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

One of our subscribers recently emailed us to ask,

“Why is it that so many if not most playwrights do not direct their own plays? The playwright may be around when his work is being produced, but he is not in charge of the stage. I would think that the playwright must have a vision of what he wants to see on stage but he is almost never the director.”

Well, one quick answer is that many playwrights do not possess, or do not feel they possess, adequate directing skills – in much the same way that many directors do not write plays, or that many costume designers do not act. Second, and perhaps more importantly, theatre is by its nature a collaborative process; writing for the stage means embracing this spirit of collaboration, allowing one’s own vision to be synergized through (and, one would hope, enhanced by) the combined contributions of a director, actors and designers. For writers with more tyrannical leanings, prose seems the better way to go. (more…)

Hello Steppenwolfers!

David New has been kind enough to welcome me over to your blog for a moment to talk about some big stuff happening for The House Theatre of Chicago.

Our sold out run of The Sparrow will extend at The Steppenwolf Merle Reskin Garage Theatre from March 16th–April 21st under the Visiting Company Initiative. So first, on behalf of The House, I’d like to thank our mentors and friends at Steppenwolf for reaching in to hold us up during this crazy time and help us to make the most of The Sparrow’s success. (more…)

We opened our production of Betrayal on Superbowl Sunday. (Fortunately timed to precede kick-off). It’s been wonderful to sit outside of the production, watching it develop (and not have to be inside of it, acting and living the reality of its pain).

Any actor or director would know what I’m talking about. A weird thing happens when one invests deeply in a play as an actor or director. No matter how committed one is to keeping the play a play (and life, life), there is an unavoidable overlap. The phrase I always use is that one becomes “weathered under” the emotional atmosphere of the play. To become weathered under an atmosphere of betrayal is…rough sledding. Betraying a domestic partner is both wildly exciting (all of that sneaking around, all of that pressure of time for the stolen moments) and hugely heartbreaking (there is some fundamental disappointment fueling the entire enterprise). Awakening those peak experiences through the vehicle of the knife-like consciousness of a playwright like Harold Pinter is…rough sledding. (When I talked to the actors at the end of the first week of rehearsal they all said, “It’s great. It’s really hard.”) (more…)