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2,000 Feet Away : Incendiary. Ambitious. Powerful.
Steep's U.S. Premiere of 2,000 Feet Away is the latest example of the sort of powerful, provocative programming that earned the company the 2010 Broadway in Chicago Emerging Theatre Award. Read what the critics are saying:
"[the] biggest impression made is by Steep Theatre Company and the courage they’ve shown by mounting this tough, thought-provoking drama. It’s easily the best adult play in town right now."
- Fabizio O. Almeida, New City
read the review >
"American Gothic Masterpiece...2,000 FEET AWAY is pure Monet. The look changes the closer you get to it!"
- thefourthwalsh.com
read the review >
"Steep Theatre [continues] its commitment to finding provocative new plays...powerful and poignant...arresting performances."
- Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune
read the review >
2,000 FEET AWAY
WITH ENSEMBLE MEMBERS Jonathan Edwards, Brendan Melanson, Melissa Riemer and
Julia Siple AND Seth Bartusek, Grace Goble, J. Kingsford Goode, Will Kinnear, Connor del Rio, Benjamin Sprunger, Alex Turner and Jim Wasik
STAGE MANAGER Jeanette Kleymeyer SCENIC DESIGN Jimmy McDermott LIGHTING DESIGN Peter Dully COSTUME DESIGN Alison Siple COSTUME ASST Gwen Smuda SOUND DESIGN Matthew Chapman PROPS DESIGN Maria DeFalbo FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHY Matt Engle ASST DIRECTOR Aaron Henrickson
Steep Theatre Company will close its ninth season with the U.S. Premiere of Anthony Weigh's 2,000 Feet Away, opening Thursday, May 20th. The production will run Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights at 8pm through June 26th at Steep Theatre. 2,000 Feet Away, which enjoyed a successful run at London's Bush Theatre in 2008, comes on the heels of the company's massive hit Harper Regan and the League of Chicago Theatre's recent announcement that Steep has been named the recipient of the 2010 Broadway in Chicago Emerging Theatre Award. Director Jimmy McDermott will make his Steep Theatre debut with this production.
2,000 Feet Away takes place in Eldon, Iowa: a small community of just under 1,000 people and the setting for Grant Wood's iconic painting American Gothic. In 2005, the Iowa State Legislature passed a bill making it a criminal offense for a registered sex offender to live within 2,000 feet of a school. Many towns in Iowa, including Eldon, have added more locations to the list of prohibited places, such as daycare centers, parks, shopping malls, public swimming pools, bus stops, and libraries. In most towns, one of these places is within 2,000 feet of another. Due to the systematic eviction of sex offenders from their homes, the majority of known sex offenders in Iowa have now fallen off the grid and disappeared from public record.
In 2,000 Feet Away, a deputy is assigned to transport one of the convicted to a new residence. But where do you bring someone who isn't allowed anywhere and certainly isn't wanted?
Director Jimmy McDermott is the former Associate Artistic Director for Writers' Theatre where he directed such plays as The MLK Project, The Maids, The Puppetmaster of Lodz, The Frog Prince by David Mamet, and the experimental staging of Suzan Lori Parks' 365 Days/365 Plays: Week # 49. He is also an ensemble member with the side project theatre company in Chicago, having directed The 4th Graders Present an Unnamed Love-Suicide, The Elephant Man, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, Salome and Sweet Pretty Love Jam. Other directing credits include work for The Hypocrites and Collaboraction. He received his Master of Fine Arts Degree in Directing from The Theatre School at DePaul University in 1999.
Playwright Anthony Weigh is a graduate from the National Institute of Dramatic Art, Sydney, and has worked extensively as an actor both in Australia and internationally. In 2003, he undertook a Masters in Playwriting at the University of Birmingham. Awards and fellowships include the Australia Council for the Arts Emerging Artists Grant, Mick Young Playwright Award, the Mike Walsh Fellowship and the Barry Jackson Scholarship at the University of Birmingham. 2,000 Feet Away was developed while he was on attachment to the National Theatre Studio in London and in residency during the Emerging Artists season at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh. Anthony's latest play ...LIKE A FISHBONE... will premiere at the Bush Theatre in 2010. He is also under commission to the National Theatre.
2,000 Feet Away premiered in 2007 in Australia at Sydney's Belvoir Street Theatre and received its European premiere at the Bush Theatre in 2008. The Bush Theatre production was directed by Josie O'Rourke, Artistic Director of the Bush, who is currently in town directing Taming of the Shrew at Chicago Shakespeare. While in town, Ms. O'Rourke and Bush Scenic Designer Lucy Osborne(Shrew, 2,000 Feet Away) attended Steep's current production of Simon Stephen's Harper Regan and spoke with the company and parts of the production team after the show about their experiences with the production. "It was enlightening to peek inside one another's imaginings at such an early point in our process," said Production Manager and Managing Director Julia Siple. "And it was such a joy to meet with two talented artists as down to earth, open, and passionate as Josie and Lucy."
2010 has already been a blockbuster year for Steep. The company is currently enjoying an unprecedented 14-week run of their critically acclaimed production of Simon Stephens' Harper Regan. Every one of the 49 performances have sold out. Recently, Steep Theatre Company was named the recipient of the 2010 Broadway in Chicago Emerging Theatre Award. The award was created in 2007 to encourage, support and promote emerging theaters in Chicago that have demonstrated great ability and promise, artistic excellence and fiscal responsibility in business practices. Steep Theatre was selected by a majority vote of their peers – member companies of the League of Chicago Theatres.
2,000 Feet Away | May 20th through June 26th | Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8pm
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