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

By now, you have probably read about, heard about, or seen parts of the national phenomenon known as 365 Days / 365 Plays. If you haven’t seen any of the 365 world-premiere plays that make up the Festival, don’t worry: you still have about 40 weeks.

Here’s the short version of how 365 began, from the Festival’s website: In November 2002, Pulitzer prize-winner Suzan-Lori Parks sat down and committed to writing a play a day for the next 365 days. The world premiere of this play cycle, 365 Days/365 Plays, will be performed as a yearlong national festival simultaneously in major cities and communities around the country. From November 13, 2006 to November 12, 2007, over 600 theaters in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Denver, Seattle, San Francisco, Austin, Washington D.C., Chicago, Minneapolis, the Carolinas, Mississippi River towns, and university campuses will create the largest theater collaboration in U.S. History. (You can find out more about the Festival and its genesis at www.365chicago.org.)

The Festival’s producer, Bonnie Metzgar, says: “The goal is to have the largest shared premiere ever in the history of anything.” (from Hilton Als’ 10/30/06 New Yorker profile)

Chicago audiences have already seen the first nine weeks of the Festival. Bailiwick presented seven plays in its 150-seat mainstage theater; American Theater Company produced seven radio plays, and later made them available as podcasts; Collaboraction presented their seven plays as part of a clandestine cabaret in a loft space. The methods of presenting these plays are as different as the companies that constitute our artistic community. Again quoting Bonnie Metzgar: “That diversity is as much a celebration of the breadth of the community as it is of the different kinds of plays they’re doing.”

But how, you ask, will Steppenwolf participate in this, the largest artistic collaboration undertaken by man or beast in the history of the universe and beyond?

In the spirit of the Festival, we’re pulling together directors, actors, designers, programmers, visual artists, and musicians to create seven “digital plays.” We’re making these plays available to Steppenwolf audiences and to anyone with a computer via the Steppenwolf website (you’re probably familiar with it – as evidence, I offer that you are looking at it right now).

Steppenwolf has charged me with creating this diverse ensemble of directors that will include photographer Saverio Truglia, actor and filmmaker Sam Porretta, actor, improviser and Steppenwolf web guru Dave Urlakis, visual aestheticians Jay Geneske and Paul Koob, Associate Artist Jessica Thebus, and more.

We’ll be using Macromedia Flash to present these pieces, and there are some inherent questions in translating these plays into a new art form. (Okay, maybe it’s not a new art form, but we are among the first to appropriate it for theatrical purposes.) We’re not adapting plays intended for the stage into film – we’re respecting Parks’ words and intentions in the same way we would if we were staging more “traditional” productions. But how do we represent a stage in this two-dimensional art form? Do we try? What challenges will present themselves to actors as we embark on this adventure?

Steppenwolf will be presenting the seven plays during the final week of the festival - November 5, 2007 - November 12, 2007. These digital plays will be open to discussion via the Steppenwolf blog, and I encourage you to comment, ask questions, or harangue us as you see fit.

Have you seen any of Chicago’s participation in the Festival yet? What worked? What didn’t?

This entry was posted by Brant Russell on Wednesday, January 31st, 2007 at 2:11 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.