Steep Theatre Joins Naked Angels To Present Earthsiege: Commence

Steep Theatre Company and the New York-based Naked Angels will be teaming up this fall to
workshop a new play by playwright Sarah Burgess titled Earthsiege: Commence. The week-long project will culminate in two public staged readings of the script at Chicago's Steep Theatre on Tuesday, November 15th and Wednesday, November 16th.

Naked Angels' Artistic Director Andy Donald will direct the reading which will feature Steep ensemble members Caroline Neff, Julia Siple, and Peter Moore. This project marks the first collaboration between the nationally esteemed New York company and Steep, which has quickly become one of the most acclaimed voices in Chicago theater.

Chelsea Doors - under house arrest, trapped in a two-room apartment with her dad, with nothing at her disposal except the Internet and a phone and a box of Clif bars - is about to take over the world. Earthsiege: Commence is a modern day thriller for the stage, mixing elements of a Hitchcock potboiler with a searing character study of a lost soul determined to connect with
humanity... by destroying it.

"We're beyond excited that Sarah's wildly adventurous, gonzo play is our company's first chance to dip our toe into the Chicago theater scene," says Naked Angels Artistic Director and Earthsiege director Andy Donald. "There's also something about her writing that cries out for a mighty Chicago ensemble, and our friends at Steep Theatre seem like a perfect fit. We hope this
brief workshop sparks many dual-city collaborations between our companies in the very near future."

"We've admired Naked Angels' body of work for quite some time," adds Steep Artistic Director Peter Moore. "The initial prospect of collaborating with them on a new piece was exciting enough; when we were introduced to Sarah's script, which is an incredibly fearless exploration of some very treacherous territory, well, we were chomping at the bit to get to work and we're thrilled by the possibilities of this new partnership." Earthsiege: Commence has been developed with Naked Angels for the past two seasons and this workshop with Steep also marks its debut in the company's ongoing Angels in Progress development series.

Sarah Burgess is a New York-based playwright whose other titles include The Tenant (Woodshed Collective) and FAIL: Failures (ANT Fest Oct. 2010). She writes for Naked Radio (Naked Angels, 2009 - present) and The Living Newspaper (Oberon @ A.R.T, Joe's Pub, 2010). Sarah's screenwriting credits include Five Difficult Situations (2007 Crown Point Festival), Nate (2005 Coca-Cola Refreshing Filmmaker's Award finalist), These Things Happen (2004 Malcolm Ross
Memorial Film Production Award) and Ezekiel's Revelation (2007 First Run Film Festival Screenwriting Award). BFA NYU Film - 2007 Faculty Commendation for Body of Work.
Director Andy Donald is currently the Artistic Director of Naked Angels, where his latest producing credits include Next Fall (Broadway, Tony Nomination), This Wide Night (with Edie Falco and Alison Pill), Naked Radio (weekly podcast), Oh the Horror!, Armed and Naked in America, A Long and Happy Life (upcoming), Outside People (upcoming, co-production with
Vineyard Theatre) and Home Front (upcoming). Directing credits include Movie Geek, Two Girls for Five Bucks, and FAIL: Failures (all at Ars Nova); LOST: How a Certain TV Mega-Hunk Stole My Identity (FringeNYC, 2007); Earthsiege: Commence and The Man From Saigon (both upcoming at Naked Angels). He also served as producing associate at NYSF/Public Theater and Second Stage Theatre, in pilot development at ABC and HBO, and as Artistic Director of the Charlie B.
Theater Company for four seasons (Los Angeles). Education: BFA, NYU/Tisch; MFA, Columbia University, recipient of the Barbara Whitman Prize for Theatre Management & Producing.

Since 1986, Naked Angels has been committed to strengthening a community of artists through the development and production of provocative new work. The company has played a role in developing critically acclaimed new plays including The Substance of Fire, Side Man, Tape, Fault Lines, This Wide Night (US premiere) and most recently the Tony Award-nominated Next Fall and Zayd Dohrn's Outside People. From New York to LA, the company generates fresh voices
and inspires artists to create new work through its popular Tuesdays@9 (cold readings of plays, screenplays, stories and music in early development), 1st Mondays (public readings of new plays), and Angels in Progress series (weeklong workshops). The company's newest venture, Naked Radio, brings the work of talented new writers from the stage to the digital airwaves through
weekly blogs and podcasts. Naked Angels is led by Andy Donald (Artistic Director) and Renee Blinkwolt (Managing Director).

Steep Theatre has become known as a home for hard-hitting, finely tuned ensemble work. With each production, the company has shepherded a growing community of audiences and stakeholders into bold new territories of story and performance. Over the years, Steep productions have been named to TimeOut Chicago's Top Ten Shows of the Year list four times, the Tribune's Top Ten List once, the Tribune's Best of the Fringe list twice, and WBEZ's Top Ten Shows of the Decade. In five years of Jeff Eligibility, Steep has received 10 Jeff Nominations and has won the 2009 Jeff Award for Best Ensemble (In Arabia We'd All Be Kings), the 2010 Jeff Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, and the 2011 Jeff Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role.

Steep was named the 2010 Broadway in Chicago Emerging Theatre Award Winner.
Staged readings of Earthsiege: Commence will be held on Tuesday, November 15th and Wednesday, November 16th at 8 pm. Seating is limited and reservations for the free event are highly recommended. They can be made by emailing nakedsteep@gmail.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.

WHERE: Steep Theatre
1115 West Berwyn, Chicago, IL 60640
WHEN: Tuesday, November 15th, 8 pm
Wednedsay, November 16th, 8 pm
BOX OFFICE:
Email nakedsteep@gmail.com to make reservations for this free event.
Seating is limited.
WEBSITE: www.steeptheatre.com

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