The Gala is coming!
Nov. 17th
Get Steep'd here!
Nov. 17th
Get Steep'd here!
Monday, October 15, 2007
CORONADO
Play the Trailer!
Video complements of Jim Poole Creative Productions
Sept. 27 - Nov. 3rd
Thursday thru Saturday
8pm
3902 N. Sheridan Rd.
Where Sheridan meets Sheffield
Reservations: 312 458-0722
"As in Lehane's books, there is violence -- this is a thriller -- and a parent's worst fear realized: the loss of a child. I would argue that his heightened realities work better on stage than film. ("Gone Baby Gone," the Ben Affleck-directed adaptation of that Lehane title, debuts Wednesday at the Chicago International Film Festival.) The Steep production -- in its wonderfully crammed storefront manner -- is both piquant and moony, like the fractured moments of a life. It is a combination that burrows deep into the psyche."
- Nina Metz, Chicago Tribune
See the full Tribune review here.
"So tightly-constructed is Lehane’s intricate narrative and so riveting his preternaturally-eloquent personnel that we never lose our way—or if we think we may have, we are happy to wait until we find it again...director Kevin Gladish and his stalwart cast...generate ensemble performance at its most exemplary."
- Windy City Times
See the full WC Times review here.
"What's worse than murder?"
What we're willing to do for love, money, and, finally, redemption.
From the author of Mystic River and the company that brought you The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui and The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Steep Theatre Company presents Dennis Lehane's Coronado.
Coronado follows three intertwining tales: A father and son searching for a missing girl and a stolen diamond, a psychiatrist and a patient having an illicit affair, and two lovers plotting a murder. Set in the Southwest, Coronado is a taut thriller that explores the dark side of America and the things we're willing to do for love, for money, and finally for redemption.
Also, be sure to join us in congratulating Steep Theatre on seven great years in Chicago theater. RESERVE YOUR TICKET to the 7th Anniversary Gala TODAY!
Video complements of Jim Poole Creative Productions
Sept. 27 - Nov. 3rd
Thursday thru Saturday
8pm
3902 N. Sheridan Rd.
Where Sheridan meets Sheffield
Reservations: 312 458-0722
"As in Lehane's books, there is violence -- this is a thriller -- and a parent's worst fear realized: the loss of a child. I would argue that his heightened realities work better on stage than film. ("Gone Baby Gone," the Ben Affleck-directed adaptation of that Lehane title, debuts Wednesday at the Chicago International Film Festival.) The Steep production -- in its wonderfully crammed storefront manner -- is both piquant and moony, like the fractured moments of a life. It is a combination that burrows deep into the psyche."
- Nina Metz, Chicago Tribune
See the full Tribune review here.
"So tightly-constructed is Lehane’s intricate narrative and so riveting his preternaturally-eloquent personnel that we never lose our way—or if we think we may have, we are happy to wait until we find it again...director Kevin Gladish and his stalwart cast...generate ensemble performance at its most exemplary."
- Windy City Times
See the full WC Times review here.
From the author of Mystic River and the company that brought you The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui and The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Steep Theatre Company presents Dennis Lehane's Coronado.
Coronado follows three intertwining tales: A father and son searching for a missing girl and a stolen diamond, a psychiatrist and a patient having an illicit affair, and two lovers plotting a murder. Set in the Southwest, Coronado is a taut thriller that explores the dark side of America and the things we're willing to do for love, for money, and finally for redemption.
Also, be sure to join us in congratulating Steep Theatre on seven great years in Chicago theater. RESERVE YOUR TICKET to the 7th Anniversary Gala TODAY!
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Teaser Trailer for INSIGNIFICANCE
Play the Trailer!
Video complements of Jim Poole Creative Productions
July 26th thru September 1st, 2007
Thurs, Fri and Sat nights at 8pm
3902 N. Sheridan Road
Where Sheridan meets Sheffield
.
Video complements of Jim Poole Creative Productions
July 26th thru September 1st, 2007
Thurs, Fri and Sat nights at 8pm
3902 N. Sheridan Road
Where Sheridan meets Sheffield
.
Chicago Sun Times Review
Monroe, Einstein meet smart
August 1, 2007
BY HEDY WEISS Theater Critic
In 1982 (about seven years after E. L. Doctorow put a slew of historical figures from the early 20th century on a collision course in his novel, "Ragtime"), Terry Johnson, the British playwright and director, put his own time-warping cosmic spin on America, homing in on the mid 1950s. In the process, he saw to it that characters evoking Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe, Joe DiMaggio and Senator Joe McCarthy (the rabid anti-communist), crossed paths in a hotel room.
