Steep Theatre Company

Steep Theatre Company's historic 2008-2009 season, which has already featured the opening of their new space and the most Jeff nominations in the company's history, closes with a bang this month with the Midwest Premiere of Howard Korder's The Hollow Lands, an ambitious 14 actor, 30 character historical epic. The production, which opens Thursday, June 25th , reunites Steep with acclaimed director Jonathan Berry, who helmed the company's 2007 hit The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, and playwright Howard Korder, the Pulitzer Prize nominated and Obie Award winning author of Steep hit Search and Destroy.

Steep's special blend of grit, edge, and ensemble work comes to life in this story about America 's early pioneers. Jim, a young Irish immigrant, arrives in New York in 1815 with dreams of boundless freedom, legendary profits, and unseen kingdoms. It is the cost of his 40 year pursuit that becomes more than he imagined. The Hollow Lands traces a nation's journey towards its Manifest Destiny and the trail it leaves behind.

Howard Korder is best known for his plays Search and Destroy, The Lights, and Boy's Life, for which he was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Steep's 2001 production of Search and Destroy was the second show in the company's history and the company's first unequivocal hit. Steep is pleased to announce that Korder will come out to Chicago to take part in a portion of the rehearsal process.

Steep is also thrilled to have long-time friend Jonathan Berry back in the director's chair. Berry last worked with Steep on The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui which was Jeff nominated for Best Production and was also named one of the top shows of 2007 by Timeout Chicago. Berry is an artistic associate of Griffin Theatre Company and has worked with Lifeline, Gift, Remy Bumppo, Mary Arrchie, Court and Steppenwolf, among other theater companies.

Over the last eight years, Steep Theatre Company has been home to exciting ensemble work. Steep made the news in late April when the company was nominated for a remarkable 5 Joseph Jefferson Awards for their productions In Arabia We'd All Be Kings and Greensboro: A Requiem. (Best Production, Best Director, Best Ensemble, and 2 Best Supporting Actress nominations.). Earlier in 2009, Steep's production of Breathing Corpses was named to Timeout Chicago's Top Ten list of 2008 and became the third Steep show to be named to that list. (Book of Days, 2005 and The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, 2007) In the four years that Timeout has come out with this list, only one other theater company has made the list three different years(Steppenwolf) and only one company made the list in both 2007 and 2008: Steep.

The Hollow Lands features a cast that reads like a virtual who's who from some of Steep's most memorable shows. Company Members Jonathan Edwards, Cynthia Marker, Brendan Melanson, and Peter Moore are joined by Sean Bolger (The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, In Arabia We'd All be Kings), Lucy Carapetyan (Breathing Corpses), Jeremy Fisher (Coronado), Yosh Hayashi (Arturo Ui), and Michael Salinas (In Arabia). New Steep collaborators Rom Barkholdar, Chris Chemlik, Kipland Dooley, Boyd Harris, and Faizan Ring round out a cast that will surely join the list of celebrated Steep ensembles.

The Hollow Lands runs Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings at 8 p.m. Performances begin Thursday, June 25th and run through Saturday, August 1st. Tickets are $18, and reservations can be made by calling 312-458-0722 or by visiting www.steeptheatre.com.