Bock’s THE RECEPTIONIST to Receive Midwest Premiere at Steep, 4/12-5/19

Steep Theatre's 11th season continues on April 12th with the Midwest Premiere of The Receptionist, by Obie Award-winning playwright Adam Bock.  Director and Steep Artistic Associate Joanie Schultz returns home to Steep to direct the production.  Schultz's past collaborations with the company have earned numerous Jeff awards and nominations, including Steep Ensemble Member Caroline Neff's 2011 Jeff Award for Best Actress for A Brief History of Helen of Troy.  Neff and Schultz are back at it again with The Receptionist.

In this dark comedy, Beverly Wilkins effortlessly manages her fiefdom within the Northeast Office, handling both the incessantly ringing phones and her colleague's unending romantic troubles. But on this day, the appearance of a charming rep from the Central Office disrupts the office's friendly routine and reveals the true nature of the company's business. 

Playwright Adam Bock's work has been receiving high-profile productions for some time. He burst onto the San Francisco theater scene in 1999 with his Swimming in the Shallows, which won the 2000 Bay Area Theater Critics Circle Awards for Best Original Script, Best Production, and Best Ensemble.  His work has been produced regularly since in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles; however, Chicago audiences are just becoming familiar with the playwright's work through productions by Fifth Floor Productions, Profiles Theatre, About Face Theatre, and Immediate Theatre.  In 2007, Mr. Bock won the Obie Award for Playwrighting for his piece The Thugs and in 2008 he received Outer Critics Circle Award nominations for Best Off-Broadway Play for Drunken City and The Receptionist.  

Director Joanie Schultz is an Artistic Associate with Steep Theatre, where she directed the Jeff Award-winning productions A Brief History of Helen of Troy (Best Actress in a Featured Role) and In Arabia We'd All Be Kings (Best Ensemble).  Most recently, she directed fml: How Carson McCullers Saved My Life at Steppenwolf Theatre; The Girl in the Yellow Dress at Next Theatre; Ask Aunt Susan for The Goodman Theatre; The Kid Thing, a co-production of About Face Theatre and Chicago Dramatists, and The Metal Children at Next Theatre.  Ms. Schultz has also recently directed new play workshops at The Goodman Theatre, Next Theatre, and Steppenwolf Theatre Company.  She holds an MFA from Northwestern University; was a Drama League Fellow; The Goodman Theatre's Michael Maggio Directing Fellow; the SDC Denham Fellow; was a participant in the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab; and currently teaches directing at Columbia College Chicago. 

The Receptionist will feature Steep Ensemble Members Peter Moore and Caroline Neff.  Peter Esposito (Festen, In Arabia We'd All Be Kings) and Steep new-comer Cheryl Roy round out the cast.  The production's Design Team includes Set Designer Stephen Harold Carmody, Lighting Designer Pete Dully (Under the Blue Sky, Lakeboat, 2000 Feet Away, Steep Company Member), Costume Designer Marianna Csaszar, Sound Designer Thomas Dixon (Pornography, A Brief History of Helen of Troy, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Steep Artistic Associate), Props Designer Sarah Burnham (Festen, Lakeboat), and Stage Manager Ellen Willett (In Arabia We'd All Be Kings, The Hollow Lands, Festen). 

The Receptionist runs Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights at 8pm from Thursday, April 12th through Saturday, May 19th.   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.