Steppenwolf’s commitment to innovation in discovering and cultivating new voices for the American Theatre led to the FIRST LOOK REPERTORY OF NEW WORK, which recently concluded its inaugural run in the Merle Reskin Garage Theatre. For the entire month of August, 2005, the First Look Rep offered three playwrights a distinctive developmental opportunity resulting in fully staged productions running in rotating rep.
Representatives from theatres around the country gathered during our Professionals Weekend to attend performances of all three shows and engage in a panel discussion featuring new play development practitioners from the Manhattan Theatre Club, South Coast Rep, the Mark Taper Forum and the O’Neill Playwrights Conference.
This program also granted our audiences unprecedented access to the creation of new work; our First Look Council members were allowed a unique look inside initial play readings, first rehearsals, technical rehearsals and, of course, performances during the run.
The launching of the First Look Repertory program has set in motion an annual opportunity for artists, theatre professionals and enthusiastic audiences to gather and celebrate the process of new play development.