A Small Fire at Steep Theatre

Jun 16, 2014
Steep Theatre

Steep Artistic Associate Joanie Schultz, fresh off directing the Goodman Theater's production of David Ives' Venus in Fur, returns home to Steep to direct the company's upcoming Chicago Premiere of Adam Bock's A Small Fire.  Ms. Schultz and Steep scored a hit with Bock's work in 2012 with their critically acclaimed, Jeff nominated production of The Receptionist.  A Small Fire opens on Thursday, July 10th at Steep Theatre.

In A Small Fire, John and Emily's lives are upended when Emily is struck by a mysterious disease.  As Emily's condition strips away her senses, she is left to find her true self and true love.  Bock's redemptive story of a family's journey from loss to hope premiered at Playwrights Horizon in New York in 2011. 

Adam Bock's works include A Small Fire, The Receptionist, The Drunken City, The Thugs, Swimming in the Shallows, and the musical adaptation of Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle. His latest play The Colby Sisters of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania premieres this summer at the Tricycle Theater in London. He has won the Obie, the Otis Guernsey, Glickman, BATCC, Broadway.com Audience and Heideman awards and a Clauder, is a Guggenheim Fellow, and been nominated for the Drama Desk, Outer Critics, GLAAD and Kesseling awards. His plays have been produced in New York City at Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Theatre Club, Second Stage, Soho Rep, and Clubbed Thumb, all over the US, in Canada, the UK, and around the world. He has been in residence at Yaddo, Sundance at UCross, and Mass Moca, and he is a Clubbed Thumb associate artist and a Usual Suspect, an alumni of New Dramatists and a mentor of TDF Open Door Program.

Joanie Schultz is a Chicago-based freelance director and a Steep Theatre Artistic Associate. This is her fifth play at Steep, having previously directed Luther (2013), and the Jeff Award nominated/winning: The Receptionist (2012), A Brief History of Helen of Troy (2010), and In Arabia We'd All Be Kings (2009). This season in Chicago she also directed Venus in Fur at the Goodman Theatre and Northanger Abbey for Remy Bumppo Theatre. Next fall she will be directing Rest at Victory Gardens Theatre (where she is an artistic associate) and The Hundred Flowers Project at Silk Road Rising. Recent work includes The Whale at Victory Gardens; fml: How Carson McCullers Saved My Life at Steppenwolf for Young Adults; Ask Aunt Susan at the Goodman Theatre; The Girl in the Yellow Dress at Next Theatre; The Kid Thing for About Face Theatre and Chicago Dramatists; and Neighborhood 3 at Strawdog Theatre. She has also directed operas including Der Kaiser von Atlantis, Acis and Galatea, and Carmen. Joanie holds an MFA in directing from Northwestern University; a BA in directing from Columbia College; was a Drama League Fellow; The Goodman Theatre's Michael Maggio Directing Fellow; the SDCF Denham Fellow; a Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab participant; and was 2013 Co-Artistic Curator for Theater on the Lake. She teaches directing at Columbia College.

Steep Theatre has become known as a home for hard-hitting, finely tuned ensemble work. With each production, the company has shepherded a growing community of audiences and stakeholders into bold new territories of story and performance.  Over the years, Steep productions have been named in TimeOut Chicago's Top Ten Shows of the Year list five times, the Tribune's Top Ten List twice, the Tribune's Best of the Fringe list twice, the Sun Times' best of the year list twice, and WBEZ's Top Ten Shows of the Decade.  Steep has received 21 Jeff Nominations and has won the 2009 Jeff Award for Best Ensemble, the 2010 Jeff Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, and the 2011 Jeff Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role.   Steep was named the 2010 Broadway in Chicago Emerging Theatre Award Winner.

A Small Fire runs Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights at 8pm from July 10th through August 16th.  Sunday matinee performances are scheduled for July 20th, July 27th, August 3rd and August 10th at 3pm.  Tickets range from $20 to $22.  Reservations can be made by calling (866) 811-4111 or by visiting www.steeptheatre.com.  Steep Theatre is conveniently located by the Berwyn Red Line stop and is within blocks of the #92, #36, #146, #147, and #151 buses.