Steppenwolf Theatre Company Blog – Chicago Theater, World-Class Ensemble

Steppenwolf’s old home at 2851 N. Halsted will soon fall to the developers wrecking ball. An event was held this weekend to commemorate and bid farewell to the building. Former managing director Stephen Eich sent the following statement, and we thought some of you might be interested in sharing his fond memories.

After dismissing a number of alternate locations (including the World Theatre on Michigan Avenue downtown) Steppenwolf and its Board of Directors chose the recently vacated St. Nicholas space at 2851 N. Halsted in the summer of 1982 as it’s new home. We stayed until 1991.

This proved to be a complex time for the company as we had just signed a long-term lease and by appearances anyway Malkovich and Sinise were deserting the company and were off to NYC to do our production of True West at the Cherry Lane. (The first show ever transferred to NYC by Steppenwolf.) The Board was concerned that the company would fall apart and move to NY and they would be left holding the lease. Just the opposite happened.

Malkovich and Sinise returned as fast as they had left and those of us at Steppenwolf still in Chicago became stronger than ever before and in my opinion provided the foundation to secure the theatre’s long-term future.

The memories of this space are many.

We redesigned the configuration of the space to 211 seats. Board member Larry Edwards, armed with his team of guerilla contractors, swooped down upon the place utilizing the company as laborers and we created an almost comfortable auditorium from which to watch theatre. Permits were out of the question. I fondly remember handling a large pneumatic jackhammer and creating the stage right backstage hole for the crossover. In addition we simply carved out a hole in the back wall of the auditorium to allow entrances from the house right aisle.

On the opening night of the first show there, “A Prayer for My Daughter”, a plan had been designed, if necessary, to hold a pesky building inspector hostage in the basement, while the show played above. Alas the “transfer switch” that activated emergency power worked and that did not have to happen.

Steppenwolf did some fine work here, really fine in consideration of the impediments of the space.

“And A Nightingale Sang”, “Cloud Nine”, “The Miss Firecracker Contest” and “Tracers” were in the first couple seasons.

The production of “Tracers”, directed by Gary Sinise, was a landmark event for us and for Chicago. During that show Steppenwolf inaugurated a relationship with the VA Hospitals of the Chicago land area and we began to invite Vets to come and see our previews.

After the preview of “Tracers”, a heavy show about soldiers in the war in Vietnam, during the curtain call, the audience comprised of Vietnam Vets solemnly rose as one and without fanfare or cheering or even significant clapping, gently walked onto the stage in tears and began crying and hugging the actors. This was a great moment in the history of Steppenwolf. John Callaway of WTTW at the time witnessed this and eventually did a special on that show from the space. No one who was in the theatre that night could ever forget the emotion in the theatre that evening. The same theatre you are sitting in now.

I occupied an office that had the exciting feature of being able to open a window and look down upon the stage. I enjoyed the ability to listen to the show in real time and hear the audience’s response. Once while working in there during a show I noticed that someone from the apartment building that shared the roof of the auditorium had let their dog out for a run on the roof during our show. I climbed out my window and was able to find the culprit. I screamed at the top of my lungs, “Get that fucking dog off of the roof of our theatre”. The problem of course was that everyone downstairs in the theatre at the time heard it too.

Gary’s magical production of “Orphans” draped with Pat Metheny music was another great highlight of the time there.

During a production of “Stage Struck” a phone inadvertently rang on stage. The stage manager must have really been asleep because it kept ringing and ringing at the wrong time. John Mahoney and Rick Snyder were on stage having their dialogue interrupted. After a few glances at the booth finally the only thing to do was of course answer it. In pure John Mahoney style, he picked up the phone, looked at Rick and dryly said….” It’s for you.”

The audience went crazy.

“Fool for Love” ran five long months during the summer of 1984. Billy Petersen, Rondi Reed and Randy Arney rounded out the spectacular cast. The Cubs won the division, “Balm in Gilead” opened in NYC to raves at the Circle Rep, the Gaslight was our second home and life was good for Steppenwolf.

