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Displaying items by tag: Steppenwolf Theatre

Tuesday, 12 March 2024 16:04

Steppenwolf Theatre Announces 2024/25 Season

Steppenwolf Theatre Company, under the leadership of Artistic Directors Glenn Davis and Audrey Francis and Executive Director Brooke Flanagan, today announced its 2024/25 Season, featuring a dynamic line-up of modern masterpieces, Chicago and world premieres. The 49th Season includes five Steppenwolf Membership Series productions that invite audiences to experience the next chapter of Steppenwolf's bold, visceral and muscular work, while celebrating a dynamic range of exciting new voices and Steppenwolf legends. The 2024/25 Season is presented at Steppenwolf's expanded campus, which includes three theaters: the in-the-round Ensemble Theater in Honor of Helen Zell, the Downstairs Theater and the intimate 1700 Theater.

Artistic Directors Glenn Davis and Audrey Francis comment, "Our 2024/25 Season demands the best from our ensemble. The plays we've chosen require our artists to bring the whole of themselves (physically, emotionally, spiritually) and leave it all onstage in a sprint to the finish. Night. After. Night. This season feels like the strike of a match, a lit fuse and a race to the explosive finale."

Raising the curtain on Steppenwolf's 2024/25 Season, Tony Award-winning ensemble member Anna D. Shapiro returns to direct Michael Frayn's classic comedy Noises Off, presented in a co-production with Geffen Playhouse, where ensemble member Tarell Alvin McCraney serves as Artistic Director. Steppenwolf's take on the funniest farce ever written features ensemble members Audrey Francis, Francis Guinan, Ora Jones, James Vincent Meredith and Karen Rodriguez. The 49th season continues with the world premiere of Ngozi Anyanwu's bluesy, seductive Leroy and Lucy, directed by Awoye Timpo. Featuring live music, ensemble member Jon Michael Hill stars in this tale of a musician and a stranger who meet at a crossroads on a dark Mississippi night. Up next, Jeremy Herrin helms Sam Shepard's masterpiece Fool For Love, a twisted and tequila-soaked love letter from one of the greatest American playwrights. In the spring, Steppenwolf is thrilled to present the Chicago premiere of The Book of Grace by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, an explosive family portrait directed by Steve H. Broadnax III and featuring ensemble member Glenn Davis. The 2024/25 Season concludes with the Chicago premiere of Noah Diaz's wildly imaginative new play You Will Get Sick, directed by Artistic Director Audrey Francis with an ensemble cast including Cliff Chamberlain, Amy Morton and Namir Smallwood.

2024/25 Classic Memberships are now on sale starting as low as $160 and include all five Membership Series productions – three plays in the Downstairs Theater and two in the Ensemble Theater. Classic Members receive priority access to seats along with full membership benefits, including unlimited ticket exchanges. The Black Card, Steppenwolf's flex membership, offers six ticket credits starting as low as $120 that allow patrons flexibility for when and how they see shows at Steppenwolf. For patrons under 30, RED Card Memberships offer six ticket credits for just $99. Discounted packages for students and teachers and accessible packages are also available. For more information and to purchase Memberships, visit Audience Services at www.steppenwolf.org or call (312) 335-1650.

Throughout the 2024/25 season, Steppenwolf continues its commitment to the next generation of audiences with dedicated student matinee performances during four of the five Membership Series productions (Noises Off, Leroy and Lucy, Fool For Love and The Book of Grace). Reaching nearly 15,000 teens, educators and community members annually, Steppenwolf Education and Engagement also includes in-school residencies, teen programs, community partnerships and educator trainings for classroom teachers and teaching artists. For additional information about Steppenwolf's Education and Engagement programming and to register your school for a field trip visit steppenwolf.org/education.

