The Secret of Steep Ravines (2002)

conceived and directed by Rachel Dickstein, developed with and written by Barbara Wiechmann

Set Design by Sarah Edkins
Lighting Design by Tyler Micoleau
Costume Design by Ilona Somogyi
Sound and Music By Katie Down
Dramaturgy by Emily Morse

An old house full of secrets. A girl hungry with curiousity. Through the keyhole, we watch as her imagination unleashes a fury of dreams and questions, creating a surreal carnival that entrances and betrays.  A visceral new theatre work driven by powerful physicality and vivid imagery.

Developed in collaboration with the ensemble: Victoria Boomsma, Genna Brocone, Dion Doulis, Patrick Lacey, Erika Latta, David Natale, Julia Prud’homme, and Kameron Steele

World premiere: Performance Space 122, New York City. Developed in workshop at the Ohio Theatre, the Clark Studio Theatre at Lincoln Center, the Ko Festival of Performance, and New Georges. (All Gallery images from PS 122 premiere.)

“The Secret of Steep Ravines” is a dark, dreamlike return to the spirit of the Great Depression . . . an evocative visit to a place in the past that exists in the imagination.”
- Robin Eisgrau, offoffoff.com

“[The Secret of Steep Ravines] exploits the theater’s unique capacity to engage reality and fantasy at the same time, to make pretty stage pictures by morphing everyday objects or gestures into abstractions, and to let language slide into movement and back again.”
– Alisa Solomon, The Village Voice

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