Johnson called his play "Insignificance" -- a title at once deeply ironic and deadly accurate. And along the way he not only unspooled Einstein's mind-altering theories about the most elemental laws of the universe. But he tapped into the whole spirit-draining notion of celebrity and the corrosive battle of the Cold War era's political "isms," and also imagined his own particular version of the big (and perhaps final) nuclear bang.
"Insignificance," now in a first-class production by Steep Theatre (the little Wrigleyville storefront that just enjoyed a huge success with Brecht's "The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui"), works a neat trick by lacing the most complex ideas with iconic personalities. My companion, a physicist, was mightily impressed with the fullness and accuracy of Johnson's explanations of Einstein's theories. But the fact that Johnson has Marilyn Monroe (who wants nothing more than to be valued for her intellect), do most of the play's heavy intellectual lifting is a huge plus. And even if you don't comprehend everything, Johnson has devised enough vivid metaphors to let you catch enough.
It is 1954, and The Professor (Toby Nicholson, perfectly understated as a 70-year-old Einstein), is in town for a lecture at a conference on world peace. But there is to be no peace, for banging on his door is McCarthy (a perfectly bullying Vince Teninty), who demands he testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee. (In fact, Einstein was never called to testify, though a massive F.B.I. dossier was amassed on him.)
A ferocious self-improver, McCarthy prides himself on his vocabulary, and Johnson uses the senator's infatuation with the word "solipsist" (one who believes the self is the only reality) to giddily riff on other theories of existence.
Enter The Actress (a virtuosic performance by Julia Siple, who not only brilliantly parses Einstein's theories, but captures the emotional mess that was Marilyn). In town shooting "The Seven Year Itch," she is determined to gain validation from the genius. The possibly pregnant actress also is fleeing her wildly jealous husband, the world-famous Ballplayer (Alex Gillmor, ideal as the tall, lean, gum-popping DiMaggio), a man almost as trapped by fame and intellectual self-doubt as his wife.
Director Brad Akin keeps the mix of tragedy, comedy and gargantuan ideas in a tight magnetic field. And the play's finale hints at just how short our stay in "Hotel Universe" might turn out to be.
'INSIGNIFICANCE'
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
When: Through Sept. 1
Where: Steep Theatre, 3902 N. Sheridan
Tickets: $18
Phone: (312) 458-0722
August 1, 2007
BY HEDY WEISS Theater Critic
In 1982 (about seven years after E. L. Doctorow put a slew of historical figures from the early 20th century on a collision course in his novel, "Ragtime"), Terry Johnson, the British playwright and director, put his own time-warping cosmic spin on America, homing in on the mid 1950s. In the process, he saw to it that characters evoking Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe, Joe DiMaggio and Senator Joe McCarthy (the rabid anti-communist), crossed paths in a hotel room.
Johnson called his play "Insignificance" -- a title at once deeply ironic and deadly accurate. And along the way he not only unspooled Einstein's mind-altering theories about the most elemental laws of the universe. But he tapped into the whole spirit-draining notion of celebrity and the corrosive battle of the Cold War era's political "isms," and also imagined his own particular version of the big (and perhaps final) nuclear bang.
"Insignificance," now in a first-class production by Steep Theatre (the little Wrigleyville storefront that just enjoyed a huge success with Brecht's "The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui"), works a neat trick by lacing the most complex ideas with iconic personalities. My companion, a physicist, was mightily impressed with the fullness and accuracy of Johnson's explanations of Einstein's theories. But the fact that Johnson has Marilyn Monroe (who wants nothing more than to be valued for her intellect), do most of the play's heavy intellectual lifting is a huge plus. And even if you don't comprehend everything, Johnson has devised enough vivid metaphors to let you catch enough.
It is 1954, and The Professor (Toby Nicholson, perfectly understated as a 70-year-old Einstein), is in town for a lecture at a conference on world peace. But there is to be no peace, for banging on his door is McCarthy (a perfectly bullying Vince Teninty), who demands he testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee. (In fact, Einstein was never called to testify, though a massive F.B.I. dossier was amassed on him.)
A ferocious self-improver, McCarthy prides himself on his vocabulary, and Johnson uses the senator's infatuation with the word "solipsist" (one who believes the self is the only reality) to giddily riff on other theories of existence.
Enter The Actress (a virtuosic performance by Julia Siple, who not only brilliantly parses Einstein's theories, but captures the emotional mess that was Marilyn). In town shooting "The Seven Year Itch," she is determined to gain validation from the genius. The possibly pregnant actress also is fleeing her wildly jealous husband, the world-famous Ballplayer (Alex Gillmor, ideal as the tall, lean, gum-popping DiMaggio), a man almost as trapped by fame and intellectual self-doubt as his wife.
