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

As I watch the printer spit out the 14th copy of my Up research packet, I’m struck by the ways the season’s theme of imagination is apparent in the pages accumulating in the copy room. As Steppenwolf investigates notions of imagination in its 08-09 season, I’ve found that thematic focus has permeated my world of library books and online sleuthing.

During my nine months at Steppenwolf (as Literary Apprentice) I’ve revisited some of the same subjects through the new lens of each show, and though the perspective is different, there are fascinating intersections. Sometimes these thematic links are obvious, but on other occasions there are subtle connections that surprise me. (more…)

Wait! There’s more. We just opened The Tempest and I can’t wait to hear your responses to the production. As you know, it is the first Shakespeare play we have presented on our subscription series (we did a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream years ago for our student series). I look forward to hearing your interpretations of the play and the production.

Here we are in April and we still have five more Steppenwolf productions yet to open on our season, as well as two productions by visiting companies. Our final subscription series play, Up by Bridget Carpenter, directed by ensemble member Anna Shapiro, begins rehearsal in May and plays through the summer; our Steppenwolf for Young Adults production of Of Mice and Men opens at the end of April; our First Look Repertory of New Work premieres three new plays (Sex with Strangers by Laura Eason, Honest by ensemble member Eric Simonson, and Ski Dubai by Laura Jacqmin) in July. Our visiting companies are Rivendell with The Walls and 500 Clown and the Elephant Deal in our Upstairs Theatre.

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Here we go–the launch of our 2008-2009 season. The start of a new season is always a thrilling moment for the theater. It’s such a lot of fun to finally start talking to our audience about the plays and artists that we’ve been thinking about and planning with for a year. (We’re in the midst of our planning process for 2009-2010 right now). And then comes the moment when our directors and actors show up for the first day of rehearsal and the dream gains body and voice. And then comes the moment when YOU show up and theater begins.

We began with the negotiation of a theme for the season. As you know, this past season, 2007-2008, was bannered under the question of “What does it mean to be an American?” We felt the urgency of this question as we, as a nation, embarked on the Presidential election process. By positioning our season within this context, wonderful conversations about the plays ensued with our audiences–conversations about ideas that reached beyond the theater and into our lives. (more…)

What an exciting moment in our cultural life. We are on the precipice of a change in our national leadership. America is dreaming its future. Steppenwolf celebrates this moment with a season of the imagination. We offer five stories that feature the power of the imagination in shaping our identity, creating our future, determining our reality.

We begin with Frank Galati’s adaptation and direction of novelist Haruki Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore, featuring ensemble members Francis Guinan and Jon Hill. Murakami’s powerful and popular novel is brought to theatrical life in Frank’s incisive adaptation. Kafka on the Shore is a young man’s coming of age story in contemporary Japan–a landscape in which cats talk, Johnnie Walker lives, and the world reveals itself in a series of dreams and memories.

We follow with Conor McPherson’s brilliant new play, The Seafarer, featuring John Mahoney. On Christmas Eve, in a disheveled basement flat in Dublin, the Devil walks in the door and challenges the motley group of men assembled there to a card game. At stake is the soul of Sharky, a middle-aged man in review of his life. With great humor and deep feeling, McPherson explores the horizon of our dreams and the power of personal transformation. (more…)