(Rehearsals for our next production, American Buffalo, started last week. Set Designer Kevin Depinet took a moment to share some of his research for the show, as well as a model of the set it inspired.)
During the design process for American Buffalo, we visited several junk and thrift stores across the city. These two photos are of a junk Shop in Rogers Park called Lost Eras.
(Tanya Saracho, the adapter of The House on Mango Street, has been tweeting throughout the development and production of the play. If you’re on Twitter you can follow @tanyasaracho and @steppenwolfthtr)
4:31 PM 5/27: Mango Street in the house!
6:23 AM 6/13: Ok, so I got up to write, determined and focused. That lasted about a minute before I crawled back to the fold of the sheets. Snooze.
5:35 AM 6/30: -wakeupandfinishRafaela! WAKEupandWRITErafaela! WakeyourassupTanyaSeleneandfreakingrewriteRAFAELA! GET UP AND WRITE!
2:04 PM 7/02: had an awesome Mango workshop this week! The music is sick. SICK! And the script is getting there. But don’t worry, it will get there!
(Whitney is the Program Specialist for Steppenwolf for Young Adults)
About a year ago, I asked the members of our Steppenwolf Young Adult Council a difficult question: How can we get more teenagers to come to the theatre?
It’s no secret that high school students aren’t lining up around the block to see plays - most would rather drop $20 on a movie, popcorn and soda than attend a theatre production for $15 (the ticket price to our teen MaTEENée Series).
The Council has tossed around their theories on this problem for months: maybe teens think the theatre is too formal a place to spend a Saturday night? Maybe they think it’s too expensive? Maybe it’s simply a marketing issue, and teenagers don’t know about all the affordable theatre opportunities available in this town? Whatever the hang up, the Young Adult Council was determined to find a solution - or at least get off to the right start.