Also in 2024/25, Steppenwolf's LookOut Series will continue to present an incredible breadth of work in the 1700 Theater. A home for Chicago's performing artists across disciplines, LookOut will shortly announce their eclectic lineup for Summer 2024 and beyond. Highlights will include: new work from Chicago theater legends, a recurring musical theater-themed drag show, solo showcases from Chicago's funniest comedians, evenings of exciting local music and much more. The LookOut Series is ongoing, with full programming at steppenwolf.org/lookout

Executive Director Brooke Flanagan adds "With next season, Steppenwolf is doubling down on our role as America's preeminent ensemble theater. Our commitment to bold ensemble-driven work, service as a launching pad for new plays and partnership in education to teachers and teens across Chicago has never been stronger. Our three-theater campus has also allowed us to welcome a broader spectrum of the arts community to create alongside us – through both the LookOut Series and visiting artist initiatives. The result is a dynamic calendar of offerings to complement our season of produced work that positions Steppenwolf as a cultural hub for Chicago."

Noises Off
By Michael Frayn
Directed by ensemble member Anna D. Shapiro
Featuring ensemble members Audrey Francis, Francis Guinan, Ora Jones, James Vincent Meredith and Karen Rodriguez
A co-production with Geffen Playhouse
September 12 – October 27, 2024
In the Downstairs Theater
Press opening: Sunday, September 22, 2024 at 6 pm

The cast and crew of Nothing On are scrambling to prepare for opening night, but despite their earnest efforts, the production is an absolute mess. Line flubs and lost props and missed cues, oh my! Can this beleaguered ensemble overcome egos and jealousies to pull the show together in time? 

Onstage antics collide with offstage foibles in Steppenwolf's production of Noises Off, the classic comedy that writes an ingenious, slapstick and zany tribute to "theatre-people" everywhere. By the end of this dizzying play-within-a-play, you won't know stage right from left.

World Premiere!
Leroy and Lucy
By Ngozi Anyanwu
Directed by Awoye Timpo
Featuring ensemble member Jon Michael Hill
October 24 – December 15, 2024 
In the Ensemble Theater in Honor of Helen Zell
Press opening: Sunday, November 3, 2024 at 6 pm

Two lost souls meet at a crossroads, in the dead of night, deep in the Mississippi of it all. With a yearning guitar between them, they tell secrets and conjure a sound once forgotten – a tune pitched with Leroy's longing and the sweet purr of Lucy's desires. In this sultry world premiere, a play with music from Ngozi Anyanwu, the Delta Blues fill the air, the future lies just down the road and we are everywhere and nowhere all at once. 

Fool For Love
By Sam Shepard
Directed by Jeremy Herrin
January 30 – March 16, 2025
In the Downstairs Theater
Press opening: Saturday, February 8, 2025 at 7:30 pm

In a sweltering motel room in the Mojave Desert, May and Eddie lick their wounds and get ready for another relentless round. This brawl is eternal and infernal. And the Old Man is always watching. 

Perhaps the sexiest, most haunting play of the 20th century, Fool for Love is a twisted and tequila-soaked love letter from Sam Shepard, one of the greatest American playwrights, indulging the need to get inside someone just to tear them apart.

Chicago Premiere!
The Book of Grace
By Suzan-Lori Parks
Directed by Steve H. Broadnax III
Featuring ensemble member Glenn Davis
March 27 – May 18, 2025
In the Ensemble Theater in Honor of Helen Zell
Press opening: Sunday, April 6, 2025 at 6 pm

Grace looks for the good in everything: in her husband's rules, in the border he patrols, in the return of his estranged son. But a want for goodness cannot unwind the past, as this taut family reunion explodes in all directions.

The Chicago premiere of Suzan-Lori Parks' The Book of Grace is an incendiary family portrait from the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer of Topdog/Underdog. Witness this startling reminder that the search for common ground can be bloody and brutal, leaving casualties on every side of the divide.

