Steppenwolf Theatre Company Announces 2009-2010 Subscription Season:
Fake a new play written and directed by ensemble member Eric Simonson featuring ensemble members Kate Arrington, Francis Guinan and Alan Wilder
American Buffalo by David Mamet, directed by ensemble member Amy Morton featuring ensemble members Francis Guinan and Tracy Letts
The Brother/Sister Plays by Tarell Alvin McCraney, directed by ensemble member Tina Landau featuring ensemble members Alana Arenas and Jon Michael Hill
Endgame by Samuel Beckett, directed by ensemble member Frank Galati featuring ensemble members Ian Barford, Francis Guinan, William Petersen and Rondi Reed
A Parallelogram a new play by Bruce Norris, directed by ensemble member Anna D. Shapiro featuring ensemble member Kate Arrington
Steppenwolf 2009-2010 Subscribers To Receive Pre-Sale Ticket Offer for National Touring Company of August: Osage County
CHICAGO (February 3, 2009) – Steppenwolf Theatre Company is excited to announce its 2009-2010 Subscription Season, exploring the theme of belief. Season subscriptions go on-sale to the public on Tuesday, February 3 at 11 a.m.
Steppenwolf ensemble members currently confirmed for the 2009-2010 Season include: Alana Arenas, Kate Arrington, Ian Barford, Frank Galati, Jon Michael Hill, Francis Guinan, Tina Landau, Tracy Letts, Amy Morton, William Petersen, Rondi Reed, Anna D. Shapiro, Eric Simonson and Alan Wilder. Additional casting to be announced.
“Steppenwolf dedicates its 2009-2010 season to the power of belief and how it illuminates what’s authentic in our lives,” comments Artistic Director Martha Lavey. “We present three new plays and two classic plays from the canon of American and world drama that look at how the power of belief can corrupt, delude, nourish or empower us. They examine domestic intimacy, they question historical accuracy, they puzzle existential reach. They ask us to look at what happens when we take a leap of faith and choose to believe,” adds Lavey.
Subscription Series packages start at $130. Dinner/Theatre and Wine Series packages are also available. To purchase a 2009-2010 subscription, contact Audience Services at 1650 N. Halsted, (312) 335-1650 or visit www.steppenwolf.org.
Additionally, Steppenwolf 2009-2010 subscribers will receive a pre-sale ticket offer for the national touring company of August: Osage County, playing a limited two week engagement February 2 – 14, 2010 at Chicago’s Ford Center for the Performing Arts, Oriental Theatre. August: Osage County, by ensemble member Tracy Letts, directed by ensemble member Anna D. Shapiro, premiered at Steppenwolf in 2007 and received the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and five 2008 Tony® Awards including Best Play. The pre-sale ticket offer for Steppenwolf 2009-2010 subscribers ends Friday, May 1, 2009. The Steppenwolf Theatre Company 2009-2010 Subscription Season includes:
September 10 – November 8, 2009 Fake A new play written and directed by ensemble member Eric Simonson Featuring ensemble members Kate Arrington, Francis Guinan and Alan Wilder In the Steppenwolf Downstairs Theatre
In 1914, renowned mystery writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle invites four guests to his English country home. Each visitor has a connection to the infamous “Piltdown Man,” purported to be the missing link between ape and man-later exposed as a hoax. Swinging back and forth through time, Fake investigates how “Piltdown” rattled assumptions about evolution, faith and science-and how we are transformed by our quest for the truth.
Ensemble member Eric Simonson recently completed a documentary on the late Studs Terkel for HBO. Simonson received a Tony® nomination for his direction of Steppenwolf’s The Song of Jacob Zulu with Ladysmith Black Mambazo and directed an Oscar®-nominated documentary about the acclaimed South African singing group. Simonson received an Oscar® for Best Documentary Short for his film A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin in 2006. Other directing credits at Steppenwolf include Carter’s Way (also playwright), Slaughterhouse-Five (also adaptor) and Nomathemba (Hope).
December 3, 2009 – February 7, 2010 American Buffalo By David Mamet Directed by ensemble member Amy Morton Featuring ensemble members Francis Guinan and Tracy Letts In the Steppenwolf Downstairs Theatre
In a cluttered, run-down Chicago junk shop, three small-time crooks plot to steal a valuable buffalo nickel. As the heist unravels, the men’s frustration and paranoia intensify. Ensemble member Amy Morton directs this groundbreaking American play that weaves humor and menace throughout an emotionally charged struggle for identity and dominance.
World-renowned playwright and Chicago-area native David Mamet has a successful writing and directing career in theatre, film and television. Steppenwolf has produced Mamet’s productions of The Water Engine and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Glengarry Glen Ross (also directed by ensemble member Amy Morton). Amy Morton received a 2008 Best Actress Tony® nomination for Steppenwolf’s August: Osage County on Broadway. Steppenwolf directing credits include Dublin Carol, The Weir, The Pillowman, Love-Lies-Bleeding (also Kennedy Center) and Glengarry Glen Ross (also Dublin and Toronto).
