A History of
Steppenwolf & Shepard
"There is a compelling case that if a guiding aesthetic exists for Steppenwolf, it is built upon the visceral, strange and searing foundation of the late Sam Shepard’s body of work. Our ensemble has returned again and again to these plays for succor and inspiration. There’s something intangible and ephemeral about his work that approaches sacred. We are thrilled to share this production with you and to write another chapter in a long relationship with Shepard, Steppenwolf’s patron saint of irreverent, enigmatic, and downright explosive American Drama."
- Glenn Davis & Audrey Francis
AT A GLANCE
Steppenwolf's productions of Sam Shepard plays and the ensemble members who worked on them:
1981 |
Action featuring ensemble members Terry Kinney and Laurie Metcalf, directed by ensemble member Gary Sinise
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1982 |
True West featuring ensemble members Francis Guinan, John Malkovich, Laurie Metcalf and Jeff Perry, directed by ensemble member Gary Sinise. This production went on to transfer to the Apollo Theater Center where ensemble members Randall Arney and Tom Irwin joined the cast.
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1984 |
Fool for Love featuring ensemble members Randall Arney, William Petersen and Rondi Reed, directed by ensemble member Terry Kinney.
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1987 |
A Lie of the Mind featuring ensemble members Randall Arney, Robert Brueler, Amy Morton, Jeff Perry and Rondi Reed.
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1991 |
Curse of the Starving Class featuring ensemble members Robert Breuer, Kathryn Erbe, Moira Harris, Rick Snyder, Jim True-Frost and Alan Wilder, directed by ensemble member Randall Arney
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1995 |
Buried Child featuring ensemble member Lois Smith, directed by ensemble member Gary Sinise. This production transferred to Broadway.
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2019 |
True West featuring ensemble members Francis Guinan, Jon Michael Hill and Namir Smallwood, directed by ensemble member Randall Arney. This production transferred to the Galway International Arts Festival.
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2025 |
Fool for Love featuring ensemble members Cliff Chamberlain, Tim Hopper and Caroline Neff.
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A Closer Look
Sam Shepard first crossed paths with the Steppenwolf crew in 1979, when Gary Sinise and John Malkovich starred in a small Los Angeles production of Curse of the Starving Class.
After mounting a successful run of Action in 1981, Sinise got to work trying to secure rights for Steppenwolf to produce True West, which had premiered in San Francisco and New York City, but had not yet had its Midwest premiere.
True West opened in Chicago on March 31, 1982 to universal acclaim and, shortly thereafter, transferred to the Apollo Theater Center for a 5 week run before transferring again to Cherry Lane Theater in NYC, where it would run for almost two years. The Chicago premiere of True West, and the subsequent New York transfer helped intoduce Steppenwolf to the world stage and likely contributed to the company being awarded the Tony Award for Regional Theatre Excellence in 1985.
Steppenwolf's production of Buried Child in 1995 provided a rare occasion that Shepard revisited a work: he showed up to rehearsal unexpectedly, and after seeing the Steppenwolf cast, started to rewrite: “When the Steppenwolf production started, a whole territory of the play became clear to me. I started tailor-making it for this production. What triggered a lot of the re-writing was that I saw these weird actors and a director who intuitively understood the humor that couches the tragedy.”
Steppenwolf’s many engagements with Shepard’s work in the company’s formative years, which coincided with Shepard’s ascendant international acclaim, made the company and the playwright inextricably linked in the minds of many theatre-goers. The so-called (and unofficial) “Steppenwolf style” of acting, full of visceral, vulnerable, brutal, relentless performance, was forged in the pages of Shepard’s seminal works. It's only appropriate then that the patriarch of the Weston family in the 2013 film adaptation of ensemble member Tracy Letts's pivotal play August: Osage County was played by Sam Shepard in one of his final film performances.
Photo & Video Gallery
Ensemble members Rondi Reed and William Petersen in Steppenwolf's original 1984 production of Fool for Love. Our current searing revival features ensemble members Cliff Chamberlain, Tim Hopper and Carolin Neff.
Experience this masterpiece on stage now!
Ensemble members Rondi Reed and William Petersen in Steppenwolf's original 1984 production of Fool for Love. Our current searing revival features ensemble members Cliff Chamberlain, Tim Hopper and Carolin Neff.
Experience this masterpiece on stage now!