We are delighted to announce the five plays in the Steppenwolf 2015/16 season. This is the final season for which I will have the privilege of leading the play selection process. Anna D. Shapiro, the ensemble, and I are enormously proud of the work we are able to bring to the stage as we celebrate 40 years. Three of the plays are authored by Steppenwolf ensemble members; one by a playwright who returns to Steppenwolf for the fourth time; and finally, a playwright new to our theater with whom we anticipate an ongoing relationship.
To open the season, we present ensemble member Frank Galati’s adaptation of John Steinbeck’s beautiful novel, East of Eden. Directing the production, ensemble member and co-founder Terry Kinney returns to the Steppenwolf stage. Frank and Terry worked on our production of The Grapes of Wrath and are excited to return to Steinbeck together. Steinbeck has inspired our ensemble both on and off the Steppenwolf stage. Ensemble member Lois Smith was in the original film of East of Eden; ensemble co-founder Gary Sinise directed a film version of Of Mice and Men after ensemble co-founder Terry Kinney directed the play for Steppenwolf; in 2009, Of Mice and Men was again produced on our Steppenwolf for Young Adults stage; and more recently, ensemble member and now incoming Artistic Director Anna D. Shapiro directed a successful production of that play on Broadway in 2014. So it’s a long and fruitful relationship with one of the great American voices.
Following is ensemble member Bruce Norris’ Domesticated. This is the ninth play by Bruce that Steppenwolf has produced and continues the exciting precedent Bruce’s work has established: a sharp, hilarious, complicated interrogation of social mores. In Domesticated, Bruce is looking at sexual monogamy, specifically in the context of heterosexual marriage. Do men and women want the same thing? What can the animal kingdom tell us about what’s “natural” for how men and women couple? And how fixed is gender anyway? The play premiered at the Lincoln Center in New York in 2013, directed by ensemble member Anna D. Shapiro with ensemble member Laurie Metcalf in a central role. This time, we are delighted to have the playwright himself as our director.
In our Upstairs Theatre, we present Annie Baker’s The Flick, directed by Dexter Bullard. When The Flick premiered at Playwrights Horizon in 2013, Annie was described as “one of the freshest and most talented dramatists to emerge Off Broadway in the past decade.” Annie is just a terrific playwright, and we’re so proud to produce her work at Steppenwolf. We’ve worked with Dexter Bullard in our First Look Repertory of New Work and many of you will have seen his work around town including a production of Annie’s play, Circle Mirror Transformation. The Flick is a beautifully observed encounter among three young employees of a decaying movie house who connect over their shared passion for movies. Each is adept at discussing the most arcane cinematic detail but perhaps less able to understand their own and each others’ lives and needs. The play is a funny and heartbreaking exploration of how we represent ourselves to each other and how we hunger for authenticity and the real.
For our fourth play of the season we present the world premiere of ensemble member Tracy Letts’ new play Mary Page Marlowe. Previously at Steppenwolf, we have produced Tracy’s plays, The Man From Nebraska, August: Osage County, and Superior Donuts. In Mary Page Marlowe, Tracy explores the life of his title character through key moments in her life with an uncanny sensitivity to and understanding of her complex nature. Like all of his plays, Mary Page Marlowe is animated by a wit and theatricality that make for thrilling theater.
Finally, we close with Stephen Adly Guirgis’ Between Riverside and Crazy. This is the fourth of Stephen’s plays that we have produced at Steppenwolf including, most recently, The Motherf**ker with the Hat. Ensemble member Yasen Peyankov directs the story of “Pops,” a retired New York police officer living in a rent controlled apartment on Riverside Drive. Following his wife’s death, the apartment has become home to some rather shady activity and we quickly learn of Pops’ long-standing lawsuit against the police department that threatens to upend the whole precarious arrangement. The play is alive with verbal wit, fantastic characters and a twisty plot that is surprising and hilarious.
Again, I am honored and proud to bring these plays, three of them by Steppenwolf playwrights, to our stage. It’s a season that you could only experience at Steppenwolf. Nothing could make me happier than to showcase our artists and this season as a beautiful expression of what makes our theater unique.
