In This Season
1997
Amy Morton joins the ensemble.
1998
AWARD: Steppenwolf is awarded a 1998 National Medal of Arts, presented by President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in a White House ceremony. The Medal honors individuals and organizations "who in the President's judgment are deserving of special recognition by reason of their outstanding contributions to the excellence, growth, support and availability of the arts in the United States."
Tina Landau and Martha Plimpton join the ensemble.
The growth of a younger generation of artists as well as the continuing investment of the Steppenwolf ensemble in producing exciting work on a smaller scale inspire the opening of a third performance space, The Garage at Steppenwolf, in the rehearsal/performance space on the first floor of the parking garage building. The inaugural production is the American premiere of Hilary Bell's Wolf Lullaby, directed by Anna D. Shapiro.
Kaufman and Hart's The Man Who Came to Dinner, directed by James Burrows, travels to the Barbican Centre in London. The production is invited to represent American theater as part of the Centre's year-long Inventing America festival. The entire original cast goes overseas, including ensemble members John Mahoney in the title role, Robert Breuler, Rick Snyder and Alan Wilder.
The School at Steppenwolf is founded as a training residency for professional actors to be immersed in the ensemble traditions, values and methods that have made Steppenwolf unique.