Dear Subscriber,
We are so delighted to announce our 2014/15 season. Not only will you see many of our ensemble members on stage, we are welcoming several exciting artists new to Steppenwolf but with extensive relationships with our ensemble through projects elsewhere.
We open the season with Conor McPherson's beautiful new play, The Night Alive. You will remember our previous productions of McPherson's work: The Weir, Dublin Carol and The Seafarer. We have invited guest director Henry Wishcamper to direct the play, who has a long relationship with the playwright. We met Henry originally when he served as the assistant director for our Broadway production of August: Osage County.
Second on our season is Lisa D'Amour's new play, which we commissioned, called Airline Highway. We produced Lisa's play, Detroit, a couple of seasons ago with ensemble members Kevin Anderson, Kate Arrington, Ian Barford, Bob Breuler and Laurie Metcalf in the cast and Austin Pendleton directing. The play went on to successful productions at Playwrights Horizon in New York and the National Theatre in London.
Lisa's new play will be directed by Joe Mantello, one of the most prolific directors currently working in the American theater. Joe's name will be most familiar to you as the director of Wicked. A native of Rockford, Illinois, Joe has a long history of working with Steppenwolf ensemble members both as an actor and a director, including K. Todd Freeman (in both Wicked and Angels in America), Laurie Metcalf, Sally Murphy, Martha Plimpton, Rondi Reed and Lois Smith.
Playwright and director Robert O'Hara will be directing Marie Antoinette, our third play of the season in the Upstairs Theatre. While this will be Robert's first foray on our subscription series, we have worked with him repeatedly in our play development program and in our First Look Repertory of New Work in the Garage Theatre. We premiered Robert's play The Etiquette of Vigilence in First Look with ensemble member Alana Arenas in the cast. Robert went on to direct two new plays in the First Look Rep and we commissioned him for two plays, which Robert workshopped with a host of ensemble members.
We're so pleased to have ensemble member K. Todd Freeman as the director of the fourth show of our season, The Herd by Rory Kinnear. The play opened last summer at the Bush Theatre in London where it was embraced by both critics and audiences. You will know K. Todd as a long-standing ensemble member whose work as an actor has dazzled. K. Todd made his subscription series directing debut with our production of Good People.
Our 2014/15 season is a treasure trove of great plays and exciting artists. Part of our job at Steppenwolf is to offer you both the familiar and the new. We do this in our selection of plays and in our presentation of artists. We are anchored in the work of our ensemble and feel privileged to bring their extensive collaborations into our home for your pleasure and delight.
Martha Lavey
Artistic Director
News & Articles
The 2014/15 Season
by Martha Lavey
Dear Subscriber,
We are so delighted to announce our 2014/15 season. Not only will you see many of our ensemble members on stage, we are welcoming several exciting artists new to Steppenwolf but with extensive relationships with our ensemble through projects elsewhere.
We open the season with Conor McPherson's beautiful new play, The Night Alive. You will remember our previous productions of McPherson's work: The Weir, Dublin Carol and The Seafarer. We have invited guest director Henry Wishcamper to direct the play, who has a long relationship with the playwright. We met Henry originally when he served as the assistant director for our Broadway production of August: Osage County.
Second on our season is Lisa D'Amour's new play, which we commissioned, called Airline Highway. We produced Lisa's play, Detroit, a couple of seasons ago with ensemble members Kevin Anderson, Kate Arrington, Ian Barford, Bob Breuler and Laurie Metcalf in the cast and Austin Pendleton directing. The play went on to successful productions at Playwrights Horizon in New York and the National Theatre in London.
Lisa's new play will be directed by Joe Mantello, one of the most prolific directors currently working in the American theater. Joe's name will be most familiar to you as the director of Wicked. A native of Rockford, Illinois, Joe has a long history of working with Steppenwolf ensemble members both as an actor and a director, including K. Todd Freeman (in both Wicked and Angels in America), Laurie Metcalf, Sally Murphy, Martha Plimpton, Rondi Reed and Lois Smith.
Playwright and director Robert O'Hara will be directing Marie Antoinette, our third play of the season in the Upstairs Theatre. While this will be Robert's first foray on our subscription series, we have worked with him repeatedly in our play development program and in our First Look Repertory of New Work in the Garage Theatre. We premiered Robert's play The Etiquette of Vigilence in First Look with ensemble member Alana Arenas in the cast. Robert went on to direct two new plays in the First Look Rep and we commissioned him for two plays, which Robert workshopped with a host of ensemble members.
We're so pleased to have ensemble member K. Todd Freeman as the director of the fourth show of our season, The Herd by Rory Kinnear. The play opened last summer at the Bush Theatre in London where it was embraced by both critics and audiences. You will know K. Todd as a long-standing ensemble member whose work as an actor has dazzled. K. Todd made his subscription series directing debut with our production of Good People.
Our 2014/15 season is a treasure trove of great plays and exciting artists. Part of our job at Steppenwolf is to offer you both the familiar and the new. We do this in our selection of plays and in our presentation of artists. We are anchored in the work of our ensemble and feel privileged to bring their extensive collaborations into our home for your pleasure and delight.
Martha Lavey
Artistic Director