Joe Dempsey is so very glad to be back at Victory Gardens where he previously performed in Jonathan Wild and Half and Half. Recent shows include Pride and Porkopolis (The Second City at Cincinnati Playhouse), The Illusion at Court, and Around the World in Eighty Days at Kansas City Rep and Centerstage, Baltimore. Joe has also worked at Steppenwolf, The Goodman, Lookingglass, Remy Bumppo, Next, Chicago Shakespeare, Northlight, About Face, and others as an actor and a fight choreographer. Much thanks goes to Sandy and Joel for the job and Joe dedicates this show to his mom, Mary Catherine. Other than that, he doesn't know too much.

Steve Key (Tim) is thrilled to be working with Sandy and everyone else involved with Joel’s new play and is overjoyed by the fact that he’ll return next month for Circle Mirror Transformation. In February you can also catch him playing a Detective in an episode of Fox’s new series Chicago Code. Steve has performed at The Town Hall in Galway Ireland , The Public Theatre and Geva Theatre in NY, The Ahmanson Theatre in LA and The Kennedy Center in DC. In Chicago He’s worked with Victory Gardens Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Northlight Theatre, A Red Orchid Theatre, Remy Bumppo Theatre and Shattered Globe Theatre, where he’s a former Artistic Director. Steve’s also an ensemble member of American Blues Theatre, where he performs and designs for the stage. With a passion for new plays Steve is particularly grateful to be a guest at Victory Gardens Theatre and a small part of the vital contribution that Dennis, Sandy and the other artists of VG continuously make to the American Theatre. He has received 5 Jeff Awards and 5 nominations for Principal and Supporting Actor and Ensemble (equity and non-equity). Film: 1,000 Acres, Blackmail, Public Enemies, Salvaging, and Three Days. TV: Chicago Code, Law & Order: SVU, and Family Practice.

Allison Torem (Roann) feels fortunate to work on this world premiere with this creative team. She made her professional theatre debut at Profiles Theatre in Neal Labute’s In A Dark, Dark House. Allison is now a company member at Profiles Theatre, where other credits include Kid Sister and Great Falls. Allison just finished filming the independent film The Wise Kids and was recently seen in Trust at Lookingglass Theatre (Jeff Award Nomination for Actress in a Principle Role). She was also a member of the Second City Youth Ensemble for two years. Allison can next be seen in Steppenwolf Theatre’s production of Hot L Baltimore.

Mary Ann Thebus (Susan) has been active in Chicago area Stage, Film, and TV productions for over 20 years. She has performed on most off-Loop stages as well as at Goodman Theatre, Court Theatre, and Northlight Theatre, and has done stints in Wisconsin, California, and New York. Her last performance at Victory Gardens Theatre as in Four Places, also by Joel Drake Johnson and directed by Sandy Shinner. She was most recently seen in Next Theatre’s The Piano Teacher. She was a 2002 recipient of an After Dark Award, is a 10-time Jeff Award nominee, and is a teacher of acting both privately and at The Artistic Home.

Joel Drake Johnson (Playwright) is one of the newest members of Chicago ’s Victory Gardens Theater Playwrights Ensemble. His play, A Guide For The Perplexed, received a production at Victory Gardens in the summer of 2010. His earlier works at VG, Four Places, Before My Eyes, and The End of the Tour, were all Jeff-nominated for Best New Play, and each was directed by Sandy Shinner. Johnson has won three Illinois Arts Council grants including one for A Blue Moon, which was first produced at Chicago Dramatists and also Jeff-nominated for Best New Work. He got his start as a writer at Chicago ’s critically acclaimed Econo-Art Theater, which (under the leadership of Lynn Baber, Bard Reeder, and Marc Silvia) produced such plays as Beautiful Dreamer. His other plays include As the Beaver, first produced by Zebra Crossing, and The Fall to Earth (Rick Snyder, dir.) which premiered at Steppenwolf Theatre and featured Tony Award Winner Rondi Reed. It was subsequently produced at The Penguin Rep, directed by Joe Brancato and featuring Tony Award Winner Michelle Pawk. Steppenwolf later produced A Blameless Life (Anna Shapiro, dir.) and Tranquillity Woods (Sandy Shinner, dir.) as part of their 2005 and 2007 First Look Repertory. He has taught playwriting at Northwestern University, DePaul University, and Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire . He lives in Chicago and New Buffalo, Michigan. The Boys Room was originally part of Northlight Theatre’s Interplay and Steppenwolf Theatre’s First Look reading series. Johnson is a member of The Dramatists Guild and PEN America.

Sandy Shinner (Associate Artistic Director) has been with Victory Gardens for more than 30 years and, with Dennis Začek and Marcelle McVay, was honored to accept the 2001 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre on behalf of the theater. Most recently, she directed the world premiere of Joel Drake Johnson’s The Boys Room (marking her 6th collaboration with the playwright), and produced the inaugural IGNITION Festival which launched The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity by Kristoffer Diaz and Year Zero by Michael Golamco. Recently, she directed A Guide For The Perplexed by Joel Drake Johnson, Love Person by Aditi Brennan Kapil, Eurydice (with Jessica Thebus) by Sarah Ruhl for Victory Gardens and Flyovers by Jeffrey Sweet at New York ’s 78th Street Theatre Lab. Other recent projects include the world premieres of I Sailed with Magellan adapted by Claudia Allen from Stuart Dybek’s novel, Memory House by Kathleen Tolan (Actors Theatre of Louisville Humana Festival and VGT) and Trying by Joanna McClelland Glass, which transferred from Victory Gardens to off-Broadway’s Promenade Theatre. She directed the world premiere of Jeffrey Sweet’s Bluff at Victory Gardens as well as at the 78th Street Theatre Lab in New York and Phoenix Theatre. Ms. Shinner is a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographs and was a finalist for the Joe A. Callaway Director’s Award for the New York production of Trying. She is an editor of Victory Gardens Presents: Seven Plays from the Playwrights Ensemble, which was published by Northwestern University Press. She has been an adjunct professor at DePaul where she directed the world premiere of The Civic by Patrick McLean last season.