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

As the cast of The Unmentionables spends their last day in the rehearsal hall before moving over to the theatre, the technical crews for that show are busy onstage having just completed running a forty-minute rain sequence. Actual rain - onstage. Even as the exciting preparations for The Unmentionables move forward, this weekend three Steppenwolf productions will have their final performance. Sunday will mark the closing of The Sunset Limited in our Garage Theatre, Red Light Winter at the Barrow Street Theatre in New York City, and Love-Lies-Bleeding at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. Both Red Light Winter and Love-Lies-Bleeding were produced here in Chicago before moving on to their out of town runs. So as we gear up for our conversations about The Unmentionables – and given the way Bruce Norris writes plays, they should be exciting – I offer any of our blog readers out there to comment on any the three closing productions. Did any of our readers see the same production in two cities? Any final thoughts? Memories? Highlights?

Fresh from directing Love Song for our subscription season, ensemble member Austin Pendleton is acting in The Sunset Limited in the Garage. We asked him to reflect on that challenge.

I just want to talk about Cormac McCarthy, and my personal history with his work. Everybody who knows his writing seems to want to talk about their personal history with his work. He’s that kind of writer.

I was sent to coach an actor once who was up for a big role in one of my plays for his audition. Garret Dillahunt is his name. He’s acted at Steppenwolf, and in fact all over the place, in New York theatre in television and movies. At this time I didn’t know him, but I came to like him instantly when he agreed with me there was no point in doing a coaching session (he got the part) and that maybe it would be more fun if we talked about books. At which point he gave his copy of Suttree, by Cormac Mccarthy. When we were in rehearsal he gave me Blood Meridien. (more…)

This past Tuesday evening after work, I had the pleasure of meeting Graeme Maley, Artistic Director of the Liverpool New Writer’s Theatre. Graeme was seeing our production of Love Song and I met him for a drink beforehand. Graeme’s theatre shares Steppenwolf’s commitment to supporting the work of playwrights and the development of new work. Graeme was visiting Chicago on his way to Appleton, Wisconsin to do research for a play he is developing with playwright Ronan O’Donnell about the life and art of Harry Houdini. The play will be performed in Liverpool in 2008, the year that Liverpool has been chosen to be the European Capital of Culture.

After a lively discussion with Graeme, I went to meet novelist Cormac McCarthy at the corner of Halsted and North Avenue to escort him to the first rehearsal of his play, The Sunset Limited. We entered the rehearsal hall and met the actors, Austin Pendleton and Freeman Coffey, the director Sheldon Patinkin, the stage manager and understudies. After general introductions and a welcome to the theatre, I left them to the business of the first table reading of the play.

I crossed the street from the rehearsal hall to the theatre and proceeded to the Upstairs Theatre where the production of Don Delillo’s play, Love-Lies-Bleeding was in technical rehearsals. Onstage were the actors - Martha Lavey, John Heard, Penelope Walker, Louis Cancelmi, and Larry Kucharik. The creative team was working on the transitions between scenes and finessing the timing of lights and sound with the movement of the actors. I watched for about 45 minutes as director Amy Morton and the designers worked with tremendous sensitivity to get the cues just right. I slipped out of the dark theatre and down the elevator to the Downstairs Theatre lobby. When the elevator doors opened the lobby was abuzz with pre-show activity as the audience moved into the theatre to watch the performance of Love Song.

As I stepped out into the spring evening, I was struck by the fact that I had just visited three productions of plays at three stages of development – beginning, middle, and end. The creative process was churning throughout the buildings of Steppenwolf. I recalled my conversation with Graeme and realized that the first step with all three of these new plays, was the commitment to new play development.

Best of luck, Graeme!