Venus in Fur
a play by David Ives
December 4th - 12th 2026
A director. An audition. A storm.
A seductive battle of wit, power, and performance.
The Other Road Theater Project opens its inaugural season with David Ives’ Venus in Fur, a sharp, intimate, and psychologically charged play where the line between audition and performance begins to disappear.
Inspired by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's semi-autobiographical 1870 novella Venus im Pelz (Venus in Furs), which classically put the ‘Masochism’ in Sadomasochism, David Ives' script updates the story to a modern setting.
In his play, playwright and director Thomas is auditioning women for the role of Wanda in his theatrical adaptation of the novella. Lamenting how stupid, needy, unrefined, desperate, and weakly compliant the 35 actresses he saw are, Thomas is ready to call it quits for the day. Thunder crashes and the frantic Vanda bursts into the audition room. She pleads for a chance to read for him, despite being late. Thomas gives in to the woman, seemingly an embodiment of every trait he just railed against, and Vanda gives the audition of a lifetime.
Funny, seductive, theatrical, and unsettling, Venus in Fur is a two-person power play about gender, authorship, dominance, and the roles we perform to get what we want.
Content Warning: This play is for mature audiences only, containing intense sexual themes/language, BDSM, and mentions of child abuse
VENUS IN FUR is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Dramatists Play Service. www.concordtheatricals.com