Taking Steps is set on a three floor building, with the attic, master bedroom and living room superimposed on one another.

At The Pines, a reputedly haunted house and former brothel, Elizabeth is planning on leaving her husband Roland. She has called on her brother, Mark, to comfort Roland when he finds her note. However Mark, a man whose monotone sends people to sleep, is preoccupied with the fact his fiancée, who jilted him at the altar, has been picked up for soliciting by the police. He brings her back to The Pines, puts her in the spare room in the attic and leaves again.

Roland is hoping to buy The Pines from a local builder, Bainbridge, and Tristram, a none-too-bright solicitor, arrives to complete the sale. A drunk Roland arrives home and reads Elizabeth's note and breaks down, imploring Tristram to stay the night. Tristram agrees and stays in the master bedroom while Roland sleeps in the attic. Kitty, interrupted writing a suicide note, hides in a cupboard and is trapped when Roland moves the bed across the door.

Elizabeth, meanwhile, has decided against her course of action and returns home and crawls into bed with, she presumes, Roland. She proceeds to seduce Roland - not realizing she is in bed with a terrified Tristram, who has heard of the house's ghost and believes he is being seduced by Scarlet Lucy (who, so the legend goes, will then kill him at daybreak after the seduction).

Dawn breaks and Tristram has more to fear from Mark, angry that he slept with his sister. Violence is prevented when the suicide note is discovered and mistakenly attributed to Roland. Believing he has overdosed, they try and keep him awake but Mark's voice sends Roland and Elizabeth to sleep. Tristram discovers Kitty and a mutual attraction. They fall asleep and are discovered by Mark, who again asks Tristram outside to sort matters out.

Bainbridge turns up, unrecognizable in biking leathers, and is mistaken for a burglar and is subdued by Elizabeth. Eventually all is resolved as Roland comes round and identifies Bainbridge and completes the sale. Roland celebrates and Tristram and Kitty leave together. Mark is left having bored himself to sleep and Elizabeth stands on the doorstep, another note in her hand. Will she stay or will she go?

Profiles (Production Crew) __________________________

Anna Antaramian (Director) has been a member of NEIU’s theatre faculty for the past eighteen years. She is the Managing and Artistic Director of the Stage Center Theatre and is a past president of the Illinois Theatre Association. She holds an MFA from New York University and has worked in various theatrical venues across the country, the most recent being the Rocky Mountain Repertory Theatre. Special thanks to H-S-A-N-T and, as always, Mr. McGuire.


Brandon Wardell .(Set Designer) is a freelance lighting and scenic designer, and earned an MFA from Northwestern University. Recent Lighting credits include The Blue House at Adventure Stage Chicago, How I Spent My Last Night On Earth with the Griffin, Jitney at Pegasus Players, Cloud Nine, Pippin, and Old Times at Northwestern University, as well as Archangels Don't Play Pinball, MiLK, and Buried Child. Scenic Design credits include The Prisoner's Dilemma with Theatre Mir, In A Dark Dark House at Profiles Theatre, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui at Steep Theatre, Letters Home, and West Side Story. Teaching credits include Northwestern University, Columbia College Chicago, and The University of Chicago

John Rodriguez (Lighting Designer) joined the theatre faculty at Northeastern four years ago and has been teaching courses in technical theatre as well as working as a designer on Stage Center productions. This past season he designed the lights for the four main stage productions: Mrs. Warren’s Profession, The Skin of Our Teeth, Private Eyes and Arcadia, and for Thymely Theater’s Stage Door.

Chad M. Lussier (Technical Director) is thrilled to be joining NEIU for the summer. Some of Chad’s notable work includes: Scenic Designer/Technical Director for the inaugural season of Festival 56, Master Electrician for Milwaukee Shakespeare’s production of Macbeth and Twelfth Night and the Assistant Technical Director of the Wilson Center in Brookfield, WI. Chad would like to thank his mother & father and his beautiful lady friend/fiancee Terra.

Ellen M Kozak (Costume Designer) having enjoyed reliving the 1930’s with Thymely’s production of Stage Door, Ellen is happy to return to the present for Taking Steps. Ellen’s design work has taken her from Adam & Eve to speculative visions of the future. She has designed for many theatre companies across the nation, including the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, GeVa Theatre in Rochester, New York, The Intiman in Seattle and Center Stage in Baltimore. Other design projects were for films, videos, conventions, industrials, cruise ships, mascots, and photography sessions. Ellen spent the past two years teaching students at UW-Milwaukee and Marquette. It has been fun seeing the next generation of theatre technicians in the making. Variety is the spice of life and theatre is certainly full of variety.

Kathy Smith (Assistant Costume Designer) is pleased to be working along side her dear friend and mentor, designer Ellen Kozak, for this production of Taking Steps. She has been designing and building costumes for Theatres throughout Wisconsin for many years. Theatre is Kathy’s first love but she also enjoys working as a Wardrobe Stylist for Television Commercials and Touring Shows.

Ellen Crabill (Stage Manager) taught kindergarten-eighth grade for 14 years while studying and performing theatre at night. She is now heading for a career change and will look forward to being a drama teacher somewhere in Chicago. She loves comedic sitcoms, her two chinchilla Persian cats and studying the life of Jesus. She wants to thank the ensemble and director for their extraordinary talent, which has inspired her to keep learning what life is like on the other side of the stage.

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