HOME IS WHERE THE FIRE STARTS

Steep Theatre opens its new home
with the U.S. premiere of
Simon Stephens’ post-apocalyptic drama

What use is hope after the world has ended? That question sits at the center of A Slow Fire, the newest play by Tony and Olivier Award winner Simon Stephens, which will receive its U.S. premiere when Steep Theatre opens its new Chicago home in January.

Ashton and Reece have survived an unspecified catastrophe and taken refuge in a converted storage unit. Their former lives could hardly have been more different: Ashton was a university professor; Reece was a porter. Now they spend their days reenacting moments from their past, deliberately searching their memories for instances of hope. Then a stranger arrives, bringing a generator, fresh meat, and a gun, and the little world Ashton and Reece have constructed is suddenly put to the test.

A Slow Fire premiered at Dublin’s Glass Mask Theatre in January 2026 before receiving its London premiere at Jermyn Street Theatre in August. Those productions prompted comparisons with Beckett, particularly Waiting for Godot and Endgame.

Chicago will not simply receive a transfer of either earlier staging. Steep ensemble member Robin Witt directs a new production featuring Nate Faust, Peter Moore, Melissa Riemer, and Omer Abbas Salem. Witt has a particularly deep history with Stephens: A Slow Fire will be the seventh of his plays she has worked on at Steep. Previous collaborations include Light Falls and Harper Regan.

Stephens himself has been associated with Steep since 2013. His plays include Heisenberg, Punk Rock, Three Kingdoms, Sea Wall, Birdland, Harper Regan, and On the Shore of the Wide World. He is perhaps best known in the U.S. for his Tony- and Olivier-winning stage adaptation of Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

For Steep, the production also marks the end of a long period without a permanent stage. Its new theater at 1044 W. Berwyn Ave. returns the company to a full production calendar. The space was developed with Civic Projects Architecture, Norcon, Inc., and theater consultants CharcoalBlue, with more than $3.8 million in grant funding from the City of Chicago among the support for the project.

Witt’s creative team includes Sotirios Livaditis (scenic design), Brandon Wardell (lighting), Sally Dolembo (costumes), Thomas Dixon (sound), and Spencer Diaz Tootle (props).

After years without a permanent stage, Steep is back home. Opening it with a new Simon Stephens play directed by Robin Witt feels less like a fresh introduction than the resumption of a conversation interrupted.

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A Slow Fire
Steep Theatre
Steep Theatre, 1044 W. Berwyn Ave. in Chicago
Thurs.–Sat. 7:30; Sun. 3
Jan. 22-Feb. 28, 2027
for tickets, call 773.649.3186 or visit Steep Theatre

for more shows, visit Theatre in Chicago
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