Photo Flash: First Look at HINTER at Steep Theatre

Company Member Brad DeFabo Akin returns to Steep to direct the world premiere of Calamity West's Hinter, which was commissioned by Steep Theatre. West has quickly emerged as an important Chicago playwright, with recent acclaimed productions of her works Rolling (Jackalope Theatre) and Give It All Back (Sideshow Theatre). Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune dubbed West "the real deal" and "one of this city's most exciting new voices." DeFabo Akin has delivered notable Steep productions including strangers, babies, Book of Days, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, and 2016's The Few.

Check out a first look at the show below!

Whispers and rumors had been swirling around the Gruber family farm long before the bodies were discovered on that cold April day. It's 1922, and a remote community in Bavaria is reeling in the aftermath of World War I: gender roles are shifting, a generation gap is emerging, and farmers are battling poverty in the shadow of a growing urban Intelligentsia. Inspired by a chilling and true unsolved crime, Hinter is a darkly comic thriller by one of Chicago's most exciting new playwrights.

Hinter will feature Aurora Adachi-Winter, Lauren Sivak, Sasha Smith, Sigrid Sutter, Nate Whelden, Eunice Woods, and Steep Company Members Alex Gillmor, Peter Moore, Jim Poole, and Melissa Riemer.

Calamity West is a Chicago-based, Kilroys-cited, award-winning playwright. Her play Hinter, is scheduled for its world premiere at Steep Theatre Company in the winter of 2018. Her newest play In the Canyon is currently in development at Jackalope Theater Company, and she recently joined TimeLine Theatre Company's Playwrights Collective where she will be in residency for the next two years. Other full-length plays by Ms. West include: Tony Kushner Considers Writing A Gay Fantasia Based On National Themes (2017), Rolling (2016); Give It All Back (Kilroy-cited 2015); Ibsen is Dead (2014); The Peacock (2013, Kilroys honorable mention); The Gacy Play (2012); and Common Hatred (2012). Calamity is a company member of Jackalope Theatre Company and an artistic associate of Sideshow Theatre Company. She teaches playwriting at the University of Chicago and is represented by The Gersh Agency.

Hinter marks the eighth show Brad DeFabo Akin has directed at Steep, where he's been an ensemble member since 2005. Past Steep directing credits: Book of Days, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Insignificance, Greensboro: A Requiem, Under the Blue Sky, strangers, babies, and The Few. Outside of Steep, his Chicago directing credits include: The Orchestra (Akvavit Theatre), Crimes of the Heart (Step Up Productions), Edgar & Annabel (Poor Theatre), The Revenants (WildClaw Theatre), OOHRAH! (LiveWire Theatre), and Where We're Born (Steppenwolf Garage). Brad served as Steep's Literary Manager for 11 years, helping to cultivate the company's relationship with new playwrights, developing relationships with MFA playwriting programs, and supporting the development of three world premieres at Steep - including Calamity West's Hinter. He currently serves as the Executive Director of Step Up Chicago Playwrights, where he supports the work of local playwrights in telling the story of our city. Brad also has the honor of teaching North Carolina's best and brightest young minds every summer, as part of their Governor's School program.

Housed in what was once a small grocery store steps from the Berwyn Red Line stop, and lead by an ensemble of 34 actors, directors, designers, writers, and other theatre artists, Steep is the quintessential storefront theatre. Described by Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune as "a storefront theater known for the power of its acting," 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 17th 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.

Photo Credit: Lee Miller

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