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

In order to truly appreciate what I have to say here, you have to accept this premise: 99% of you are great. Thoughtful, energetic, and respectful, you are the fuel that drives the engine of Steppenwolf. We couldn’t do it without you, and we wouldn’t want to.

No, REALLY, you have to accept that premise. Please don’t e-mail me, saying “I can’t believe Tracy holds his audience in such contempt.” I don’t hold you in contempt. I love you. I love you very much.

But I’m not writing about you, the 99% of you. I’m writing about YOU, the 1%. And I’m willing to wager the 99% know exactly who I’m talking about… (more…)

David Pasquesi reads “‘Repent Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman.”

Ensemble member Tracy Letts with Christopher Holloway

Ensemble member Martha Lavey reads “End of the Line.”

On Saturday, March 23, three members of the Steppenwolf Young Adult Council participated in a Holocaust Immersion 2 Class; I was one of them. When I first got there, it was weird for me, because all of the teachers that were participating that day were introducing themselves by their first names. It was weird because I’m so used to addressing elders, especially teachers, as Mr. or Mrs. Last Name. Since they identified themselves so informally, as I introduced myself, we were equal; we were equally going to learn and experience what was going to happen in that class.

Since the majority of the participants weren’t there when I arrived, Robin, the instructor, told me to look around and explore the room. The room was empty except for tables lined up against the wall that had pictures, books, and paintings displayed on them. I looked through them trying to gather details and soak in what I was viewing: the Holocaust. They helped me, especially because I haven’t formally learned about the Holocaust in a few years. I had known what happened, and I had known who was involved, but I vaguely knew why it happened, and I didn’t know how it would feel to go through such a horrible time. But that was what we were going to try to understand that day. (more…)

The day that we staged and ran the ending of the play for the first time was a turning point for me. On that day I understood the story that we were telling and the Holocaust in a way that I had never understood it before. I remember standing in the rehearsal hall, looking at the pretend mess of a pretend home strewn across the boundaries of our pretend Secret Annex and I was overwhelmed by the thought that this was once real. The thought slammed into me, and nearly knocked me to the ground. I was overwhelmed by this terrifying awareness of the closeness of death, by the understanding that these people were so alive and then in a moment all promise of their future was torn from them. And then there was this literally unbelievable fact of history that there are people in the world who can do this to other people. There are thousands and thousands of individuals who WOULD and DID willingly inflict this unimaginable suffering on so many. I can’t fathom it. I can’t comprehend it as a truth. The thought literally won’t settle as fact in my mind, and thus keeps bouncing around, this haunting shadow, this menacing threat of reality. It haunts me, dark and foreboding, the way trying to imagine the death of my family members haunts me.

This was the experience that led me past my almost scientific “understanding” of the Holocaust, written in my mind in textbook figures of tragedy, horror and suffering. Since that day, I feel that I Understand it in a way that I never could have had it not been for this show. (more…)