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

The Diary of Anne Frank wardrobe supervisor Brigid Brown has 1 hour in-between the matinee and evening performances to reset 75 costumes.

Saturday May 19th was the Oak Park River Forst High School prom, what would have been my senior prom, but, with a show that night I was unable to attend. I’ve never been much of a high school dance enthusiast, and while I was mildly disappointed that I would have to miss this milestone event, there was really no contest in my mind. Doing a show at Steppenwolf was definitely worth missing prom. I must admit, though, that on that evening of May 19th, as I sat in my dressing room an hour before the show, thinking of all of my friends who were, at that moment taking pictures on Emily’s front lawn, decked out in their fancy prom attire, hair done in curls I couldn’t help but feel a little bit envious.

My thoughts were interrupted suddenly by a frantic knocking on the door. In walked Gail Shapiro and Marianne Mayberry, each with a huge grin stretched across their face. “We’re kidnapping you,” Gail told me as she pulled a long red dress over my head. I laughed and looked up at her in confusion as Marianne wrapped a shimmery red and orange scarf around my neck. They each grabbed one of my hands as they led me out the door into the hall. I looked back at Carolyn, who picked up my camera off the dressing room table and, grinning, followed us out of the dressing room. The four of us giggled as we walked down the hallway towards the green room. I could see that they had turned on the Christmas lights that normally hang unlit from the pipes on the walls. As we approached the end of the hall Yasen approached us and put a plastic pink tiara on my head. (more…)

We enter the final two weeks of performances for Anne Frank. It has been a long heart wrenching road. It is the first time in my career that I have faced such an emotional challenge. How do you sustain freshness of emotion through such a long run, and how do you stay true to this wonderfully moving story without making it sentimental and self serving? Rest has been the answer for me personally (if I can get it) and focus. Everyone has been wonderful and the ensemble is working together as one, as always. It is a very special group of people and I am going to miss every one of them once we close. A lot of young people are coming to the show, some with their parents, some by themselves. It is such a pleasure to hear their spontaneous reactions and to know that a new generation is growing up watching this story with fresh eyes and having the same emotional reaction to it as their parents and grandparents. The production has been an enormous success and the theatre has been full, even when the weather outside is so nice and inviting.

Associate Artistic Director David New and Artistic Director Martha Lavey discuss the 2007-08 season at the Annual Fund Donors Cast Party for The Diary of Anne Frank.

Even before reahearsals began, I often found myself preoccpied by the prospect of the most basic, fundamental element of this process upon which I was soon to embark. The thought that kept my mind anxiously racing, distracted me from my gleeful anticipation of the first rehearsal, tainted my excitement: How am I going to do eight shows a week for two and half months?

Soon after this concern first manifested itself in my mind I began to construct this highly dramatized anxious fantasy in which my inability to sustain exhuberance and dedication would lead to the downfall of the show. In this fantasy, I come into the green room, before maybe our 10th show and begin doing my hair and makeup, when I am suddenly struck by a wave of overwhelming exahaustion at the thought of doing the show again. Despite my best efforts to conjure up any little bit of enthusiasm, I find myself completely uninspired, unable to muster up the drive to go on. At this point my imagination would pan over to the faces of my fellow actors, staring at me, looking dejected and regretful. One of them would usually shake their heads sadly and then lead the cast away from me with a murmer of disdain. We would then do an awful show, after which the audience members would leave grumbing about the declining quality of theatre these days and the obvious shortage of good teen actresses, thus signifying that I had ruined Steppenwolf’s repuation as well as destroying any prospect of my future career as an actress. (more…)