January 21 – May 23, 2010 The Brother/Sister Plays: In the Red and Brown Water, The Brothers Size and Marcus; Or the Secret of Sweet By Tarell Alvin McCraney Directed by ensemble member Tina Landau Featuring ensemble members Alana Arenas and Jon Michael Hill In the Steppenwolf Upstairs Theatre
A breakthrough theatrical event: three interconnected plays by a brilliant new American voice. Grand in scope, yet intimate and heartfelt, Tarell McCraney’s plays are daring, funny and genuine.
On the banks of a steamy bayou, the tiny community of San Pere, Louisiana springs to life with stories of love, sexuality and coming-of-age. Influenced by lively Afro-Caribbean folklore, The Brother/Sister Plays explore the struggles that arise when the quest for self identity is at odds with community values.
Presented in two separate programs, these three plays can easily be enjoyed independently, but gain a special resonance when experienced in collection. Steppenwolf will present the plays in repertory, with In the Red and Brown Water on one night in alternation with The Brothers Size and Marcus on another. Subscriptions will include one of these engaging programs, and subscribers will be given an exclusive opportunity to purchase tickets to the other before the general public.
Tarell Alvin McCraney and ensemble member Tina Landau have collaborated on five productions, including In the Red and Brown Water at New Jersey’s McCarter Theatre Center. The Brother/Sister Plays have also been presented individually in New York and London. McCraney’s hit play Wig Out! premiered at New York’s Vineyard Theater (directed by Landau) and was later presented at London’s Royal Court Theatre. McCraney also appeared in Landau’s Theatrical Essays at Steppenwolf. Tina Landau is directing The Tempest during Steppenwolf’s 2008-2009 season. Other Steppenwolf directing credits include Superior Donuts by ensemble member Tracy Letts, The Diary of Anne Frank, Cherry Orchard, The Time of Your Life (also Seattle Rep, A.C.T.), The Berlin Circle and her own play, Space (also NY’s Public Theater, Mark Taper Forum).
April 1 – June 6, 2010 Endgame By Samuel Beckett Directed by ensemble member Frank Galati Featuring ensemble members Ian Barford, Francis Guinan, William Petersen and Rondi Reed In the Steppenwolf Downstairs Theatre
Beckett’s absurd comic masterpiece follows Hamm, a blind man unable to stand, and his servant Clov, who is unable to sit, as they pass their days in a tiny house by the sea-if the sea still exists. Pestered by Hamm’s parents, they move through their daily rituals, awaiting the end of everything. A powerful all-ensemble cast anchors this profound exploration of the stories we construct to make sense of our lives.
Nobel Prize-winning playwright Samuel Beckett is the author of more than 25 plays and novels including Waiting for Godot, Happy Days and Krapp’s Last Tape, produced at Steppenwolf in 1978. An adaptor and director, as well as an actor, Tony® Award-winner Frank Galati’s Steppenwolf credits include Kafka on the Shore, after the quake and The Grapes of Wrath among others. Broadway directing credits include Ragtime and The Grapes of Wrath, and he appears as Prospero this spring in Steppenwolf’s production of The Tempest.
July 1 – August 29, 2010 A Parallelogram A new play by Bruce Norris Directed by ensemble member Anna D. Shapiro Featuring ensemble member Kate Arrington In the Steppenwolf Downstairs Theatre
If you knew your fate-would you accept it? Or try to change it? Bee is a young woman who believes she has an uncanny ability to see the future, and maybe even alter it. From the playwright and Tony Award®-winning director who brought you The Unmentionables and The Pain and the Itch comes this dark, funny world premiere about a woman bent on reinventing her own destiny-and possibly the world.
Bruce Norris has on ongoing collaboration with Steppenwolf where his plays The Unmentionables, The Pain and the Itch, We All Went Down to Amsterdam, The Infidel and Purple Heart (also in Galway, Ireland) were commissioned and produced. Anna D. Shapiro won a 2008 Tony® Award for her direction of Steppenwolf’s critically-acclaimed production of August: Osage County, currently playing on Broadway. Other Steppenwolf directing credits include the 2008-2009 season production of Up as well as Three Days of Rain, Drawer Boy, I Never Sang for My Father and Man from Nebraska. She is also head of the Graduate Directing Program at Northwestern University.
Free post-show discussions are offered after every performance in the subscription season. Committed to the principle of ensemble performance through the collaboration of a company of actors, directors and playwrights, Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s mission is to advance the vitality and diversity of American theater by nurturing artists, encouraging repeatable creative relationships and contributing new works to the national canon. The company, formed in 1976 by a collective of actors, is dedicated to perpetuating an ethic of mutual respect and the development of artists through on-going group work. Steppenwolf has grown into an internationally renowned company of 42 artists whose talents include acting, directing, playwriting, filmmaking and textual adaptation. For more information, visit www.steppenwolf.org.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Steppenwolf for Young Adults Announces 2009-2010 Season
CHICAGO (March 10, 2009) – Steppenwolf for Young Adults is pleased to announce its 2009-2010 Season:
October 13 – November 1, 2009 The House on Mango Street based on the book by Sandra Cisneros adapted by Tanya Saracho directed by Hallie Gordon in the Steppenwolf Upstairs Theatre
Based on the book by celebrated Chicago writer Sandra Cisneros, The House on Mango Street is a touching and humorous collection of vignettes told by a young girl growing up in one of Chicago’s Latino neighborhoods. Esperanza Cordero dreams of a new life far away from her tiny home on rundown Mango Street in this classic coming-of-age story about those defining experiences that shape our beliefs and help us discover who we are.
