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

Since the beginning of the Young Adult Council we have wanted to put together a play writing workshop and on May 10th from 11 to 3, it will come to pass. Aaron Carter, no not the singer, will be our leading playwright for the day. He is an awesome guy who I’ve been able to work with before and I’m really happy that he agreed to lead the workshop. The council had wanted to put one together, a workshop, for the longest time because writing, at least for the joy of writing, has kind of faded to the background of most teens. Plus, it not only builds on writing skills but on confidence. Sharing your written work is almost as difficult as getting on stage and reciting someone else’s.

It doesn’t seem difficult to do, trying to organize a workshop, but arranging space, marketing and contacting writers is a mite tougher then we had originally thought. No worries though, because we have had a lot of help from the Steppenwolf staff, like Ed Sobel, who gave us names and e-mails of writers. We drafted proposal after proposal, corrected them, and then began on flyers. Soon, after most of the council had run out of ink in their pens, we had it. This is the Council’s first public workshop and it is bound to be good. I actually can’t wait for it, I’m so excited.

I find my deepest satisfaction as Associate Artistic Director at Steppenwolf in being able to sit in the theatre with our audiences at the end of the evening for post-show discussions. It is fortifying to follow the process of play selection, during which we choose plays for their resonance with how we live today, through rehearsal and performance, and ultimately get the chance to engage our audience in conversation about the ideas and themes of the play as they touch their own lives. Carter’s Way, though set in 1935, provided fertile ground for conversation for how we live our lives today. We knew when we chose to banner our season under the question, “What does it mean to be an American?” that race would be part of that conversation. And it was. Audiences acknowledged that progress has been made in the areas of the acceptance of interracial relationships and the abolishment of segregation - in both its formal and unspoken forms - but also acknowledged that race is still, distressingly, very much a part of our dialogue as Americans. People frequently referenced the rhetoric of the current presidential campaign as evidence. Read the rest of this entry »

Hey, it is beautiful outside! And it’s WEEK FOUR of Dead Man’s Cell Phone. Funny to think about us still wearing these rainy day costumes when summer comes! The excitement so far: one understudy has gone on (bravo Dana), one onstage bloody nose (me), several uninvited phone rings during performance (hello audience!). WOW, live theatre!

We bought our crew dinner between shows this Saturday. The weekends are long; two shows both days, so it was lovely to have dinner in the building. Mary Beth made brownies and I scrambled to a store to grab strawberries. Our stage manger Chris had a visit from her baby Joan and her husband, actor Tom Cox. When we first met Joan she was crawling, but by the time our show closes she will be walking! Read the rest of this entry »

Hard to believe that Carter’s Way just closed. It’s amazing, this business we’re in. So intensely close, yet so transient. On the last day of a show, I’m always a little broken up inside. It kind of feels like a break up, the end of a relationship. Not just with the actors you see everyday, but with the faces you get used to backstage, like Caleb and Rick and Noelle and Jamie and Gregor and Becky and Dawn and Martha W and Malcolm and Lauren and others. You remember small things, like waving to the Front of House person who sees you as you enter the theatre on the other side of the double doors, just before you head downstairs–how they always wave back. The box office employee who gives you an unexpected compliment on the show when you really needed it that day. The amazing artists who understudy us, who see the show all the time, surely tire of it, and yet are always warm and welcoming every time we come in (particularly Justin, for some reason).
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We are pleased to announce the playwrights who will be participating in this year’s First Look Repertory of New Work.

For those new to this page or the program, First Look is a new play development process that culminates with three plays being presented for a limited-run rotating repertory in our Garage space. Now in its fourth year, the program has garnered significant national attention for its innovative, production-oriented, approach to developing new work, while at the same time allowing for unique access to the general public through First Look 101. Six of the nine plays developed through the Rep have gone on to premiere productions around the country, including three recently in New York: Marissa Wegrzyn’s The Butcher of Baraboo at 2econd Stage, Kate Fodor’s 100 Saints You Should Know at Playwrights Horizons, and When the Messenger is Hot at 59E59.

This year’s playwrights are all based in Chicago. They are: Read the rest of this entry »