Martha Lavey
Artistic Director
News & Articles
The 2015/16 Season
by Martha Lavey
We are delighted to announce the five plays in the Steppenwolf 2015/16 season. This is the final season for which I will have the privilege of leading the play selection process. Anna D. Shapiro, the ensemble, and I are enormously proud of the work we are able to bring to the stage as we celebrate 40 years. Three of the plays are authored by Steppenwolf ensemble members; one by a playwright who returns to Steppenwolf for the fourth time; and finally, a playwright new to our theater with whom we anticipate an ongoing relationship.
To open the season, we present ensemble member Frank Galati’s adaptation of John Steinbeck’s beautiful novel, East of Eden. Directing the production, ensemble member and co-founder Terry Kinney returns to the Steppenwolf stage. Frank and Terry worked on our production of The Grapes of Wrath and are excited to return to Steinbeck together. Steinbeck has inspired our ensemble both on and off the Steppenwolf stage. Ensemble member Lois Smith was in the original film of East of Eden; ensemble co-founder Gary Sinise directed a film version of Of Mice and Men after ensemble co-founder Terry Kinney directed the play for Steppenwolf; in 2009, Of Mice and Men was again produced on our Steppenwolf for Young Adults stage; and more recently, ensemble member and now incoming Artistic Director Anna D. Shapiro directed a successful production of that play on Broadway in 2014. So it’s a long and fruitful relationship with one of the great American voices.
Following is ensemble member Bruce Norris’ Domesticated. This is the ninth play by Bruce that Steppenwolf has produced and continues the exciting precedent Bruce’s work has established: a sharp, hilarious, complicated interrogation of social mores. In Domesticated, Bruce is looking at sexual monogamy, specifically in the context of heterosexual marriage. Do men and women want the same thing? What can the animal kingdom tell us about what’s “natural” for how men and women couple? And how fixed is gender anyway? The play premiered at the Lincoln Center in New York in 2013, directed by ensemble member Anna D. Shapiro with ensemble member Laurie Metcalf in a central role. This time, we are delighted to have the playwright himself as our director.
In our Upstairs Theatre, we present Annie Baker’s The Flick, directed by Dexter Bullard. When The Flick premiered at Playwrights Horizon in 2013, Annie was described as “one of the freshest and most talented dramatists to emerge Off Broadway in the past decade.” Annie is just a terrific playwright, and we’re so proud to produce her work at Steppenwolf. We’ve worked with Dexter Bullard in our First Look Repertory of New Work and many of you will have seen his work around town including a production of Annie’s play, Circle Mirror Transformation. The Flick is a beautifully observed encounter among three young employees of a decaying movie house who connect over their shared passion for movies. Each is adept at discussing the most arcane cinematic detail but perhaps less able to understand their own and each others’ lives and needs. The play is a funny and heartbreaking exploration of how we represent ourselves to each other and how we hunger for authenticity and the real.
For our fourth play of the season we present the world premiere of ensemble member Tracy Letts’ new play Mary Page Marlowe. Previously at Steppenwolf, we have produced Tracy’s plays, The Man From Nebraska, August: Osage County, and Superior Donuts. In Mary Page Marlowe, Tracy explores the life of his title character through key moments in her life with an uncanny sensitivity to and understanding of her complex nature. Like all of his plays, Mary Page Marlowe is animated by a wit and theatricality that make for thrilling theater.
Finally, we close with Stephen Adly Guirgis’ Between Riverside and Crazy. This is the fourth of Stephen’s plays that we have produced at Steppenwolf including, most recently, The Motherf**ker with the Hat. Ensemble member Yasen Peyankov directs the story of “Pops,” a retired New York police officer living in a rent controlled apartment on Riverside Drive. Following his wife’s death, the apartment has become home to some rather shady activity and we quickly learn of Pops’ long-standing lawsuit against the police department that threatens to upend the whole precarious arrangement. The play is alive with verbal wit, fantastic characters and a twisty plot that is surprising and hilarious.
Again, I am honored and proud to bring these plays, three of them by Steppenwolf playwrights, to our stage. It’s a season that you could only experience at Steppenwolf. Nothing could make me happier than to showcase our artists and this season as a beautiful expression of what makes our theater unique.
Martha Lavey
Artistic Director