A STEADY RAIN Begins Tonight at the Old Fitz

A dark duologue filled with sharp storytelling and biting repartee, A STEADY RAIN explores the complexities of a lifelong bond tainted by domestic affairs, violence, and the rough streets of Chicago.

Joey and Denny have been best friends since kindergarten, and after working together for several years as policemen in Chicago, they are practically family: Joey helps out with Denny's wife and kids; Denny keeps Joey away from the bottle. But when a domestic disturbance call takes a turn for the worse, their friendship is put on the line. The result is a harrowing journey into a moral grey area where trust and loyalty struggle for survival against a sobering backdrop of pimps, prostitutes, and criminal lowlifes.

Keith Huff's A STEADY RAIN was initially produced in Chicago in 2007 and 2008. It won three Joseph Jefferson Awards (Chicago's theatre awards) including Best New Work and Best Production. Following a number of staged and table readings and an off-Broadway workshop production, the play opened on Broadway in September 2009 starring Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig. The producers announced that the show had broken the record for the highest weekly gross of a non-musical production on Broadway. The show was unanimously critically acclaimed, Times Magazine even ranking it second on their 'Top 10 Plays of 2009' list.

This gripping two-hander alternates between two separate monologues and present-moment dialogue scenes performed by Justin Stewart Cotta and Nick Barkla and directed by established theatre director Adam Cook. Justin Stewart Cotta is a two time Sydney Theatre Award nominee (Best Actor - Syncopation and The Removalists) who has worked for many of the major theatre companies, most recently North By Northwest and Glengarry Glen Ross for MTC, Dream Home for Ensemble Theatre Company, and the award-winning The Floating World for Griffin. He voiced a character in Happy Feet 2, is currently filming for the upcoming season of ABC series The Code and recently received rave reviews for his performance in the title role of the New Theatre's Sweeney Todd. Nick Barkla studied at David Mamet's Atlantic Theatre Company and later at the prestigious Steppenwolf Theatre Company of Chicago. Back home, he's worked on the Stephen Sewell feature film Embedded, television shows such as Blue Heelers and Secret Life of Us, features in Kimbra's Come Into My Head music video and performed alongside Justin in the MTC production of Glengarry Glen Ross.

IF YOU GO:

A STEADY RAIN

By Keith Huff

With Justin Stewart Cotta and Nick Barkla

Directed by Adam Cook

Produced by Justin Stewart Cotta and Nick Barkla in association with Red Line Productions

Venue: Old Fitzroy Theatre, 129 Dowling Street (Corner Cathedral Street), Woolloomooloo

Season: 22 September - 17 October 2015

Times: Tues-Sat 7.30pm, Sunday 5pm

Price: $35 Adult, $30 Concession, $25 Previews and Cheap Tuesday (tickets include $2 booking fee)

Bookings: www.oldfitztheatre.com/a-steady-rain

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