David Eigenberg

David Eigenberg, the popular actor of stage and screen best known as Miranda's boyfriend Steve on HBO's Sex and the City, will make his Chicago stage debut in Victory Gardens Theater's Midwest premiere of Cradle of Man, playing March 24-May 7, 2006.
 
Cradle of Man, a new dramatic comedy by Melanie Marnich, is a mid-season replacement for A Fair To Middling Woman by Kristine Thatcher, who was recently named the new Artistic Director of BoarsHead Theatre in Lansing, Michigan.  "Everyone at Victory Gardens is absolutely thrilled for Kristine," said Victory Gardens Artistic Director Dennis Zacek.  "Due to the demands of her new position, we have opted to produce A Fair To Middling Woman in an upcoming season, after Kristine has set up shop in Michigan, when her schedule allows."

In its place, Victory Gardens will present the newest work by one of America's top contemporary playwrights.  A fast-moving dramatic comedy, Cradle of Man is set in Africa near Olduvai Gorge, the birthplace of mankind, where two American couples meet and their comedic, romantic and existential crises are exposed. Facades crack under the sub-equatorial sun to reveal the evolution of the human heart.  Lives come apart and bodies come together in this extraordinary place, where the drama of what makes us human - and humane - plays out on a daily basis.  And where the survival of the fittest means only one couple will survive.

David Eigenberg was born in New York, but many don't realize he grew up in Evanston, Northbrook, Aurora, and Naperville, where his family still resides.   He attended Naperville Central High School before returning to New York to forge a career in acting.  After laboring there 15 years, he won hearts and shot to national prominence on Sex And The City as Steve Brady, the quintessential New York bartender with whom Cynthia Nixon's independent, relationship weary Miranda couldn't seem to live with or without.
 
Eigenberg began his association with Victory Gardens last spring by agreeing to write a 10-minute play for the theater's annual Chicago Stories fundraiser, and attending its one-night-only performance.  No stranger to the stage, Eigenberg most recently appeared on Broadway in Take Me Out, Richard Greenberg's 2003 Tony award winning play.  His first Broadway show was in 1990 as a hustler in John Guare's Six Degrees Of Separation directed by Jerry Zaks. Between these two productions were numerous off-Broadway endeavors. He is also a member of New York's Ensemble Studio Theatre.
 
Before Sex And The City, Eigenberg won attention for his chilling performance as shooter Alex Robbey on Homicide:  Life On The Street.  He next played on the opposite side of the interrogation table as recurring character District Attorney Harvey Welk in The Practice.  Eigenberg also appeared as a series regular in The Beat with Mark Ruffalo, Lea DeLaria and Celeste Holme.  Oz creators Tom Fontana and Barry Levinson were executive producers. Other TV credits include the role of Nick Delvecchio in the Jerry Bruckheimer produced series Soldier of Fortune, Inc. - Special Ops Forces, a recurring role on Ed, and guest starring roles on Judging Amy, Everwood, Without A Trace, The 4400, Touch Of Evil, The American Embassy and King Of Queens.
 
Eigenberg's film credits include the voice of Nermal in the Bill Murray animated starrer Garfield, The Mothman Prophecies with Richard Gere and Will Patton, A Perfect Murder, Daybreak, Around The Bend and Rude Awakening.  His film Love, Ludlow was at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. Currently, he makes his home in New York City along with his wife and their dog.
 
Victory Gardens Associate Artistic Director Sandy Shinner will direct Cradle of Man.  Shinner most recently staged the 2005 Humana Fest world premiere and Victory Gardens' subsequent Chicago debut of Kathleen Tolan's Memory House, and Victory Gardens' world premiere and later Off Broadway production of Trying by Joanna McClelland Glass.
 
Cradle of Man is receiving its world premiere at Florida Stage in January 2006.  Melanie Marnich's other plays include Tallgrass Gothic, These Shining Lives, Blur, Quake, The Sparrow Project, Season, and Beautiful Again. Her plays have been seen at London's Royal Court Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Dallas Theatre Center, American Theatre Company, Arena Stage, Denver Center for the Arts, and the Magic Theatre. She is the recipient of two Jerome fellowships, a McKnight grant, two Samuel Goldwyn writing awards, the Francesca Primus prize, and a PEN West award.