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<P style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" align=center><B><FONT
face=Georgia><FONT color=#232323><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">none too fragile’s
‘A Steady Rain’</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "> is a
washout</SPAN></FONT></FONT></B></P>
<P style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "><FONT color=#232323
face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
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align=center><SPAN
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face=Georgia>Bob Abelman</FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'></SPAN></P>
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align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style='BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt; FONT-FAMILY: ; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt; COLOR: ; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in'><FONT
face=Georgia>Cleveland Jewish News, The News Herald, The Morning
Journal</FONT></SPAN></I><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'></SPAN></P>
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align=center><SPAN
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face=Georgia>Member, International Association of Theatre
Critics</FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'></SPAN></P>
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face="Times New Roman"></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "><FONT face=Georgia><FONT color=#333333>Any play
penned by “House of Cards” and “Mad Men” writer Keith Huff is bound to be an
intense, testosterone-soaked exploration into the male psyche.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "><FONT color=#333333
face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "><FONT face=Georgia><FONT color=#333333>And “A
Steady Rain,” a one-act two-hander whose 2009 Broadway incarnation starred
action film attractions Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman, most certainly
is.</FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "><FONT color=#333333
face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Georgia><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "><FONT color=#333333>The play, currently on stage
at none too fragile, features two childhood friends who become Chicago
cops.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Denny is impulsive, explosive
and corrupt to the core.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Joey is a
recovering alcoholic who carries and covers for his out-of-control best friend
while falling in love with his wife, two small children, and the stability they
represent.</FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin"><FONT
color=#222222> As the steady rain escalates, so too do their errors in judgement
and the tension between them.</FONT></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "><FONT color=#333333
face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Georgia><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "><FONT color=#333333>The script consists of
alternating monologues that recount past events laced with in-the-moment
</FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin"><FONT
color=#222222>dialogue, all of which takes itself as stone-cold seriously,
possesses the same urgency and flows with the same gritty poetry as a classic
piece of film noire storytelling.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN></FONT></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin"><FONT
color=#222222 face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin"><FONT
color=#222222 face=Georgia>Director Robert Ellis strips the production down to a
bare performance space with only two black chairs, which reflects the emptiness
in the characters’ lives and places all our attention on the words and their
delivery.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>He provides scattered
pools of light through which the actors walk in and out as they pace the stage
in quiet desperation.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And he hires
the wrong actor to play Denny.</FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "></SPAN></P>
<P style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "><FONT color=#333333
face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
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face=Georgia><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style='BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt; FONT-FAMILY: ; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt; COLOR: ; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in'>For
more of this article, go to </SPAN></I><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style='BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt; FONT-FAMILY: ; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt; COLOR: ; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in'><FONT
color=#0000ff>www.clevelandjewishnews.com/columnists/</FONT></SPAN></I><I
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