Dancers Find Their Footing in 'Stepping Out'

In Stepping Out, the new play from the Hudson Theatre Ensemble, eight amateur tap dancers step on one another's toes—and not just because most of them have two left feet.

The play is set entirely in a dance studio, but the story reveals the characters' personal lives, some of which are filled with secret sadness and frustration. As the characters come closer together those problems are thrust to the front and cause a series of clashes that threaten the troupe's performance at a special concert. The dancers have to reconcile and rally in time.

“It's about making connections with others,” said Laurie Brongo, the show's director. “The characters come to a weekly tap class, hoping to relieve the pressures of their daily lives. They are delicate and flawed but ultimately resilient, and they find the support they need in each other.”

Stepping Out was written by British author Richard Harris in 1984 and premiered in London before crossing to Broadway. The Hudson Theatre Ensemble's two-week production opened Friday night at the company's home stage inside the at 601 Park Ave.

The cast features Cristina Marie, whose credits include the shows Ugly Betty, Rescue Me and Mad Men, as the encouraging but distracted class instructor Mavis; Florence Pape, the Hudson Theatre Ensemble's Director of Development who plays the meddlesome but well-meaning busybody Vera; Hudson Theatre Ensemble regulars Iloire Blanos, Laura DiCerto, Dinah Gravel, Gregory Nye and Emma Peele; and newcomers to the company Krystina Bailey, Jennifer Meyers and Jill Sullivan.

Brongo said over half of the actors had little to no experience with tap dancing before the play. But that did not dissuade her from casting the actors she thought were right for the parts. For some of the actors, that inexperience might have even helped them relate better to their novice dancer characters.

“Knowing how to tap dance was certainly a consideration, but it was more important finding people who could realistically portray the characters,” she said.

The play does have several comedic moments, especially featuring the characters played by Gravel, Bailey and Sullivan, and when the women in the class make fun of the sole male dancer, played by Nye.

The show is divided into two acts separated by an intermission. Though there is dancing throughout, the show closes with two big and visually stimulating numbers that finally give the actors a chance to impress the audience.

“It’s a celebration of perseverance and friendship,” Brongo said about the play and its ending. “There’s great joy in seeing people work together to overcome obstacles, and I’d like to think that, on some level, it also encourages one to dare to try something new.”

Stepping Out will run again tonight at 8 p.m. and at the same time April 20 and 21. There are also 3 p.m. matinees on April 15 and 22. General admission tickets are $18; $15 for students and seniors. For more information, visit the Hudson Theatre Ensemble website.