HEAT WAVE, ANGRY FAGS and 'THE WALK ACROSS AMERICA' Set for Steppenwolf's Garage Rep 2015

Steppenwolf Theatre Company is pleased to announce the three Chicago companies selected for the sixth annual Garage Rep: Cold Basement Dramatics, Pride Films and Plays and Red Tape Theatre. These innovative storefront companies will present three productions in rotating repertory for a ten-week run February - April, 2015 in the Garage Theatre (1624 N Halsted St). Tickets go on sale at a later date.

"Steppenwolf's Garage Rep celebrates and showcases Chicago's vibrant theater ecology. Now in our sixth year, we are thrilled to invite Cold Basement Dramatics, Pride Films and Plays and Red Tape Theatre into the Garage to play and grow. Over the next eight months we will support their producing efforts and provide them with focused artistic and administrative mentorship. These three companies bring unique voices, diverse perspectives and artistically inventive and challenging pieces to our intimate Garage space, where audiences can experience them in rotating rep," shares Steppenwolf Producing Associate Greta Honold.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company's Garage Rep 2015 Lineup:
(All plays, artists and dates are subject to change)

Cold Basement Dramatics presents

Heat Wave

By Steven Simoncic

Directed by Rinska Prestinary

Chicago, 1995: An intense heat wave has gripped the city with temperatures soaring above 100 degrees. 739 people die, mostly people who are poor, elderly, or minorities with nowhere to seek shelter. As the morgues overflow, the city's emergency response team is called into question. The Mayor's Office combats the criticism with a PR campaign that successfully turns the blame onto the victims and their families. As Chicago approaches the 20th anniversary of that summer, Heat Wave tells the story of the people who were made invisible, the hard working citizens who fought to uncover the truth and the resilient Chicago community that suffered, yet carried on.

Cold Basement Dramatics (Artistic Director, John Pagano; Executive Director, Dan Planz) is a nonprofit, itinerant Chicago theatre company committed to telling the stories about the things that we hide from ourselves and others. Now in their 5th season, Cold Basement has been dedicated to producing shows that expose the truth and tell stories that have not been told. coldbasement.org

Pride Films and Plays presents

Angry Fags

By Topher Payne

Directed by Derek Van Barham

Cooper and Bennett are not a gay couple -- just a couple of gays. When their friend is "gay bashed" outside a local bar, they feel helpless. Then, they feel something new: pure, unfiltered anger. It's not enough for them that "it gets better"; change can only happen if they take matters into their own hands. Politics, pistachios and pop culture collide in this dark comedy about how good ideas go bad. Angry Fags is an Oscar Wilde-meets-Tarantino fever dream that asks just how far you would go to "MAKE it Better"?

Pride Films and Plays (David Zak, Executive Producer; Jude Hansen, Producer) creates work about, for, and by the LGBTQ community but that is essential viewing for all audiences. PFP hopes to further the conversation about sexuality and community at a time when much progress has been made but there is still so much for us all to learn. Formed in 2010, this multiple Jeff Award winning company has strived to foster new writing for the stage and screen through readings, competitions, classes, and theatrical productions. pridefilmsandplays.com

Red Tape Theatre presents

The Walk Across America for Mother Earth

By Taylor Mac, with music by Ellen Maddow

Director TBA

Political activism meets bedazzled drag show in this story about two young friends who flee their suburban upbringing in "Real America" to join a ragtag group of activists on a protest march from D.C. to Nevada. On the road, the group attempts to establish a nomadic utopia, but the marchers continually find themselves divided by unrequited affections, indecision, and a secret hunger for power. Whimsically blending commedia dell'arte influences with song and dance, The Walk Across America for Mother Earth explores how the idea of community sometimes fails to unite us, and sometimes brings us together in the most unexpected ways.

Red Tape Theatre (Brandon Ray, Artistic Director; Josh Johnson, Managing Director) now in its 11th season, is committed to the creation of new and experimental work through collaborations with our ensemble, playwrights, musicians, dancers and visual artists. Red Tape's plays invite audiences to re-imagine their world and serve a vital purpose in our community: to arrest attention and create empathy. This work is additionally supported by our Fresh Eyes Playwrights Workshop Series, which is produced annually. redtapetheatre.org

Since the inaugural repertory in 2010, Garage Rep has brought the work of 15 storefront theater companies in Chicago to the Steppenwolf stage, including: The Twins Would Like To Say by Dog & Pony Theatre Company, punkplay by Pavement Group and Adore by XIII Pocket in 2010; Heddatron by Sideshow Theatre Company, The Three Faces of Doctor Crippen by The Strange Tree Group and Sonnets for an Old Century by UrbanTheater Company in 2011; Hit the Wall by The Inconvenience, Oohrah! by LiveWire Chicago and He Who by Theatre Zarko in 2012; See What I Wanna See by Bailiwick Chicago, She Kills Monsters by Buzz22 Chicago and BlackTop Sky by Theatre Seven of Chicago in 2013; reWILDing Genius by The New Colony, Saturday Night/Sunday Morning by Prologue Theatre Company and The Wild by Walkabout Theater Company in 2014.

The Steppenwolf Garage is dedicated to new plays, new artists and new audiences for the American theater. It offers artists the opportunity to present their work with the scale, space and resources it merits. For audiences, it provides opportunities to engage in multigenerational conversation about the new, provocative work emerging from Chicago's diverse and vibrant theatre scene.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company is America's longest standing, most distinguished ensemble theater, producing nearly 700 performances and events annually in its three Chicago theater spaces-the 515-seat Downstairs Theatre, the 299-seat Upstairs Theatre and the 80-seat Garage Theatre. Formed in 1976 by a collective of actors, Steppenwolf has grown into an ensemble of 44 actors, writers and directors. Artistic programming at Steppenwolf includes a five-play Subscription Season, a two-play Steppenwolf for Young Adults season and two repertory series: First Look Repertory of New Work, and Garage Rep. While firmly grounded in the Chicago community, nearly 40 original Steppenwolf productions have enjoyed success both nationally and internationally, including Off-Broadway, Broadway, London, Sydney and Dublin. Steppenwolf has the distinction of being the only theater to receive the National Medal of Arts, in addition to numerous other prestigious honors including an Illinois Arts Legend Award and 12 Tony Awards. Martha Lavey is the Artistic Director and David Hawkanson is the Executive Director. Nora Daley is Chair of Steppenwolf's Board of Trustees. For additional information, visit steppenwolf.org, facebook.com/steppenwolftheatre and twitter.com/steppenwolfthtr.