Chicago Premiere!
You Will Get Sick
By Noah Diaz
Directed by Artistic Director Audrey Francis
Featuring ensemble members Cliff Chamberlain, Amy Morton and Namir Smallwood
June 5 – July 13, 2025
In the Downstairs Theater
Press opening: Sunday, June 15, 2025 at 6 pm

A young man with a secret. An older woman who will listen. A predatory flock of birds. An upcoming audition for The Wizard of Oz. Welcome to You Will Get Sick, a wildly imaginative new play that traces the touching, hilarious, heartbreaking saga of one man's illness and his unlikely caretaker's pursuit of her dreams.  

Admired as "lively, surreal and surprising" by The New York Times, Noah Diaz's Chicago debut is equal parts comedy, form-bending experiment and sober meditation on mortality. Renowned ensemble member Amy Morton (a Tony Award nominee for August: Osage County and Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) returns to the Steppenwolf stage for the first time in over a decade, making this season finale a must-see experience! 

Published in Upcoming Theatre

Steppenwolf Theatre Company, the nation's premier ensemble theater company, is pleased to continue its 48th season with the world premiere of Purpose, an epic family drama by two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, directed by two-time Tony Award winner Phylicia RashadPurpose will play March 14 – April 21, 2024 in Steppenwolf's Downstairs Theater, 1650 N. Halsted St. in Chicago Single tickets for starting at $20 are now on sale at steppenwolf.org or the Box Office at (312) 335-1650. The press opening is Sunday, March 24 at 6 pm.

Purpose features ensemble members Alana Arenas (David Makes Man, The Brother/Sister Plays), Glenn Davis (King JamesDownstate) and Jon Michael Hill (Elementary, Pass Over) with Ayanna Bria Bakari (Last Night and the Night BeforeThe Chi), Harry Lennix (The Blacklist, The DC Universe) and Tamara Tunie (Law & Order: SVUI Wanna Dance with Somebody).

For decades, the influential Jasper family has been a pillar of Black American Politics: civil rights leaders, pastors and congressmen. But like all families, there are cracks and secrets just under the surface. When the youngest son Nazareth returns home to Illinois with an uninvited friend in tow, the family is forced into a reckoning with itself, its faith and the legacies of Black radicalism. Spirited, hilarious and filled with intrigue, Purpose is an epic family drama – a long-awaited world premiere from one of the country's most celebrated voices.

The creative team includes Todd Rosenthal (Scenic Design), Dede Ayite (Costume Design), Amith Chandrashaker (Lighting Design), Rob Milburn & Michael Bodeen (Sound Design), Tyrone Phillips (Associate Director), Matthew Hawkins (Fight Choreographer), Kate DeVore (Vocal Coach), Jonathan L. Green (Dramaturg), Patrick Zakem (Creative Producer), Tom Pearl (Producing Director), JC Clementz, CSA (Casting), Laura D. Glenn (Production Stage Manager) and Jaclynn Joslin (Assistant Stage Manager). For full cast and creative team bios, click here.

Production Details:

Title: Purpose – World Premiere!
Playwright: Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Director: Phylicia Rashad
Cast: Alana Arenas (Morgan Jasper), Glenn Davis (Solomon "Junior" Jasper Jr.) and Jon Michael Hill (Nazareth "Naz" Jasper) with Ayanna Bria Bakari (Aziza Houston), Harry Lennix (Solomon "Sonny" Jasper) and Tamara Tunie (Claudine Jasper).

Location: Steppenwolf's Downstairs Theater, 1650 N. Halsted St., Chicago

Dates: Previews: Thursday, March 14 – Saturday, March 23, 2024
Regular run: Tuesday, March 26 – Sunday, April 21, 2024
Curtain Times: Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30 pm; Saturdays at 3 pm & 7:30 pm; and Sundays at 3 pm. Please note: there will not be a performance on Tuesday, March 19 or Tuesday, April 16; there will be a 2 pm performance on Wednesday, April 10; there will not be a 7:30 pm performance on Wednesday, April 10.

