(2-4 workshops, and 1 field trip to Steppenwolf)

Our Field Trip Residency Program is composed to accompany a field trip to a Steppenwolf student matinee performance and is structured into three parts. 1) Preparation - pre-show workshop, 2) Experience - attending a student matinee, and 3) Reflection or Interpretation - post-show workshops.

• The Pre-Show Workshop is intended to peak creative inquiry within students and give students the opportunity to think like an artist when attending the student matinee. Students craft a “lens” through which to view the production by asking in-depth questions, contextualizing the play in the past and present, and start to build personal connections between the play and their own lives.
• The Experience of seeing a play at Steppenwolf Theatre is always followed by a post-show discussion. At student matinee performances, the discussion moderator fosters an in-depth conversation between the students themselves. The actors and creative team members of the show participate in the conversation and offer an opportunity for the students to ask questions directly to the professionals. Steppenwolf also has a counselor onsite for all student matinee performances to ensure we are taking care of our students while we are challenging them. Check out our field trip opportunities here.
• The Post-Show Workshops offer an opportunity for students to create personal meaning from the play with performance-based exercises and in-depth reflective discussions. Students are encouraged to make connections that are personal and societal, to be able to reflect on and synthesize their personal connections to the play, and make artistic choices to bring these ideas to life.

(6 workshops, for theatre and drama classrooms)

This residency is designed to be paired with a scene or monologue study or showcase unit that you already teach in your Theatre classroom! Steppenwolf will provide a dynamic and diverse collection of the best scenes and monologues for young protagonists from the last 20 years of Steppenwolf for Young Adults productions - plus the rich Study Guide materials to go along with each show! Our industry professional Teaching Artists will join you in your classroom to help students choose a piece and work through basics like character analysis, subtext, physicality, tactics, and emotional honesty - all through the lens of Steppenwolf Ensemble style acting and directing techniques. This residency can be flexible and adapted to the needs of your classroom.

(6 workshops, for Civics & History classrooms)

This residency is designed to be paired with a civic practice, democracy, or societal change project unit that you already teach in your Civics or History classroom! Steppenwolf Teaching Artists will bring in games, activities, and theatre exercises rooted in Steppenwolf Ensemble Ethos and concepts from Augusto Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed techniques to bring to life classroom discussions around power, world-building, and how societies, governments and people work together to make decisions and effect change. Students will explore using art and theatre skills as tactics in the resistance of oppression and will build their abilities to work together as a classroom ensemble and reflect on how they could apply those skills to civic practice in their communities. This residency can be flexible and adapted to the needs of your classroom!

For more information on our In-School Residency Programs, please contact Associate Director of Education Dana Murphy at dmurphy@steppenwolf.org.

Watch residency video

View photos from the Residency program