Chicago—Steppenwolf Theatre Company opens its 31st season with The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh, directed by ensemble member Amy Morton, featuring ensemble members Tracy Letts, Yasen Peyankov and Jim True-Frost with Abigail Leone Droeger, Oliver Kal, Danny McCarthy, Leah Rose Orleans, Elizabeth Rich, Michael Shannon and Quinn Wermeling. The production plays September 14-November 12, 2006, in the Steppenwolf Downstairs Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted. The press performance is on Saturday, September 23, 2006, at 3:00 p.m.
In a totalitarian state, a writer (Jim True-Frost) is interrogated about his nightmarish short stories and their similarities to a number of murders occurring in his town. When the writer's mentally impaired brother (Michael Shannon) is also brought in for questioning by two officers (Tracy Letts and Yasen Peyankov), the police procedural takes unforeseen twists and turns.
Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman played to critical acclaim in London (Olivier Award Winner) and New York (Tony nominee). Other plays include The Beauty Queen of Leenane (which played at Steppenwolf in 1999), The Cripple of Inishmaan and Tony nominees The Lonesome West and The Lieutenant of Inishmore. His short film Six Shooter won a 2006 Academy Award.
Ensemble member Amy Morton last directed Don DeLillo’s Love-Lies-Bleeding, which traveled to the Kennedy Center following its run in the Steppenwolf Upstairs Theatre. Other directing credits include The Dresser, Glengarry Glen Ross and We All Went Down to Amsterdam.
Michael Shannon appears in Bug, which was recently screened at the Cannes Film Festival Directors Night and will open nationwide December 2006. Ensemble member Tracy Letts wrote the screenplay for Bug based on his stage play. Letts’ play August: Osage County will receive its world premiere at Steppenwolf in June 2007. Ensemble member Yasen Peyankov last appeared at Steppenwolf in Lost Land. Ensemble member Jim True-Frost last appeared on stage in The Rivals at Lincoln Center. Danny McCarthy was last seen in Prison Break. Elizabeth Rich played the titular character in The Duchess of Malfi at Writers’ Theatre. Abigail Leone Droeger, Oliver Kal and Quinn Wermeling make their Steppenwolf debut.
Title:
The Pillowman
Playwright:
Martin McDonagh
Director:
ensemble member Amy Morton
Location:
Steppenwolf Downstairs Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted
Dates:
Previews: September 14-23, 2006
Opening: Sunday, September 24, 2006, at 6:00 p.m.
Regular Run: September 26-November 12, 2006
Curtain Times:
Tuesday through Sunday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday matinees at 3:00 p.m.
Wednesday matinees on October 25, November 1 and 8, 2006, at 2:00 p.m.
There will be no Sunday evening performances on October 29, November 5 and 12, 2006.
Ticket price:
$20-$60
Twenty $20 tickets are available at Audience Services beginning at 11:00 a.m. on the day of each
performance. Half-price rush tickets are available one hour before each show.
Audience Services:
1650 N. Halsted, 312-335-1650
Online ticketing available at www.steppenwolf.org
Free post-show discussions are offered after every performance.
Steppenwolf is located near all forms of public transportation and is wheelchair accessible. Street and lot parking are available. Assistive listening devices are available for every performance.
Improvements to the Steppenwolf website were made possible by The Chicago Community Trust. For more than 90 years, The Chicago Community Trust has connected the generosity of donors with the needs of the community by making grants to organizations working to improve metropolitan Chicago. The Trust granted its billionth dollar in 2006, and last year, gave more than $81 million. To learn more, please visit the Trust online at www.cct.org.
Committed to the principle of ensemble performance through the collaboration of a company of actors, directors and playwrights, Steppenwolf Theatre Company's mission is to advance the vitality and diversity of American theater by nurturing artists, encouraging repeatable creative relationships, and contributing new works to the national canon. The company, formed in 1976 by a collective of actors, is dedicated to perpetuating an ethic of mutual respect and the development of artists through on-going group work. Steppenwolf has grown into an internationally renowned company of thirty-five artists whose talents include acting, directing, playwriting, filmmaking, and textual adaptation.
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