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

(Joy is Steppenwolf’s Literary Manager)

One of the things I love about my job is that it continually provides me with opportunities to learn about worlds I never would have seen otherwise. Yesterday morning was a perfect example: I accompanied a group of artists from Fake (director/playwright Eric Simonson, actor Al Wilder, and dramaturg Rebecca Rugg) to the Field Museum, where John McCarter, the museum president, took us on a two hour behind-the-scenes tour as research for the play. Al plays two different museum directors in Fake, so he had a number of questions for Mr. McCarter about his day-to-day responsibilities and the joys and stresses of the job.

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While I’ve always known the acting at Steppenwolf was marvelous, I’ve never worked on a project with any of the ensemble members. As I wrote in my last blog entry, I’m working as production dramaturg on Eric Simonson’s play, Fake, and it’s been such a pleasure. Today I want to write about one aspect of it that has surprised me, which is what it’s like to be in the rehearsal room with people who’ve logged a lot of hours there together over the years.

I’ve worked with ensemble companies who devise work together, but that’s a little bit of a different process from actors taking on characters who are already written when rehearsal begins. In working on a new play, the actor’s challenge is to discover and embody these people who previously have existed only on the page, in the author’s imagination. It’s so great to watch these people begin to move in space and become embodied.

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It’s my first time working with the ensemble at Steppenwolf, and I’m here as production dramaturg in rehearsals for Eric Simonson’s play Fake.

Dramaturgy is a mystery to a lot of people: the word itself sounds intimidating and kind of ugly. Working as a dramaturg can mean lots of different things - there are as many functions for a dramaturg as there are productions of plays, really, because it’s about meeting the needs of the artists in the room and contributing to a particular piece of theater.

In this case, Fake is a new play, so I’m talking a lot with Eric, who is both the play’s writer and director, about what themes he wants to be most clear to audiences, how the rhythm of the play feels on the page and as the actors begin to embody it, and about things that might be clarified.

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Ashley is the Steppenwolf for Young Adults intern.

During my time interning at Steppenwolf, I have heard the term “Public Square” at least six dozen times, and I find myself using it without always knowing quite what I am referring to. To me, the Public Square is a safe space in which the various constituents in our community can engage with each other, with the Steppenwolf staff, and with the amazing artists who make our productions possible, in meaningful and critical conversations about the social issues raised through the work we present. This safe space already exists in web format through our blog, in the intellectual space of post-show discussions, in the physical space of the future home of Steppenwolf, and also where I’ve most encountered it: in our Steppenwolf Young Adult Council.

Over the past three months, while attending a youth-led post-show discussion of Up, seeing various productions at Chicago theaters and helping to select the 2009-2010 council members, I have met so many young people that are dedicated to furthering their understanding of and participation in theater arts as well as increasing young people’s access to Steppenwolf. I have been so inspired by their passion, optimism and imagination.

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We’ve just begun rehearsals for the first show of our 2009-2010 season at Steppenwolf. Our ensemble member, Eric Simonson, directs his play, Fake. We have a terrific cast: ensemble members Kate Arrington, Fran Guinan, and Al Wilder, and Steppenwolf veterans Coby Goss (When the Messenger is Hot and Dead Man’s Cell Phone) and Larry Yando (Mother Courage and Her Children).

Fake is a wonderful opening to our season-long conversation about authenticity and belief. I love the excitement of anticipating a new season of Chicago work. Most of the theaters in town have announced their seasons and I’m sure that, like me, many of you are thinking about the productions you are most eager to see. I’d love to hear which plays you are most looking forward to seeing at theaters across Chicago. If you were to create a five-play subscription series with each play produced by a different theater, what would that season look like?