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

Laura Eason is the playwright of Sex With Strangers.

I am afraid of this blog.

Well, that is a little overstated. But I am hesitant, at the very least, about this contribution.

See, I am incredibly comfortable putting my ideas out into the world as expressed through the fictional characters I create in my plays that I develop over months and years. But dashing something off as myself is always less comfortable for me. I read plenty of blogs and often have responses, but I never post or comment on anything. There is something about this mode of communication I am uneasy with. It is something I can’t quite get to the bottom of except to say that, for someone who puts work out very publicly, I am a private person.And although I have plenty of things to say about a great many things, I feel no urge to impress them upon people outside my circle of friends and acquaintances in any way beyond my playwriting.

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Alex Torra was the assistant director for Up.

I was lucky enough to be a part of the Up rehearsal process and see this remarkable play and the Steppenwolf audience encounter each other throughout previews and at opening. I’ve now returned to Philadelphia, where I am based, and I wanted to take a quick moment to share with you a particular part of my experience working on this show.

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Michael Van Ness wrote a post recently talking about what it feels like to enter a new environment - in his case, the Steppenwolf administrative offices - and the inhibitions that might obtain. He likened the experience to the obstacles that might keep potential audience members from feeling comfortable going to the theater. Many of you responded with terrific ideas about how theaters might make themselves more inviting, particularly to folks who are unfamiliar with theaters. You identified some of the obstacles to theater-going.

What I would like to ask is what motivates you to come to the theater: our theater, or to theater generally. What is it that you seek in coming to theater? What makes you choose live theater? And what theater experiences have you had that really delivered your wish?

Throughout my play Ski Dubai, my protagonist Rachel is unmoored and adrift in Dubai. She lives in corporate housing with a complete stranger, works an unfamiliar job in a foreign country, and has no real roots to speak of. She searches and scrambles for some sense of “home” without really knowing what home is to her.

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At Steppenwolf, there is a tradition around the first day of rehearsal. The entire Steppenwolf administrative and production staff pile into Yondorf rehearsal hall, and form a giant circle around the artists involved in the nascent production. The staff, actors, director and production team then introduce themselves – saying their names and what they do for Steppenwolf – and suddenly the sheer magnitude of persons involved in this single production is revealed. No matter how many times I saunter downstairs for this little Steppenwolf tradition, it never gets old. The energy in the room is always palpable, and all the names are always impossible to remember.

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