Tickets: Single tickets for Purpose ($20 - $102) are now on sale at steppenwolf.org and the Box Office at (312) 335-1650. Steppenwolf Flex Memberships are also currently on sale: Black Card Memberships with six tickets for use any time for any production and RED Card Memberships for theatergoers under 30.

Accessible Performance Dates:

Audio-described and touch tour: Sunday, April 7 at 3 pm (1:30 pm touch tour, 3 pm curtain)
Open-captioned: Thursday, April 4 at 7:30 pm and Saturday, April 13 at 3 pm
ASL-interpreted: public performance: Friday, April 12 at 7:30 pm 

Artist Biographies:

Alana Arenas (Morgan Jasper) joined the Steppenwolf Theatre Company ensemble in 2007 and created the role of Pecola Breedlove for the Steppenwolf for Young Adults production of The Bluest Eye, which also played at the New Victory Theater Off-Broadway. Recent Steppenwolf appearances include the Steppenwolf for Young Adults production of MonsterThe FundamentalsMarie AntoinetteTribesBellevilleHead of PassesGood PeopleThree SistersThe MarchMan in LoveMiddletownThe Hot L BaltimoreThe Etiquette of VigilanceThe Brother/Sister PlaysThe TempestThe CrucibleSpare Change and The Sparrow Project. Other theatre credits include Disgraced (American Theater Company), The Arabian Nights (Lookingglass Theatre Company, Berkeley Repertory Theatre and Kansas City Repertory Theatre), Eyes (eta Creative Arts), SOST (MPAACT), WVON (Black Ensemble Theater) and Hecuba (Chicago Shakespeare Theater). Television and film credits include David Makes Man, Canal Street, CrisisBossThe BeastKabuku Rides and Lioness of Lisabi. She is originally from Miami, Florida, where she began her training at the New World School of the Arts. Alana holds a BFA from The Theatre School at DePaul University.

Ayanna Bria Bakari (Angela Houston) Steppenwolf Theatre Company: Last Night and the Night Before. Chicago: Relentless, Too Heavy for Your Pocket (TimeLine Theatre); RelentlessHow to Catch Creation (Goodman Theatre); As You Like It (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); The Niceties – Black Theater Alliance Award, Stickfly (Writers Theatre). Regional: The Salvagers (Asst. Dir. at Yale Repertory Theatre); Clyde's (TheaterWorks Hartford); Sunflowered (Northern Sky Theater); The Rainmaker (Peninsula Players Theatre); The Orginalist (Indiana Repertory Theatre). Television: Wu-Tang: An American Saga (HULU), The CHI (Showtime), Chicago PDChicago FireEmpire (FOX) and 61st Street (AMC). Film: Holiday Heist (BET). Education: BFA, The Theatre School at DePaul University. Ayanna Bria is a governing ensemble member of The Story Theatre and is represented by Stewart Talent. #BLACKLIVESMATTER.

Glenn Davis (Solomon "Junior" Jasper Jr.) is an actor, producer and Artistic Director of Steppenwolf Theatre Company alongside Audrey Francis, where he has been an ensemble member since 2017. His Steppenwolf credits include: Downstate, The Christians, You Got Older, The Brother/Sister Plays, Head of Passes, King James (also Mark Taper Forum, Manhattan Theatre Club) and most recently Describe the Night. Broadway credits include: Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo (also Kirk Douglas Theatre, Mark Taper Forum). Off-Broadway credits include: Transfers (MCC Theatre), Wig Out! (Vineyard Theatre) and Downstate (Playwrights Horizons). Other regional credits include: Moscow x6 (Williamstown Theatre Festival). International credits include: Downstate (National Theatre, UK), Edward II, The Winter's Tale and As You Like It (Stratford Festival), as well as Othello at The Shakespeare Company. Television credits include: Billions, 24, The Unit, Jericho and The Good Wife. Glenn is an artistic associate at the Young Vic in London and at the Vineyard Theatre in New York. He is also a partner in Cast Iron Entertainment, a collective of artists consisting of Sterling K. Brown, Brian Tyree Henry, Jon Michael Hill, Andre Holland and Tarell Alvin McCraney. Cast Iron is currently in residence at The Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles. In 2021, Glenn founded The Chatham Grove Company along with his producing partner Tarell Alvin McCraney, which is currently in an overall deal with Universal Content Productions (UCP).

