This winter’s world premiere plays after the quake and Lady Madeline were developed through the assistance of the New Plays Initiative. Since 1995, this innovative play development program has supported playwrights through commissions, workshops, readings and productions. Steppenwolf is profoundly grateful to those whose visionary support shares our commitment to new work.
The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust has supported the New Plays Initiative since 1995, including last summer’s award-winning production of The Pain and the Itch. The Zell Family Foundation has provided consistent support for our play development processes since 2000. In 2004, Steppenwolf was one of six theaters nationally to receive an endowment grant of the Leading National Theatres Program, a joint initiative of The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which also has provided generous support to the Initiative through its annual granting program. In addition to annual support for the New Plays Initiative in past years, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has made generous endowment gifts to help sustain the program into the future. The Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation provides invaluable support to our play development process by allowing the playwright to spend an extended amount of time at Steppenwolf, as Bruce Norris will this summer in preparation for the world premiere of his play The Unmentionables. Special thanks also go to the members of Steppenwolf’s Directors Circle for their generous support of this important initiative.