MOSQUITOES Opens At Steep Theatre

Steep Theatre begins its 19th season and opens its first production as an Equity theatre in October with the U.S. premiere of Olivier Award-winner Lucy Kirkwood's Mosquitoes, directed by Jaclynn Jutting. Kirkwood won the 2014 Olivier Award for Best New Play for her Chimerica, and her play The Children enjoyed a well-received run at Steppenwolf this past spring. This production will mark Steep's first venture with the playwright, as well as with director Jutting, a long-time friend of the company.

Mosquitoes will feature Upasna Barath, Richard Costes, Alexander Stuart, Meg Thalken, Elle Walker, and Steep Company Members Cindy Marker (Linda, Birdland), Peter Moore (Pomona, Linda), Amber Sallis (Pomona, Birdland), and Julia Siple (The Life and Sort of Death of Eric Argyle, A Small Fire). Costes was last seen at Steep in the 2016 production of Simon Stephens' Wastwater. Barath, Stuart, Thalken, and Walker will make their Steep debuts in Mosquitoes.

Lucy Kirkwood is an acclaimed playwright and screenwriter. In 2009, Lucy's play It Felt Empty When the Heart Went at First but it is Alright Now was produced by Clean Break Theatre Company at the Arcola Theatre. The play was nominated for an Evening Standard Award for Best Newcomer and made Lucy joint winner of the 2010 John Whiting Award. NSFW premiered at The Royal Court Theatre in 2012, starring Janie Dee and Julian Barratt. Chimerica premiered at the Almeida Theatre in 2013 and subsequently transferred to the West End, earning Best New Play at the 2014 Olivier and Evening Standard Awards, as well as the Critics Circle Award and the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Recent work includes Mosquitoes (presented by special arrangement with Manhattan Theatre Club), which opened at The National Theatre, London, in summer 2017; and The Children, which premiered at The Royal Court Theatre, London, in 2016. The Children opened on Broadway in December 2017. Lucy also writes for screen: She has written for "Skins" (Company Pictures); created and wrote "The Smoke" (Kudos/Sky 1); wrote and directed the short film "The Briny"; and is developing projects with Raw TV, Cowboy Films, Clio Barnard, and Lenny Abrahamson. Her new six-part season "Adult Material" (Tiger Aspect Productions) and the mini-series of her play Chimerica (Playground Productions) have both recently been greenlit.

Jaclynn Jutting is an award-winning freelance director, working out of Nashville and Chicago. Directing credits include the The Wolves (Actors Bridge Ensemble), The Flick and The Whale (Verge Theater), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Nashville Shakespeare Festival), Sea Wall (OZ Arts), The Amish Project (Actors Bridge Ensemble/BU), the Jeff-nominated production of The Seagull (Eclectic), Love and Understanding (Redtwist), and Animals Out of Paper (Next Up/Steppenwolf Garage). She is the former Associate Artistic Director of Vitalist Theatre and previous head of the BFA-Directing program and Assistant Professor at Belmont University in Nashville, TN. She is the recipient of the First Night Outstanding Award for Direction in 2019 & 2018 for her direction of The Wolves, The Flick, and The Amish Project, which also received a KCACTF citation for Outstanding Direction. She is a teaching artist, who received her M.F.A. in Directing from Northwestern University.

Housed in what was once a small grocery store, steps from the Berwyn Red Line stop, and lead by an ensemble of 41 actors, directors, designers, writers, and other theatre artists, Steep is the quintessential storefront theatre. Described by Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune as "the most fearless theater in town," Steep creates powerful productions of plays by today's most exciting writers and features the work of Chicago's hottest theatre artists in an intimate, accessible space. Currently in its 19th season, Steep is known as a home for hard-hitting, finely tuned ensemble work. With each production, the company has shepherded a growing community of audiences and artists into bold new territories of story and performance.

Steep Theatre is conveniently located by the Berwyn Red Line stop and is within blocks of the #92, #36, #146, #147, and #151 buses.

General Admission Tickets: $27
Reserved Seat Tickets: $39
Access Tickets: $10 (Steep's universal discount for students, artists, whomever)
(773) 649-3186
www.steeptheatre.com

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