Jon Michael Hill (Nazareth "Naz" Jasper) joined the Steppenwolf Theatre Company ensemble in 2007. Steppenwolf: True West (also Galway International Arts Festival), Pass Over, Constellations, Head of Passes, The Hot L Baltimore, The Tempest, Kafka on the Shore, The Unmentionables. Broadway: Pass OverSuperior Donuts. Off-Broadway: The Refuge Plays (New York Theatre Workshop) Pass Over (Lincoln Center). Film: Pass Over, Widows, In The Radiant City, No Pay, Nudity. Television: Upcoming: A Man in Full (Netflix) Elementary (CBS), Detroit 1-8-7 (ABC), Eastbound and Down (HBO), Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (NBC) and Person of Interest (CBS).

Harry Lennix (Solomon "Sonny" Jasper) is a distinguished film, television, stage actor and producer. For the past 10 years, he starred as "Harold Cooper" in NBC's long-running, hit series The Blacklist. Lennix's breakout role was "Dresser" in 20th Century Studio's feature The Five Heartbeats, from director Robert Townsend. He has portrayed fan-favorite characters in blockbuster franchise films such as "General Swanwick/Martian Manhunter" in DC Entertainment's Man of SteelBatman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice and Zack Snyder's Justice League and as "Commander Lock" in Warner Brothers' The Matrix franchise films The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. He also starred as "Joe Adams" in the Oscar Award-winning feature Ray.

Lennix received widespread critical acclaim and a Golden Satellite Award as "Aaron" in Julie Taymor's Titus with Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange. Other select film credits over his decades-spanning career include Spike Lee's Chi-Raq and Clockers, Gina Prince-Bythewood's Love & BasketballStomp the YardCanal StreetNothing Is ImpossibleThe Last FallA Beautiful SoulState of PlayResurrecting the ChampChrystalBarbershop 2: Back In BusinessGet on the Bus and Bob Roberts. He has also starred in and produced several films for his production company Exponent Media Group.

On television, Lennix garnered acclaim starring as political activist "Adam Clayton Powell, Jr." in Showtime's Keep the Faith Baby. For his performance, he won a Black Reel Award and earned Golden Satellite Award and NAACP Image Award Nominations. He also starred as "Jim Gardner," the Chief of Staff to POTUS, in the Golden Globe-nominated ABC series Commander in Chief, for which he received an NAACP Image Award Nomination. Other television credits include Showtime's Billions, HBO's Insecure and Little Britain, CW's Emily Owens, M.D., NBC's ER, Fox's Dollhouse and 24, among many others. He recently lent his voice to Matthew A. Cherry's animated MAX series Young Love, based on his Oscar-winning short film, Cartoon Network's Transformers: Robots in Disguise and can soon be heard in Zack Snyder's animated Netflix series Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas.

In theatre, Lennix made his Broadway debut in August Wilson's Tony nominated Radio Golf. He also starred in August Wilson's King Hedley II at the Mark Taper Forum. His portrayal of "Malcolm X" at the Goodman Theater earned him the first Ollie Award. He received Joseph Jefferson Citations for his starring roles in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and Caught in the Act. He has directed and appeared in productions across the country including Northlight Theatre Company's Permanent Collection at LA's Greenway Arts Alliance, which was later remounted at The Kirk Douglas Theater. He directed the stage version of Robert Townsend's The Five Heartbeats, which received three NAACP Theater Award Nominations and The Glass Menagerie for Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company. In 2001, he was part of the first American company to be Invited to the Royal Shakespeare Company in the production of Cymbeline. This spring he returns to the Chicago stage in two new plays: Steppenwolf's Purpose and Congo Square's How I Learned What I Learned.

