A Steady Rain

A Steady Rain
Poster for the Broadway production
Written by	Keith Huff
Date premiered	2007
Place premiered	Chicago Dramatists
Original language	English
Subject	Two policemen must deal with the circumstances arising from a deadly error in judgment
Genre	Drama

A Steady Rain is a play by Keith Huff. With a plot similar to a real-life event involving Jeffrey Dahmer, it focuses on two Chicago policemen who inadvertently return a Vietnamese boy to a cannibalistic serial killer who claims to be the child's uncle. When he later becomes the man's latest victim, the lifelong friendship of the two men is threatened when it becomes clear someone must bear responsibility for their egregious failure to assess the situation accurately. The play alternates between two separate monologues and present-moment dialogue scenes.

Following readings in New York City and Los Angeles, A Steady Rain was staged by Chicago Dramatists in 2007. It opened on Broadway in September 2009.

Chicago police officers Joey and Denny are longtime partners and best friends. Joey is single and lonely, and Denny is married with children; but both men have flaws and serious problems. Introverted Joey struggles with a drinking problem and secretly loves Denny's wife, Connie; angry tough-guy Denny can barely disguise his racism and cheats on Connie with a prostitute on his beat.

The two men offer contrasting descriptions to Internal Affairs interrogators of their harrowing experiences. They relate how Walter Lorenz, a pimp that Denny has harassed over the years, shoots a bullet through Denny's front window, causing flying glass to sever an artery in Denny's son's neck. Denny pursues Lorenz relentlessly, drawing Joey into a series of dangerous and incriminating activities. During a domestic disturbance call, the two return a frightened Vietnamese boy to a man who says he is the boy's uncle. The uncle turns out to be a cannibalistic serial killer, who eats the boy.

A Steady Rain initially was produced by Chicago Dramatists in 2007 and then at the Royal George Theatre in Chicago in February 2008. It won the Joseph Jefferson Awards for Best New Work, Best Actor for Randy Steinmeyer, and Best Production.

Following a number of staged and table readings and an off-Broadway workshop production, the play began previews at the Schoenfeld Theatre on September 10, 2009 and opened officially on September 29. The 12-week engagement closed on December 6. Directed by John Crowley, it starred Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig, making his Broadway debut. Set and costume design was by Scott Pask, with lighting design by Hugh Vanstone. The producers announced that the show had broken the record for the highest weekly gross of a non-musical production on Broadway, with a weekly gross of $1,167,954 for the week ending September 20, 2009.