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

I find my deepest satisfaction as Associate Artistic Director at Steppenwolf in being able to sit in the theatre with our audiences at the end of the evening for post-show discussions. It is fortifying to follow the process of play selection, during which we choose plays for their resonance with how we live today, through rehearsal and performance, and ultimately get the chance to engage our audience in conversation about the ideas and themes of the play as they touch their own lives. Carter’s Way, though set in 1935, provided fertile ground for conversation for how we live our lives today. We knew when we chose to banner our season under the question, “What does it mean to be an American?” that race would be part of that conversation. And it was. Audiences acknowledged that progress has been made in the areas of the acceptance of interracial relationships and the abolishment of segregation - in both its formal and unspoken forms - but also acknowledged that race is still, distressingly, very much a part of our dialogue as Americans. People frequently referenced the rhetoric of the current presidential campaign as evidence.

But the discussions moved beyond acknowledging the play’s treatment of race to include topics of political machinery, capitalism, the exploitation of artists, the illusory nature of individual independence and freedom in a world where the “fat cats” are the ones controlling things (and profiting from them) and further explored the artist’s finding an individual voice, the forgiveness of an artist’s flaws in light of his artistic output, and the influence of technology on art. Others simply saw a powerful love story at the heart of the tragedy.

And I suppose this is what I most admire about what our ensemble member Eric Simonson, who wrote and directed the play, accomplished in this production: an American tragedy, a love story that manages to incorporate such wide-reaching social and political aspects of what it means to be an American.

Perhaps you stayed for one of the post-show discussions. If you didn’t, perhaps you’d like to post a blog response about your experience of the play and the ideas and themes it contains. Please don’t hesitate to do so. At Steppenwolf we place a high value on our conversation with you - in person or on the blog. And even occasionally, but meaningfully, by snail mail.

This entry was posted by David New on Friday, May 2nd, 2008 at 9:44 am and is filed under Carter's Way. 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.