A proud Chicagoan raised on the city's South Side, Lennix is creating The Lillian Marcie Center and AAMPA (African American Museum of The Performing Arts), an arts complex he calls "the Black version of Lincoln Center." In 2019 he was named Ambassador for the Prostate Cancer Foundation and brings his message of early detection through PSA's and public speaking. He serves as Spokesman for NOBLE, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, and is an ambassador to the National Association of Drug Court Professionals. He is on the Advisory Council of Northwestern University, his alma mater, and is a board member of Reading Rescue, a training program for educators teaching reading skills to at-risk elementary school children.

Tamara Tunie (Claudine Jasper) has a distinguished body of work that encompasses stage, television and film. Last year she was seen in the role of Cissy Houston, mother of the great American icon Whitney Houston, in I Wanna Dance with Somebody, reuniting her with Caveman's Valentine and Eve's Bayou director, Kasi Lemmons.

Ms. Tunie also triumphed on the London stage last season at the Old Vic in the critically-acclaimed production of Mike Bartlett's The 47th, in which she starred as Kamala Harris opposite Bertie Carvel's Donald Trump in a futuristic imagining of a presidential run-off between the two. Under the direction of Rupert Goold, Tunie received glowing notices: "Tamara Tunie is magnetizing in her performance," "the charismatic Tamara Tunie," "utterly convincing," "sturdy under fire."

One of the distinct hallmarks of Ms. Tunie's remarkable career is a long examination of American culture and its unique social and power dynamics. Beginning with such films as Oliver Stone's Wall Street with Michael Douglas, Harold Becker's City Hall with Al Pacino, Taylor Hackford's Devil's Advocate with Keanu Reeves and Charlize Theron, to Robert Zemeckis' Flight opposite Denzel Washington, with whom she also starred on Broadway as "Calpurnia" in Julius Caesar, Ms. Tunie's attraction to content with depth and meaning is apparent. This thread continues with the Sundance TV series The Red Road, where Tamara starred as the challenged Native-American tribal chief "Marie Van Der Veen" opposite Jason Momoa; the BBC/Netflix international drama Black Earth Rising, which scrutinizes the West's complicity in the destabilization of Africa, portraying "Under-Secretary of State, Eunice Clayton;" and AMC's Dietland where she explored the underbelly of the American Beauty-Industrial Complex as "Julia," manager of the mysterious "beauty closet."

Ms. Tunie's award-winning stage works include the world premiere of American Son, a searing examination of race and class in which she originated the role of "Kendra Ellis-Connor;" her Obie-Award winning turn as "Marvelous" in Danai Gurira's Familiar, which grapples with identity, assimilation, tradition and the clashing of ideals of an African-Immigrant family; and most recently she starred in the world premiere of Bernarda's Daughters, where she portrayed matriarch "Florence Delva" with "oracular grandeur," another contemporary play that "mines" the effects of gentrification, police brutality and what it means to be "American," in a Haitian-American family in Brooklyn.

Ms. Tunie's directing credits include the premiere of Feelin' Good! starring Tony Award-winner LaChanze. She produced and directed the feature film See You in September, and Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep (a Pandemic/ZOOM film short, featuring Patina Miller), directed and co-wrote the world premiere of Jazzland at The Harlem School of the Arts, and is directing a new musical in development, entitled Marian, about the life of the world-changing Opera Diva, Marian Anderson. Most recently, Ms. Tunie won "The Best Director Award" from the New York Theatre Festival, 2023, for helming the new musical, Dorothy Dandridge! The Musical.

Ms. Tunie first gained an international following in the role of medical examiner "Dr. Melinda Warner" with 23 seasons on Dick Wolf's legendary NBC series Law & Order: SVU. She was a series regular on the Netflix cult favorite Cowboy Bebop, and she appeared on the Apple-TV futuristic-drama See as "The Bank" opposite Jason Momoa and Alfre Woodard.

