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

When conceptualizing the environment for this year’s Sketchbook Festival in the Merle Reskin Garage Theatre, we started with the ideas of intimacy and immersion. Last year we had opened up the playing area to include everywhere, and it made for a unique, spatially liberal experience. There was no separation between the space of the performer and the audience member, and we felt it worked well; but we are always pushing for change and evolution at Sketchbook, and this year is no different.

We thought if we could focus the energy of the garage into a single area it would really give the audience a powerful experience. With a capacity of only 102, we figured if we set up the space in the round, the audience could sit in 3 rows, and that would make sure it was intimate. So, then we focused on immersion. We started with the concept of an octagonal playing space with audience on risers on 4 sides (like a square), inside a circular curtain or screen that would also serve as a rear projection video screen. We did the math and found there was enough room in the garage for the throw distance necessary to link the 4 video projections together into a 360 Degree video. (more…)

Every year, SKETCHBOOK is reborn. For this year’s reincarnation, we have introduced the SUBMIT program. SUBMIT is geared to allow our community of artists, audience, patrons and volunteers to contribute their stories, thoughts, and ideas to the experience of the festival. We figured that this was already happening in regards to choosing the plays, directors and actors, so why not just open it up, all the way. To be more specific, this year we received over 400 submissions of short world premiere plays (of under 7 minutes in length), 100 director applicants and 600 actors in building our 14 world premiere short plays. In our eyes, each audience member is also “submitting” their most precious asset, their time, to SKETCHBOOK. Without it (our audiences time), there would be no SKETCHBOOK. So, why not open a portal for everyone to share what’s in their minds and find a way to integrate it into the experience…. And SUBMIT was born.

We started by coming up with 13 core queries about life.
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