Director Brad Akin keeps the mix of tragedy, comedy and gargantuan ideas in a tight magnetic field. And the play's finale hints at just how short our stay in "Hotel Universe" might turn out to be.
'INSIGNIFICANCE'
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
When: Through Sept. 1
Where: Steep Theatre, 3902 N. Sheridan
Tickets: $18
Phone: (312) 458-0722
Recommended: A "Must See" Show
CENTERSTAGE: "MUST SEE"Steep Theatre rolls a romantic comedy and free physics lesson into one show.
Those close-shouldered, ensemble-minded bruisers at the Steep Theatre take on a play about four singular stars. Marilyn Monroe, Jospeh McCarthy, Joe Dimaggio and Albert Einstein, trapped in some sort of metaphysical hotel room, debate reality, relativity and relationships. Reviews of past production have tagged Terry Johnson's 1982 script as either clever or pointless, but director Brad Akin did an excellent job with Steep Theatre's "Book of Days" in 2005, making this "Insignificance" worth checking out.
The Centerstage Review, by Elisabeth Kilpatrick.
Tuesday Jul 31, 2007
Who knew that science could be so romantic?
Apparently scrappy storefront Steep Theatre did. The ensemble caps off its 2006-2007 season with "Insignificance," an elegant dark comedy that meshes physics and intimacy in a 1950s New York hotel room.
Ensemble member Brad Akin directs British playwright Terry Johnson's 1982 work, which asks an off-the-wall question: What if the lives of Marilyn Monroe, Joe DiMaggio, Albert Einstein and Joseph McCarthy collided one evening? Johnson boldly places the American-as-apple-pie celebrities in fact-based fictional situations, challenging our perceptions of who these stars really were and letting their personalities shine through.
On the eve of Einstein's trial for suspected communism, his attempts to work keep getting interrupted, first by pushy McCarthy and, much later, by the disheveled but glamorous Monroe. A kooky, charming explanation from the starlet on Einstein's theory of relativity helps to forge a sweet bond between the duo, at least until Monroe's mad-as-hell husband, DiMaggio, shows up.
Ensemble member Julia Siple plays Monroe as a breathy confection dying to be taken seriously. She's a wonderful complement to ensemble member Alex Gillmor's meathead DiMaggio, whose character Gillmor seems to have seasoned liberally with the guy from SNL's "2 A-Holes" sketches. Their snippy banter carries large chunks of the play, as do DiMaggio's conversations with Einstein, played with understated aplomb by Toby Nicholson.
Vince Teninty's McCarthy simply doesn't get as much stage time as the others, and his character is less layered and engaging. Still, while the performances lack a little polish (tripping over lines was a regular occurrence at Thursday's premiere), they all showcase real talent through the crackling onstage chemistry. Akin has scaled "Insignificance" nicely for Steep's 40-seat space, and each audience member straining forward to see what happens next is rewarded with a close glimpse of the action.
In the long stretch of night before dawn, the celebrities’ edges soften, and we see them as people, not stars. A few overly melodramatic moments do sneak in, but for the most part the ensemble uses a deft touch, and the intimate conversations that take place are as mesmerizing as the dozens of prisms of light floating onstage at the end of the show.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui
Play The Trailer!
Video complements of Jim Poole Creative Productions
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui
Directed by Jonathan Berry, Brecht's epic ensemble piece recounts Hitler's rise to power through the story of a gangster's attempt to take over the Cauliflower Trade in 1930's Chicago.
Chicago gangsters, political corruption, scare tactics and extortion in the vegetable business parallel the players and maneuvers involved in the Nazi's ascent to power in the years leading up to the Second World War. Arturo Ui's manipulation of terror and apathy for political gain undoubtedly will continue Steep's tradition of bringing stories to the stage that strike a chord with the "everyperson".
Featuring ensemble members Jonathan Edwards, Alex Gillmor, Brendan Melanson, Peter Moore, Jim Poole, and Julia Siple with Sean Bolger, Ariel Brenner, Steve Gensler, Yosh Hayashi, Shole Milos, Paul Myers, Josh Odor, Eddie Paul, and Jon Stutzman
MAY 31 thru JULY 7
Thursdays - Saturdays @ 8 PM
Video complements of Jim Poole Creative Productions
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui
Directed by Jonathan Berry, Brecht's epic ensemble piece recounts Hitler's rise to power through the story of a gangster's attempt to take over the Cauliflower Trade in 1930's Chicago.
