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

I am very excited to announce our 2007-2008 Steppenwolf for Young Adults season. Our season starts with The Elephant Man, a play by Bernard Pomerance, directed by Sean Graney. Sean directed Sarah Kane’s 4.48 Psychosis in the Garage Theatre in 2005, a Steppenwolf Visiting Company Initiative with The Hypocrites, for whom he serves as Artistic Director.

The Elephant Man tells the real-life story of John Merrick, a man suffering from extreme physical deformities and disabilities. Some may think this is an odd choice for young adults but this play raises a variety of themes that are well worth exploring for high school audiences such as: exploitation, identity, isolation, beauty, what society perceives to be normal and how we treat those who are unlike ourselves. The Elephant Man can be a starting place for a philosophical discussion around the idea of identity and illusion. What better place to start this discussion than at a theatre and in the classroom.

The second show of our season is Harriet Jacobs by Lydia Diamond. I will direct the play which is inspired by the book Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. I also directed Lydia’s adaptation of Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, which was produced in 2005 and 2006 in the Steppenwolf Upstairs Theatre. The production transferred Off-Broadway to The New Victory Theatre in November of 2006.

Lydia and I have developed Harriet Jacobs at the Kennedy Center New Visions/New Voices program. I am thrilled to be reunited with her again.

Harriet Jacobs is a story of family unity, self-realization and hope. This piece will also be accompanied by the rich musical traditions of slave spirituals. Harriet Jacobs offers a rare look at the life and struggles of a woman’s journey from slavery to freedom.

I hope you will all come back for our fabulous season.

This entry was posted by Hallie Gordon on Thursday, May 24th, 2007 at 10:11 am and is filed under The Elephant Man, Harriet Jacobs. 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.