A new season, a new building, a new era
Lock in your seats TO A SPECTACULAR LINEUP OF GROUND BREAKING THEATRE AND BE THE FIRST TO SIT IN OUR BRILLIANTLY DESIGNED new theatre-in-the-round when you become a classic member!
Good Night, and Good Luck
By Matt Charman
Directed by ensemble member Anna D. Shapiro
Featuring ensemble members Alana Arenas, Ian Barford, Audrey Francis, Tom Irwin and William Petersen
Based on the Screenplay by George Clooney and Grant Heslov
In the Downstairs Theatre
1953: Dark days in Washington, DC. Senator Joseph McCarthy wages his ruthless campaign against all those he deems “Un-American,” public trust in the institutions of government is in perilous decline and a panicked gloom grips the nation. All that stands in the way of the continued disintegration of the American body politic is Edward R. Murrow, his room of intrepid journalists and one black-and-white newscast destined to change the course of this country’s civic life. This world premiere adaptation of George Clooney’s Oscar-nominated film is a stark, fast-moving and timely look at the treacherous business of telling truths in dark times.
Bald Sisters
By Vichet Chum
Directed by Patricia McGregor
In the Upstairs Theatre
Two bald sisters at an impasse, an imperfect husband wrestling with his faith, a young immigrant hustling to pay for college and Ma—the matriarch whose sudden death has turned their world upside-down. How does this Cambodian American family plan a funeral for a force of nature who manages to bedevil them in death even more than she did in life? Do they honor the past from which she struggled to heal or the future she willed into existence? This world premiere play by Vichet Chum is a sharp-edged, hilarious and ultimately poignant exploration of an American family finding its way.
Barcelona
By Bess Wohl
Directed by Trip Cullman
Featuring ensemble member Caroline Neff
In the Downstairs Theatre
Barcelona. Las Ramblas. Late night. A young American woman stumbles into the arms of an older handsome stranger. As the booze fades and the light gathers, their relationship grows murkier, darker and decidedly more dangerous and it becomes clear that these lovers are not who they seem. Bess Wohl’s daring and provocative play is an expertly drawn battle of personal fantasy vs national truth that will leave audiences questioning their eyes, ears and—most of all—their loyalties.
Last Night and the Night Before
By Donnetta Lavinia Grays
Directed by Valerie Curtis-Newton
Featuring ensemble member Namir Smallwood
In the Downstairs Theatre
A young woman is on the run. From what, she will not say. Arriving on the doorstep of her older sister’s Brooklyn brownstone with her ten-year-old daughter Sam, but without her loyal husband, her presence asks more questions than it answers as everyone in her orbit is thrown off balance and into one another. As Sam becomes increasingly haunted by the life she was forced to leave in Georgia, the adults are forced to consider what they must sacrifice to break a cycle of despair. Stunning, poetic and heartbreaking, Donnetta Lavinia Grays’ portrait of Black Love explores the complex forms family can take.
Choir Boy
By ensemble member Tarell Alvin McCraney
Featuring ensemble members James Vincent Meredith and Austin Pendleton
In the Downstairs Theatre
Pharus Young, now a senior at the Charles R. Drew Prep School for Boys, an institution committed to building “strong, ethical black men,” endeavors to be the best leader of the school’s prestigious choir in its 50-year history. But in a world built on rites and rituals, should he conform to the expectations of his peers in order to gain the respect he desperately seeks? Written by Oscar-winning ensemble member Tarell Alvin McCraney (Moonlight), this Tony-nominated play—threaded throughout with soul-stirring a cappella gospel hymns—is the story of a young gay black man and his battle between identity and community.
Seagull
By Anton Chekhov
Translated and adapted by ensemble member Yasen Peyankov
Directed by ensemble member Yasen Peyankov
Featuring ensemble members Ian Barford, Cliff Chamberlain, Francis Guinan, Tim Hopper, Sandra Marquez, James Vincent Meredith, Caroline Neff, Karen Rodrgiuez and Namir Smallwood
In the NEW theatre-in-the-round
In a giant country house filled to overflow on a long summer weekend in the Russian countryside, three generations collide in Yasen Peyankov’s extraordinarily funny and magical adaption of Anton Chekhov’s Seagull, the play that will open our new theatre-in-the-round. In classic Chekhovian style, an all Ensemble cast will wrestle with the eternal questions that haunt the intellectual artist class: What is Love? What is Art? When is Lunch? Please join us for this historical moment in Steppenwolf’s journey as we explore the work that inspired us, laugh at the battles that consume us and celebrate, together, all that makes us grateful for each other.