Chicago gangsters, political corruption, scare tactics and extortion in the vegetable business parallel the players and maneuvers involved in the Nazi's ascent to power in the years leading up to the Second World War. Arturo Ui's manipulation of terror and apathy for political gain undoubtedly will continue Steep's tradition of bringing stories to the stage that strike a chord with the "everyperson".
Featuring ensemble members Jonathan Edwards, Alex Gillmor, Brendan Melanson, Peter Moore, Jim Poole, and Julia Siple with Sean Bolger, Ariel Brenner, Steve Gensler, Yosh Hayashi, Shole Milos, Paul Myers, Josh Odor, Eddie Paul, and Jon Stutzman
MAY 31 thru JULY 7
Thursdays - Saturdays @ 8 PM
Brecht's 'Rise' red-hot on Steep storefront stage
SunTimes review:
June 6, 2007
BY HEDY WEISS Theater Critic
What better metaphor could there be for the thugs who rose to power in Nazi Germany than the mobsters who ruled Chicago in the 1920s? And who could appear more ridiculous (though deadly dangerous) than a ruthless, pathetic little Chicago criminal engaged in ever-escalating terror -- a man with an intriguing resemblance to Shakespeare's misshapen Richard III?
This, as it happens, is the essential premise of Bertolt Brecht's 1941 play, "The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui," now receiving one of those red-hot, astonishingly accomplished storefront productions for which Chicago is famous. Steep Theatre's large-scale, small-stage take on the play is sensational. And gifted director Jonathan Berry, whose recent hits include "Dead End" and "The Piano Tuner," once again demonstrates his flair for animating period pieces, shaping large ensembles and orchestrating dialogue as if it were musical notation.
Arturo Ui (Yosh Hayashi, ideal as the twisted goose-stepper) is a vicious, cold-blooded runt hungry for power. Down on his luck, he hatches a plan to corner the city's cauliflower market, demand big-time protection money from the vegetable vendors and strong-arm a squeaky-clean official to front for him.
Ui's brutal tactics work, just as Hitler's did, and his rise is never successfully resisted.
Paul Myers, Josh Odor, Jonathan Edwards, Peter Moore, Sean Bolger and Ariel Brenner are standouts in an altogether flawless cast -- one supported at every turn by the design team.
hweiss@suntimes.com - ARTICLE found here
'THE RESISTIBLE RISE OF ARTURO UI'
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
When: Through July 7
Where: Steep Theatre, 3902 N. Sheridan
Tickets: $18
Phone: (312) 458-0722
Steep is more than up to the challenges of 'Ui'
ON THE FRINGE:
By Kerry Reid
Special to the Tribune
June 8, 2007
Bertolt Brecht's 1941 gangster allegory "The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui" could be the theatrical equivalent of Godwin's Law, that Internet-age maxim decreeing that whoever brings up a Hitler analogy in an online discussion loses the argument. Al Capone was a murderous thug, but he was driven by greed, not an overarching ideology based on racial "purity" and world domination.
Jonathan Berry's cunning staging of "Arturo Ui" for Steep Theatre Company neatly avoids the awkward problems of the analogy -- and the limitations of the storefront space -- by de-emphasizing the usual elements of Brecht's "epic" theater in favor of a smart, fast-moving, hard-boiled burlesque. The result is the most cohesive and satisfying show I've seen from this company to date, and it features a dazzling, sit-up-and-take-notice performance from Yosh Hayashi in the title role, who is first among equals in a stellar ensemble. Steep specializes in large-cast productions, with many actors playing multiple roles, and every performance here is in exquisite sync with the tone of the production.
George Tabori's bold translation incorporates Shakespearean blank verse, emphasizing the play's debt to "Richard III." The hunch-shouldered Hayashi slithers through his den of thieves, murderers and extortionists like a malevolent apostrophe, eliminating anyone who gets in the way of his plans to take over the Chicago "cauliflower trust" and to annex Cicero (read: Austria). Scratchy voice-overs make the connection between the onstage events and critical turning points in the rise of Hitler, such as the burning of the Reichstag and the assassination of Dollfus, the Austrian chancellor. (In one of the more pointed R III references, Hayashi's Ui pitches woo to the widow of "Dullfeet" over the casket of her murdered husband.) The funniest scene, in which a disheveled and drunken thespian (Jim Poole) teaches the near-feral Ui how to walk with authority and address the crowd, grows chilling as the dictator-in-waiting begins to ape the mannerisms of Hitler -- though having Ui appear with the famous Hitler 'stache at the end might be hammering the point home a bit too hard.