Malkovich directed a production of “Coyote Ugly” in 1985 that was selected to inaugurate ATT’s On Stage program at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. We were pleased to attend. The play took a happy look at incest and the family unit. Laurie Metcalf took a bite nightly out of a raw fish, Moira Harris was covered in flour, Randy Arney had a large afro hairdo, and Glenne Headly was drenched in milk. The VIP’s of ATT sat quietly stunned in the house while our Board member Frank French laughed like hell. Needless to say it was a controversial entry and some blamed the show for the breakup of ATT!

In my humble opinion the best show we did in that space was Frank Galati’s loving version of “You Can’t Take It With You”. Imagine a cast of John Mahoney, Rondi Reed, Jeff Perry, Amy Morton, Randy Arney, Tom Irwin, Rick Snyder, Molly Regan, Laurie Metcalf. Brad Mott, Peggy Roeder, Alan Wilder, Del Close and others gracing the stage nightly and filling the audience with joy. An ensemble piece at it’s best.

We had tournament Ping Pong on the third floor-Significant round robin elimination tournaments. The place always had a buzz. At the tournament there was always a mixture of young and old. And always amidst beer drinking and smoking… a baby or two!

I had nightmares for weeks after watching actor Judd Hirsch on some opening night reach his hand into an open electrical circuit box on the third floor to set down his drink. Some hours before I witnessed a test done by an inspector that blew an arc of electricity into the room. I could see the headline- “Actor electrocuted at Steppenwolf Opening - Jeff Nominated!”

In the fall of 1982 an important event occurred on the third floor of the theatre. Our Board President at the time Bill Plummer had called a meeting of the company to inform us of the financial peril in doing a planned production of “The Threepenny Opera”. The circumstances were such that if the show failed the company would be out of business. As you can imagine this was an incredibly emotional meeting. Never in the history of the organization was the company told anything by the board. After some chair throwing, quitting, and disruption we agreed and found an alternative presentation. That moment, as difficult as it was, may have saved the company and allowed it to become what it is today. It was also the beginning of Steppenwolf understanding that it would really need a Board to accomplish its ambitious dreams.

Sometimes we found ourselves up on the roof, partying and enjoying the views. Anyone else here today do the same?

Something must be said about our landlord Leonard Fisher. He was a cool guy that had a love for the arts. He truly felt proud to have us as tenants. His ability to look beyond the rising square footage rental price in the area and allow theatres to continue at 2851 should not be underestimated. I have many fond memories of “negotiating’” with him.

Also lets not forget the Gaslight that used to be across the street. Memories of 2851 go hand in hand with that bar.

The time at 2851 was so important to Steppenwolf’s growth. In addition to some consistent continuing fine work this was the time that the administration caught up with the art and together became the company it is today.

God Bless this space and God Bless the ghosts of the audiences, actors and administrators that inhabited it.

We’ve just completed our second week of rehearsals. Our rehearsal schedule was a little wonky. We backed up our first day to the Friday before March 28th to accommodate the schedule of one of our actors. After he was cast in Love-Lies-Bleeding, John Heard was cast in an episode of 20 Questions that was scheduled to shoot March 28th through March 31st. Not wanting to lose John from our cast, we added the extra rehearsal days before his shoot so that we could all start rehearsals together with the playwright, Don DeLillo. Then John would go away for his TV shoot and those of us remaining would continue to rehearse scenes in which he does not appear.

What originally appeared to be a blip in our plans turned out to be a perfect adaptation to the play’s needs. John plays Alex, a character who has suffered a stroke and appears in the present tense of the play in a compromised physical state, and, in flashback, in a state of wellness. So he is both a presence and an absence in the play. Our revised rehearsal schedule accommodated this reality of the play: we began rehearsals with John present and then, like the characters of the play, we experienced his disappearance. With John gone, we, the remaining actors, worked on the scenes in which his character is incapacitated (and in which condition, is played by another actor). By the time that John returned to rehearsals, those of us playing his family members (referred to in the play, aptly, as “the three survivors”), had formed a bond among ourselves. Somehow, this rehearsal dynamic appropriately feeds into the psychological dynamic of the play. (We have our secrets and he has his mystery.)

