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

Martin McClendon, who plays Martin in Ensemble member Eric Simonson’s First Look play, Honest, is a professor of Theatre at College Carthage where Honest was first commissioned.

The role of Martin was written for him.

Honest was performed in an early student production up there with an all student cast, and Martin’s students were all invited to audition for this First Look Production.

Martin is blogging regularly to his students about his experiences here at Steppenwolf, and we thought we’d share them with you (you can find his previous entry here).

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Lisa Portes is the director of Ski Dubai.

Gordon Gill is a rock star. That’s all I want to say. Though he’d brush it off with the most charming humility, but… um… just look at this building. Gordon is the “Gill” in Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, the guys who’ve essentially designed Dubai. Yes, that’s an exaggeration, but I like to say it and it’s not far from the truth: Adrian Smith, while still at Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, designed the Burj Dubai: the tallest and arguably most famous building in the world right now. Adrian and Gordon formed Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture in 2006 and, if you go to their site, you will be inspired. That’s all there is to say. You will feel as though you’ve been thinking small for a long time, your mind will inhale and expand, and you may consider (like I did) quitting your job and getting Gordon’s coffee just to follow these guys around the world, specifically to Dubai.

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Martin McClendon, who plays Martin in Ensemble member Eric Simonson’s First Look play, Honest, is a professor of Theatre at College Carthage where Honest was first commissioned.

The role of Martin was written for him.

Honest was performed in an early student production up there with an all student cast, and Martin’s students were all invited to audition for this First Look Production.

Martin is blogging regularly to his students about his experiences here at Steppenwolf, and we thought we’d share them with you.

(more…)

Laura Eason is the playwright of Sex With Strangers.

I am afraid of this blog.

Well, that is a little overstated. But I am hesitant, at the very least, about this contribution.

See, I am incredibly comfortable putting my ideas out into the world as expressed through the fictional characters I create in my plays that I develop over months and years. But dashing something off as myself is always less comfortable for me. I read plenty of blogs and often have responses, but I never post or comment on anything. There is something about this mode of communication I am uneasy with. It is something I can’t quite get to the bottom of except to say that, for someone who puts work out very publicly, I am a private person.And although I have plenty of things to say about a great many things, I feel no urge to impress them upon people outside my circle of friends and acquaintances in any way beyond my playwriting.

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Alex Torra was the assistant director for Up.

I was lucky enough to be a part of the Up rehearsal process and see this remarkable play and the Steppenwolf audience encounter each other throughout previews and at opening. I’ve now returned to Philadelphia, where I am based, and I wanted to take a quick moment to share with you a particular part of my experience working on this show.

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