![Hudson Theatre Works Presents NJ Premiere Of "A Steady Rain"](https://www.newjerseystage.com/events2016/ASteadyRain.jpg "Hudson Theatre Works Presents NJ Premiere Of "A Steady Rain"")
(WEEHAWKEN, NJ) -- Joey and Denny have been best friends since kindergarten. After working together for several years as policemen in Chicago, they are practically family. But when a domestic disturbance call takes a turn for the worse, their friendship is put on the line. The result is a difficult journey into a moral gray area where trust and loyalty struggle for survival against a sobering backdrop of criminal lowlifes. That's the basis behind A Steady Rain by Keith Huff, which will be presented by Hudson Theatre Works May 5-22.
A dark duologue filled with sharp storytelling and biting repartee. A Steady Rain explores the complexities of a lifelong bond tainted by domestic affairs, violence and the rough streets of Chicago. The production stars Charles F. Wagner IV and Greg Erbach, and is directed by Frank Licato.
Performances take place at the Historic Weehawken Water Tower, 4100 Park Avenue, Weehawken, NJ. Shows are on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights at 8:00pm and Sundays at 7:00pm. Tickets are $20. Tickets for senior citizens and students with student ID are $15.
Hudson Theatre Works is a new member of the New Jersey Theater Alliance and nominated for the 2015 New Jersey Stage Award as one of the "Best Places to See a World Premiere". Hudson Theatre Works is a not for profit, equity theatre committed to ensemble collaboration as well as artistic risk through its work with its permanent company, guest artists, partner institutions and the surrounding community. It is dedicated to a rugged aesthetic and seeks to tell stories, both new and old, classic and contemporary, which reflect our lives, relationships and the world today. Past productions have included Of Mice and Men, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the world premiere play 3 Men which won Best Non Fiction piece at this years' Solo Fest, the New Jersey Premiere of Neil Labute's Bash and last year’s world premiere of Jackson Is Gone by New Jersey State Council on the Arts winner Joanne Hoersch. The company operates out of two venues, the theater at Weehawken High School and the intimate Weehawken Water Tower.
About the cast and creative:
KEITH HUFF (Playwright) has an MFA from the University of Iowa's Playwright's Workshop and is the recipient of a Jeff Award, a Drama-Logue Award, the Cunningham Prize, the John Gassner Award, the Berrilla Kerr Award, and three Illinois Arts Council Playwriting Fellowships. He has developed plays at O'Neill Theatre Center National Playwrights Conference, The Public Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, New York Stage and Film, Steppenwolf, Berkeley Rep, Victory Gardens, The Eureka Theatre, Studio Arena Theatre, Wooly Mammoth, Eye of the Storm, Echo Theatre, Act One/Showtime, Alice's 4th Floor, Florida Studio Theatre, WordBridge Playwrights Laboratory, and Midwest PlayLabs. His plays have been produced Off-Broadway, internationally, and nationally. Recent productions include the sold-out Broadway run of "A Steady Rain" featuring Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman, the critically acclaimed smash hit "The Bird and Mr. Banks" at the Road Theater in LA, Pursued By Happiness at Steppenwolf Theater First-Look Festival, Gray City at American Repertory Theater, Dog Stories at Stageworks/Hudson, Deep Blue Sea with CollaborAction at Steppenwolf, Harry's Way and Prosperity at Riverside Theater, and The Age of Cynicism or Karaoke Night at The Hog at Chicago Dramatists and Bloomington Playwrights Project. Keith is currently adapting A Steady Rain for film, developing a Chicago-based series The Brothers Buczakowski for HBO, and a Co-Producer for AMC's Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning series Mad Men.
CHARLES F. WAGNER IV (DENNY) was most recently seen in the sold out Off-broadway run of The Great Society. His regional credits include, Lt. Col. Jessep in A Few Good Men at Flatrock Playhouse and over the last 13 summers with the Carolinian Shakespeare Festival doing several great roles including Bottom in A Midsummer Nights Dream, Claudius in Hamlet and Toby Belch inTwelfth Night. He has appeared on TV in A Perfect Murder, A Crime to Remember, Evil, I and Extinction: the G.M.O. Chronicles. He can also be seen and heard regularly in commercials and voiceovers. Chuck Has studied in New York at the Playwrights Horizons Theater School, H.B. Studios and the Weist Barron School of Film and Television. He is a member of the Alliance Theater Rep. in N.J.
GREG ERBACH (JOEY) was last seen as Lenny Smalls in Hudson Theatre Works Of Mice And Men. Vice president and Producing Director of HTW, he co-founded the company with Artistic Director Frank Licato and former board president Karen Brady in 2011. He has produced every main stage HTW show since the theater's inception. He played Terry Malloy in the Northeast's premier of Budd Shulberg's "On the Waterfront" at the Renegade Theatre in Hoboken, prior to its arrival on Broadway. He played Art Kroeger in the critically acclaimed "Shannon Doyle Incident" at the Samuel Beckett on Theatre row. A native of Hudson County hehas been working on and off the stage in professional theatre for over 30 years. Currently the Assistant Electrical Construction Boss at the Metropolitan Opera House, he has been an actor, stage manager, producer, carpenter, electrician and technical director for hundreds of productions at venues such as the American Place Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, The Weston Playhouse, The American Jewish Theatre, The John Houseman and The Equity Library Theatre. He was the technical director for John Leguizamo's first two Broadway Video productions Mambo Mouth and Spic-O-Rama for HBO.. He was been on the Board of Directors of the Park Performing Arts Center since the boards inception in 1999 till he left the board in 2010 to work on starting this company.
FRANK LICATO (Director) is Artistic Director of Hudson Theatre Works where he recently directed Of Mice and Men, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the world premiere of 3 Men by Mike Folie, BASH by Neil Labute and the world premiere of Jackson Is Gone by Joanne Hoersch. He has worked with such theatre luminaries as Joseph Chaiken, Peter Brook and Robert Brustein. As a director he received an Applause Award from the New Jersey Theatre Alliance and a Perry Award for Best Director for The Grapes of Wrath at the Chatham Playhouse. He was named Best Director by the Off-Broadway revue for his production of Sam Shepard’s Seduced. His production of Neil Labute’s The Shape of Things was selected as a regional finalist in the Kennedy Center’s American College Theatre Festival. His production of Robert Clem's Fever was voted a top 10 show at the 2001 New York International Fringe Festival and his production of On the Waterfront was made into the award winning documentary, Waiting for Budd. He is a member of the Actors Studio Playwright and Director Unit and Director’s Unit.