I think the experience that we are all having of the play is one of ever-deepening discovery. Because Don is such a thoughtful, skilled, and profound writer, the play disclosed itself in surprising (and hugely gratifying) ways. We find ourselves stitching back and forth between the situation of the play and our personal life experiences upon which the play touches. This is pretty standard practice for a rehearsal process – an enormous amount of self is disclosed in building the connection between the actors and director of the play and the text. The more comfortable the room, the more willing the collaborators are to be searching in their connection to the play, and the more personal and specific the work becomes. This, in the end of all, is the real value of our actor-based, ensemble theater. The culture of repeated creative relationships that foregrounds the actor in the theatrical process produces a rehearsal room that is collectively owned, that is fundamentally democratic and embracing.

Something else I want to mention in regard to the dynamic of the rehearsal room: as you would expect, present in the room are the actors and the director. The director generally has an assistant, in this case, Brant Russell who himself is a young director. The understudies for the cast come to rehearsals when they can (there is a designated minimum attendance to which they are contracted).

Perhaps less known to those of you who have not experienced a rehearsal process is the presence of the stage managers. Steppenwolf is hugely fortunate to have a group of stage managers who work regularly at our theater and have done so for many years. The stage managers are crucial in setting the tone of the room. In the case of Steppenwolf productions (and we are hugely fortunate in being able to provide this), we have a Production Stage Manager (PSM), an Assistant Stage Manager (ASM), and a Stage Management apprentice. In rehearsal, these three folks sit behind a table (with the director usually sitting nearby) and they manage all of the physical realities of the show. Before rehearsals begin (the “pre-production” week), they tape out the set (to its precise dimensions) on the rehearsal room floor. Throughout the rehearsal process, they fastidiously track the use of every prop, they orchestrate the physical reality of every scene change, and they track every costume change (and its timing). It is their responsibility to provide the link between the magic of the imaginary space of the play into the physical reality of the stage. Every stage manager on earth has a stopwatch around his/her neck and a tackle box full of tape measures, spiking tape, and a host of tools (and pain relievers). Stage managers are the amazing link – the folks who keep grounding the ephemera of theater to the space and time of the theater. Their personalities and their style – the way they “call the show” – are fundamental components in the making and the maintenance of the theatrical act. Steppenwolf is blessed to have stage managers so sensitive to the artistic process and so committed to the ensemble process. To our stage managers on Love-Lies-Bleeding: Malcolm Ewen, Christine Freeburg, and Kathleen Petroziello, all hail. And thanks.

I’ve just returned from the weekend in Louisville, Kentucky attending the Humana Festival of New American Plays at the Actors Theater of Louisville. The festival is an annual event, providing wonderful production opportunities for writers, and offering a chance for those of us in the field to connect with colleagues from around the country in a congenial and spirited (and at times spirit-influenced) atmosphere.

The talk in the bar, however, was somewhat discouraging. Many theaters around the country seem to be still suffering from financial setbacks rippling from 9/11 and the subsequent economic downturn. As a consequence, they are finding it more and more difficult to engage in the “risk” of doing new plays. The trip was a reminder for me of how fortunate Steppenwolf is to have such a loyal, devoted base of audience and supporters who not only welcome, but demand we present challenging and innovative work.

It is because of that support that I can report on an exciting part of the weekend. In an award ceremony held during the festival, playwright Adam Rapp was the recipient of a citation from the American Theater Critics Association for his play Red Light Winter. The ACTA recognizes three new plays produced in the United States during the year for outstanding merit. (This year’s other honorees were Lee Blessing and August Wilson). Steppenwolf gave Red Light Winter its premiere production, and it is currently running at the Barrow Street Theater in New York. In his acceptance speech, Adam specifically noted how thankful he was that Steppenwolf had taken the chance on a play that others had been unable or willing to tackle. So I take a moment to pass those thanks on to you.