Comments on: Announcing the 2007-2008 Season http://blog.steppenwolf.org/2007/03/05/announcing-the-2007-2008-season/ Fri, 29 Aug 2008 21:53:12 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0 by: Martha Lavey http://blog.steppenwolf.org/2007/03/05/announcing-the-2007-2008-season/#comment-199 Tue, 20 Mar 2007 16:01:04 +0000 http://blog.steppenwolf.org/2007/03/05/announcing-the-2007-2008-season/#comment-199 I want to thank Marion McClinton for his blog posting of 17 March 2007. Marion is kind enough to offer his congratulations to Steppenwolf for our upcoming season and for the inclusion of our new ensemble members. Further, he supports the work of our Chicago theater community for our embrace of the forces that are shaping our collective future. His is a stirring call to citizenship: a cry to occupy the "moral ground waiting to be conquered." For those of you unfamiliar with Marion's work, it is my pleasure to describe his professional accomplishments. Marion is a premier American director who has worked throughout the country and in London directing works by, notably and repeatedly, August Wilson, by Kia Corthrun, Regina Taylor, Eugene Lee, Keith Glover, Sarah Schulman, and Cheryl West among others. Marion began his career as an actor and is also a playwright (whose play, POLICE BOYS premiered at Playwrights Horizon in New York under his direction). Marion has received a host of honors including an Obie, a Drama Desk Award and a Tony nomination for Best Director (KING HEDLEY II). Many of you will be familiar with his work from the Goodman production of GEM OF THE OCEAN. Marion began his theater life at the Penumbra Theatre Company in St. Paul, Minnesota--an ensemble-based African American theater which was founded at roughly the same time as Steppenwolf began its life. Again, many thanks, Marion, for your inspired words. We acknowledge your leadership position in the American theater. You are a champion of new voices and of the vital role that theater can play in the activation of our ideals as citizens. Much gratitude. I want to thank Marion McClinton for his blog posting of 17 March 2007. Marion is kind enough to offer his congratulations to Steppenwolf for our upcoming season and for the inclusion of our new ensemble members. Further, he supports the work of our Chicago theater community for our embrace of the forces that are shaping our collective future. His is a stirring call to citizenship: a cry to occupy the “moral ground waiting to be conquered.”

For those of you unfamiliar with Marion’s work, it is my pleasure to describe his professional accomplishments. Marion is a premier American director who has worked throughout the country and in London directing works by, notably and repeatedly, August Wilson, by Kia Corthrun, Regina Taylor, Eugene Lee, Keith Glover, Sarah Schulman, and Cheryl West among others. Marion began his career as an actor and is also a playwright (whose play, POLICE BOYS premiered at Playwrights Horizon in New York under his direction). Marion has received a host of honors including an Obie, a Drama Desk Award and a Tony nomination for Best Director (KING HEDLEY II). Many of you will be familiar with his work from the Goodman production of GEM OF THE OCEAN.

Marion began his theater life at the Penumbra Theatre Company in St. Paul, Minnesota–an ensemble-based African American theater which was founded at roughly the same time as Steppenwolf began its life.

Again, many thanks, Marion, for your inspired words. We acknowledge your leadership position in the American theater. You are a champion of new voices and of the vital role that theater can play in the activation of our ideals as citizens. Much gratitude.

]]> by: marion mcclinton http://blog.steppenwolf.org/2007/03/05/announcing-the-2007-2008-season/#comment-194 Sat, 17 Mar 2007 18:05:08 +0000 http://blog.steppenwolf.org/2007/03/05/announcing-the-2007-2008-season/#comment-194 wonderful to see that the city of Chicago is responding to the Time Out Chicago article on homogenous and diversity challenged theater with actual action rather than just talk. to see the 2007-2008 Season announcement of Steppenwolf and to note the additions made to your ensemble shows more than a willingness to just diversify (because that in itself is meaningless and useless) but that it is a venturing into undisdcovered artistic territories that keeps a theater growing and challenging itself to continue that most elusive artristic accomplishment- to discover the many shades of truth and humanity beyond the familiar, taking the unexplored route not because it will get you to a destination quicker but will get you there with a sense of wonder and community wherein the more we learn of each other, the more knowledge we gain of ourselves. after watching closely our two major theater cities, Chicago and New York, it is quite clear that as New York timidly steps into the 21st Century by constantly wading in the same waters, Chicago is seeking out the future of an American theatre responsive to the world they find themselves in with a prospicience that all artists must have for the soul to continue to grow. having studied the work of Chicago writer Leon Forrest lately looking for new dynamics and forms for Negro theatre and African American theatre (the blues and jazz of American theatre), the inescapable truth is that we are are blended and melted together and it is impossible to understand ourselves without knowledge of the other and that which makes us "anothers". Until we explore our full American character we are only being half assed about our art and it doesn't matter whether the glass is half full or half empty because one cannot live half a life fully. so I applaud the steps Steppenwolf is taking as it learns and adds new ways of walking. I look forward to what the new year brings, because you are correct in one other thing. The next elections will be the most important statement of who we are and who we are becoming so what we now do, all of us, matters a hell of a lot more than we can possibly dream. we cannot be on the sidelines any longer. our humanity is at stake. the moral ground is waiting to be conquered. it is time for us all to ride to the sound of battle together. and so it goes, Marion wonderful to see that the city of Chicago is responding to the Time Out Chicago article on homogenous and diversity challenged theater with actual action rather than just talk. to see the 2007-2008 Season announcement of Steppenwolf and to note the additions made to your ensemble shows more than a willingness to just diversify (because that in itself is meaningless and useless) but that it is a venturing into undisdcovered artistic territories that keeps a theater growing and challenging itself to continue that most elusive artristic accomplishment- to discover the many shades of truth and humanity beyond the familiar, taking the unexplored route not because it will get you to a destination quicker but will get you there with a sense of wonder and community wherein the more we learn of each other, the more knowledge we gain of ourselves. after watching closely our two major theater cities, Chicago and New York, it is quite clear that as New York timidly steps into the 21st Century by constantly wading in the same waters, Chicago is seeking out the future of an American theatre responsive to the world they find themselves in with a prospicience that all artists must have for the soul to continue to grow. having studied the work of Chicago writer Leon Forrest lately looking for new dynamics and forms for Negro theatre and African American theatre (the blues and jazz of American theatre), the inescapable truth is that we are are blended and melted together and it is impossible to understand ourselves without knowledge of the other and that which makes us “anothers”. Until we explore our full American character we are only being half assed about our art and it doesn’t matter whether the glass is half full or half empty because one cannot live half a life fully. so I applaud the steps Steppenwolf is taking as it learns and adds new ways of walking. I look forward to what the new year brings, because you are correct in one other thing. The next elections will be the most important statement of who we are and who we are becoming so what we now do, all of us, matters a hell of a lot more than we can possibly dream. we cannot be on the sidelines any longer. our humanity is at stake. the moral ground is waiting to be conquered. it is time for us all to ride to the sound of battle together.

and so it goes,

Marion

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