing a private history. Unbeknownst to their subjects, our perfect nuclear familyhas an extensive underbelly of secrets and lies that can never be erased. All that is needed is a catalyst in order to turn their whole world upside-down. In Ivona, Princess of Burgundia by Witold Gombrowicz—presented by the Drama Division's third-year students in Studio 301 this month—that catalyst turns out to be an ugly, mute girl of low-birth called Ivona.

One afternoon, Prince Philip (played by Kevin O'Donnell) and his cronies stumble upon Ivona (played by Abby Gerdts) in the park. Deeming her unpalatable, they set out to snub her—but after dishing out a great deal of verbal abuse, they find themselves confounded by her silence and apathy. Phillip, at once enraged, repulsed, and inextricably drawn toward this mute rebel, decides impulsively that he must marry her. But later on, Ivona's demeanor in the court sets off a chain of events that rip this once-ideal monarchy to shreds.

Described as "wickedly funny," "absurd," and "delightfully irreverent," Ivona, Princess of Burgundia blows open the third-year (Group 33) drama season with a bang! High style, high stakes, and high comedy are the backbone of the play. But Gombrowicz is out for more than a laugh; he is out to dissect social conventions and explore what lies beneath the surface of our public facade.

Costume designs for Ivona (the Queen and the Prince) by Miranda Hoffman.

"I am really fascinated with the primal nature of humanity," says director Kirsten Kelly, an Andrew W. Mellon directing fellow here at Juilliard. "What is instinctually in us? Is cruelty a part of what we have to deal with on a day-to-day basis? Look at kids on a playground; there is always that one kid who is ridiculed or beaten for inexplicable reasons—merely for being different."Ultimately, for Kelly, the play is an exploration of both the need to present a public façade, no matter how diseased the truth, and the overwhelming human need to be cruel, to lash out.

Written in the early 1930s by author, philosopher, and playwright Witold Gombrowicz, the play was outlawed in his homeland of Poland for decades under the Communist regime. Ivona did not receive its first production until the 1960s in Europe, and only very recently has it been produced in the U.S. As his first and most famous play, Ivona earned Gombrowicz the unofficial title of "grandfather" of the Theater of the Absurd—which was later made well-known by Beckett and Ionesco.

Ivona, Princess of Burgundia Studio 301, October 23-27, 8 p.m. A very limited number of tickets are available through the Drama Division office.

This is Kelly's second time working on Ivona; she mounted a production last fall in Chicago with the Strawdog Theatre Company. Why did she choose to work on it again? "It was still obsessing me, and taking up so much of my thought," she explains. "In the first production, I really began to understand the style of the play, and how to work with the play physically." There is, she notes, a sexual physicality and a grotesque style of movement that she wants to continue to develop in order to conjure up the fairytale nature of this world.

In a world based on visual aesthetic, the harmony of the production design elements is crucial. Miranda Hoffman's whimsical and imaginative costumes meld early 20th-century suits and gowns with those of the 1980s. (Exaggerated make-up contributes to the striking effect.) This is the first show that Hoffman—a 2000 graduate of Yale with an M.F.A. in design—has done at Juilliard, and happens to be the fruition of a long-standing dream to work on this particular play. Donyale Werle's set design is an amalgamation of Indian, Spanish, Chinese, and Moroccan influences. The playing spaces are two interlocking circles of two different colors, suggesting two different sides of the same coin. With the audience sitting in a thrust formation—on three sides of stage, with the action in the middle—they will view the actors as if they were on a catwalk. Werle, also a newcomer to Juilliard, graduated with an M.F.A. in design from N.Y.U. last spring.

Don't miss this dark satire on human nature, which will draw you in with its humor and send chills running up and down your spine!