Jonathan Berry Set for US Premiere of MOMENT, Now thru 8/18

Steep Theatre welcomes back Artistic Associate and recent Jeff Award-winning director Jonathan Berry this summer for their U.S. Premiere of Deirdre Kinahan's Moment. This will be the company's first production with Berry back in the director's seat since their 2011 collaboration Festen, which was one of the biggest hits of last summer and one of the most talked about shows of the year. Ms. Kinahan's Moment has been making waves itself since debuting in 2009 at Tall Tales Theatre in Ireland. The production subsequently moved to London, for a widely-praised and sold-out run at the Bush Theatre, and is currently on a seven venue tour of Ireland. Steep's U.S. premiere of Moment opens tonight, July 12th. The playwright Ms. Kinahan will be coming to Chicago to take in the production August 16th through 18th.

On a seemingly ordinary evening an Irish family sits down to tea. The difference tonight is that Nial is home – back from prison having committed a dark crime many years earlier with some news to share and a conscience to clear. Fast, witty and frighteningly real, Moment takes you on a journey through trauma wrapped up in tablecloths and teacake.

Deirdre Kinahan is one Ireland's most celebrated and prolific playwrights. She is actively involved in the Irish theater scene both as a playwright and as the Artistic Director of Tall Tales Theatre Company, County Meath. Her work is produced regularly both in Ireland and on the international stage. Moment was a major hit at the Bush Theatre in 2011 and her two plays Hue and Cry and Bogboy won critical acclaim at the First Irish Festival in New York, winning three awards and critic's pick in The New York Times. Other plays include Broken, Transgressor, Where's My Seat, Salad Day, Melody, Attaboy Mr Synge, Rum & Raisin, Summer Fruits, Knocknashee, Passage, and Bé Carna. Ms. Kinahan is currently developing work with Altered Image Films UK and Grand Pictures Dublin. Her most recent play The Halcyon Days will receive its premiere in Dublin in Autumn 2012.

Director Berry and Steep stunned Chicago last summer with their Midwest Premiere of Festen, which received rave reviews from critics across the board and was sold out for the entirety of its 10-week extended run. Festen was given the Chicago Tribune's highest rating of Four Stars and was named one of the top shows of 2011 by Timeout Chicago, the Chicago Sun Times, theatreinchicago.com, and Chicago Theatre Beat. Berry's other Steep credits include the Midwest Premiere of Howard Korder's The Hollow Lands and Bertolt Brecht's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, which was named one of the top ten shows of 2007 by Timeout Chicago and one of the top ten shows of the decade by Kelly Kleiman of WBEZ. He recently directed the World Premiere of Andrew Hinderaker's I Am Going to Change the World at Chicago Dramatists and Hinderaker's Suicide, Incorporated at The Gift Theatre in Chicago and went on to direct its New York premiere at The Roundabout Theatre. Mr. Berry is also a Griffin Company artistic associate where he directed the North American premieres of Simon Stephens' Punk Rock, Port, and On the Shore of the Wide World and hits Spring Awakening and Company, among many other productions.

Moment will feature Steep Ensemble Members James Allen (Festen, Book of Days), Alex Gillmor (Festen, Harper Regan), Cynthia Marker (The Hollow Lands, Book of Days), Melissa Riemer (Festen, Harper Regan) and Julia Siple (Festen, Harper Regan). Long-time Steep friend Josh Odor and new-comers Grace Melon and Carey Burton round out the cast. The production's Design Team includes Set Designer Dan Stratton (Festen, Love and Money) Lighting Designer Sarah Hughey (Festen, Parlour Song), Jeff Award-winning Costume Designer Alison Siple (The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, 2,000 Feet Away), Jeff Award-winning Sound Designer Kevin O'Donnell, Props Designer Maria DeFabo, Dialect Coach Kendra Thulin, Dramaturg Kristin Leahey and Stage Manager Jon Ravenscroft.

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 to TimeOut Chicago's Top Ten Shows of the Year list five times, the Tribune's Top Ten List once, the Tribune's Best of the Fringe list twice, the Sun Times's best of the year list twice, and WBEZ's Top Ten Shows of the Decade. In six years of Jeff Eligibility, Steep has received 11 Jeff Nominations and has won the 2009 Jeff Award for Best Ensemble (In Arabia We'd All Be Kings), the 2010 Jeff Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Harper Regan), and the 2011 Jeff Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role (A Brief History of Helen of Troy). Steep was named the 2010 Broadway in Chicago Emerging Theatre Award Winner.

Moment runs Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights at 8pm from tonight, July 12th through Saturday, August 18th. Tickets for the production range from $20-$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.

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