But one doesn't need to know every historical parallel to grasp Brecht's essential point -- would-be dictators are petty narcissistic criminals who should be greeted with mass derision rather than fear. Heather Gilbert and Jessica Harpenau's stark lighting design incorporates several work lights hanging from cords around the perimeters. One wishes that someone on stage would grab a light, shove it into the face of Hayashi's addled "mastermind" and say "Here. Is this what you're so afraid of?" Their failure to do so is what gives Brecht's imperfect but engaging parable its relevance, made crystal-clear in this not-to-be-missed production.
On-line article can be found here.
4 Star Time Out Review
****
June 7 - 13 Issue
A flashlight shines on each Chicago gangster’s face, among them Arturo Ui (Hayashi), a laughably dense but ruthless mobster-monster looking to ascend in evil’s ranks. Director Berry likewise shines a piercing light on Brecht’s gripping allegory of Hitler’s rise to power. If Brechtian has become one of those eponymous terms that, in their overuse, have less meaning than cachet, whatever it signifies—highlighting theatrical artifice, thus alienating not to distance but to provoke—Berry gets it and gets it across. With mobsters speaking the stylized, rhyming language, Ui is engagingly disorienting—a disorientation compounded by a design (set: Brandon Wardell; lighting: Heather Gilbert, Jessica Harpenau) that evokes at once a specific time, no time and any time. While the complicated plot confuses (and weirdly absents Hitler’s anti-Semitism), Berry makes crystal clear the trajectory of evil rising.
Among a strong ensemble, Hayashi is exceptional; “Buy me a judge,” his weaselly Ui squawks, “or else I got no rights.” With Hayashi’s twisted frame manifesting Ui’s twisted soul, he enlists a pompous old actor to teach him to walk and talk power. The ensuing high jinks, as Ui adopts grotesque gestures broadly exaggerating Hitler’s, elicit our laughter. After Ui takes over the cauliflower trust by offering “protection” to grocers who fail to resist his resistible rise, those same gestures, now eerily realistic, elicit our astonishment. In the second act, Berry’s staging markedly loses force and focus, but the final image, slamming tight the Ui-Hitler link, isn’t a light in the face, but a slap.—Novid Parsi
On-line article found here.
June 7 - 13 Issue
A flashlight shines on each Chicago gangster’s face, among them Arturo Ui (Hayashi), a laughably dense but ruthless mobster-monster looking to ascend in evil’s ranks. Director Berry likewise shines a piercing light on Brecht’s gripping allegory of Hitler’s rise to power. If Brechtian has become one of those eponymous terms that, in their overuse, have less meaning than cachet, whatever it signifies—highlighting theatrical artifice, thus alienating not to distance but to provoke—Berry gets it and gets it across. With mobsters speaking the stylized, rhyming language, Ui is engagingly disorienting—a disorientation compounded by a design (set: Brandon Wardell; lighting: Heather Gilbert, Jessica Harpenau) that evokes at once a specific time, no time and any time. While the complicated plot confuses (and weirdly absents Hitler’s anti-Semitism), Berry makes crystal clear the trajectory of evil rising.
Among a strong ensemble, Hayashi is exceptional; “Buy me a judge,” his weaselly Ui squawks, “or else I got no rights.” With Hayashi’s twisted frame manifesting Ui’s twisted soul, he enlists a pompous old actor to teach him to walk and talk power. The ensuing high jinks, as Ui adopts grotesque gestures broadly exaggerating Hitler’s, elicit our laughter. After Ui takes over the cauliflower trust by offering “protection” to grocers who fail to resist his resistible rise, those same gestures, now eerily realistic, elicit our astonishment. In the second act, Berry’s staging markedly loses force and focus, but the final image, slamming tight the Ui-Hitler link, isn’t a light in the face, but a slap.—Novid Parsi
On-line article found here.
Dueling Critics: On Public Radio WBEZ
Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui is on stage now at Steep Theatre in Lakeview, and here to tell us if we should resist Arturo or not are our Dueling Critics Jonathan Abarbanel and Kelly Kleiman.
Link to Listen to the Podcast!
First aired on WBEZ 91.5 FM 6/08/07 Dueling Critics is a segment of Eight Forty-Eight, an award-winning magazine format hosted by Steve Edwards.
Link to Listen to the Podcast!
First aired on WBEZ 91.5 FM 6/08/07 Dueling Critics is a segment of Eight Forty-Eight, an award-winning magazine format hosted by Steve Edwards.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