Born and raised in Chicago, Sandra Cisneros is the award-winning author of numerous works including Bad Boys, My Wicked Wicked Ways, Loose Women, Women Hollering Creek and Other Stories, Hairs/Pelitos, Caramelo and Vintage Cisneros. This year, Cisneros is publishing a special 25th anniversary edition of The House on Mango Street.
February 23 – March 14, 2010 A Separate Peace based on the book by John Knowles adapted by Nancy Gilsenan directed by Jonathan Berry in the Steppenwolf Downstairs Theatre
Set at an all-boys boarding school in New England during World War II, A Separate Peace is a fascinating look into the dark side of adolescence. The complex bonds of friendship between shy, studious Gene and his athletic, daredevil roommate Finny are tested-with shocking consequences. Based on the best-selling novel, A Separate Peace is an quintessential American classic about trust and betrayal, war and peace.
A Separate Peace is the first published novel and most widely-known work by award-winning American writer John Knowles. Other notable works include Morning in Antibes, Double Vision: American Thoughts Abroad, Indian Summer, The Paragon and Peace Breaks Out.
“I am thrilled to bring to the stage two extraordinary coming-of-age stories for our 2009-2010 Season,” comments Artistic and Education Director of Steppenwolf for Young Adults Hallie Gordon. “As Steppenwolf enters into its season exploring the power of belief, these two classic stories challenge us to find the authenticity in ourselves and the world in which we live-and allow us a window into the eyes of young adults as they search to find their own beliefs,” add Gordon.
Tickets are currently on sale for high school groups only by contacting the Steppenwolf for Young Adults Education Coordinator at (312) 654-5639. Individual tickets will go on sale to the public at a later date.
About The Steppenwolf for Young Adults Programs: Steppenwolf for Young Adults department brings high-quality theatre to artistically curious young adults across Chicago. Each production resonates with a mature teen audience, in hopes of inspiring a new generation of theatre enthusiasts and practitioners. Productions have ranged from original work and adaptation, to classics like The Glass Menagerie and Of Mice and Men – both being produced in the 2008-2009 SYA season. The department produces two full-scale shows each year, performed during the week for students and opened up to the public during evening and weekend performances.
Productions for Students and Families Steppenwolf for Young Adult productions are performed exclusively for students Tuesday – Friday mornings at 10 a.m. Schools interested in deepening their relationship with Steppenwolf should considering becoming a subscriber or residency school.
The Young Adults Council is a unique after-school program for passionate and motivated high school students who wish to learn the inner-workings of professional theatre from the most celebrated artists in the city. In addition to invaluable face-time with these leading professionals, Council members attend the best plays in Chicago, learn how to analyze and speak about these plays and organize events for their peers around Steppenwolf productions in hopes of inspiring a new generation of theatre enthusiasts and practitioners.
Educator Workshops The Teacher Theatre Immersion Course is a professional development program that provides teachers with theatre arts integration tools designed to improve student achievement. Participants are exposed to principles, pedagogies and values inspired by the theatre arts and Steppenwolf Theatre Company that are directly applicable in the classroom setting and relevant to core curriculum. The Master Teacher Workshops help teachers improve student comprehension of literature through drama, using texts related to our Steppenwolf for Young Adults productions. All offer the opportunity to earn CPDU credits. All courses and workshops are free.
Steppenwolf for Young Adults is a citywide partner of the Chicago Public Schools School Partner Program.
Steppenwolf is located near all forms of public transportation and is wheelchair accessible. Street and lot parking are available. Assistive listening devices are available for every performance in the Upstairs or Downstairs Theatres.
Committed to the principle of ensemble performance through the collaboration of a company of actors, directors and playwrights, Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s mission is to advance the vitality and diversity of American theater by nurturing artists, encouraging repeatable creative relationships and contributing new works to the national canon. The company, formed in 1976 by a collective of actors, is dedicated to perpetuating an ethic of mutual respect and the development of artists through on-going group work. Steppenwolf has grown into an internationally renowned company of 42 artists whose talents include acting, directing, playwriting, filmmaking and textual adaptation. For additional information, visit www.steppenwolf.org.
Buggin’ Out: A Review of Bug at Steppenwolf Theatre The audience is the fly on the wall of a dingy Oklahoma hotel room where Agnes White is taking refuge from her recently released, abusive ex-husband Jerry.
Let’s See Together: A Review of "Choir Boy" at Steppenwolf Theatre Among other compelling reasons to see "Choir Boy" is the power and musicianship on songs sung by the young men who play the students in the choir at the Black, Christian Charles R. Drew School for Boys.