Recurring guest-starring roles include such hit shows as Almost FamilyEmergenceBetter Call SaulBlue BloodsBillionsAlpha House24ElementaryThe Good Wife and Survivor's Remorse.

Ms. Tunie is a Founder of Black Theatre United. She is Chair Emerita of the Board of Directors of Figure Skating in Harlem, a non-profit organization that supports academic excellence and instills life skills to young girls in the Harlem community through the art and discipline of figure skating, to ensure they are champions "off the ice!" She serves on the Board of Directors at Harlem Stage/The Gatehouse, City Theatre Company in Pittsburgh, and is on the Advisory Board of Hearts of Gold, a not for profit that supports women and their children in New York City shelters, and helps them transition out of the system.

In 2005, Mayor Bloomberg awarded Ms. Tunie the "Made in New York Award" from the City of New York, for her support and commitment to Film, Television and Theater. Ms. Tunie holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from Carnegie-Mellon University, and now serves on the Executive Board of Trustees.

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (Playwright) is a Brooklyn-based playwright and producer and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist. Recent theater credits include The Comeuppance (Signature Theatre), Girls (Yale Rep), Everybody (Signature Theatre), War (Yale Rep; Lincoln Center/LCT3), Gloria (Vineyard Theatre), Appropriate (Obie Award; Signature Theatre), An Octoroon (Obie Award; Soho Rep, Theatre for a New Audience) and Neighbors (The Public Theater). He was showrunner, executive producer and writer for HULU/FX's drama series, Kindred, based on Octavia E. Butler's groundbreaking novel. He currently teaches at Yale University and serves as Vice President of the Dramatists Guild council and on the boards of Soho Rep, Park Avenue Armory, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and the Dramatists Guild Foundation. Honors include a USA Artists fellowship, a Guggenheim fellowship, the MacArthur fellowship, the Windham-Campbell Prize for Drama and the inaugural Tennessee Williams Award.

Phylicia Rashad (Director) A two-time Tony Award winner (A Raisin in the Sun and Skeleton Crew), her directing credits include Stephen Adly Guirgis' Our Lady of 121st Street, The RoommateBlues for an Alabama SkyMa Rainey's Black Bottom, Joe Turner's Come and Gone (2014 NAACP Theatre Award for Best Director), Immediate FamilyFencesA Raisin in the Sun, and Four Little Girls . Producing credits include and Ossie Davis' revival of Purlie Victorious on Broadway and PBS film (KCET-TV) "The Old Settler." Ms. Rashad currently serves as Dean of the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts at Howard University.

Accessibility
As a commitment to make the Steppenwolf experience accessible to everyone, performances featuring American Sign Language Interpretation, Open Captioning and Audio Description are offered during the run of each STC production (see dates above). Assistive listening devices and large-print programs are available for every performance and all our spaces are equipped with an induction hearing loop. Our building features wheelchair accessible seating and restrooms, push-button entrances, a courtesy wheelchair and all-gender restrooms, with accessible counter and table spaces at our bars. For additional information regarding accessibility, visit steppenwolf.org/plan-your-visit/accessibility or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Sponsor Information
Purpose was created with funds from the Prince Prize for Commissioning Original Work, which was awarded to Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 2015. It is also sponsored in part by Northern Trust, the Zell Family Foundation and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois. United Airlines is the Official and Exclusive Airline of Steppenwolf. Steppenwolf is also grateful for the significant season support from Allstate Insurance Company, Amazon, ArentFox Schiff, Conagra Brands Foundation, Kirkland & Ellis, PNC, and Vinci Restaurant. Steppenwolf also acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council Agency. This project is partially supported by a CityArts Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company is a Chicago theater that is home to America's ensemble. The company began performing in the mid-1970s in the basement of a Highland Park, IL church—today Steppenwolf is the nation's premier ensemble theater with 49 members who are among the top actors, playwrights and directors in the field. Deeply rooted in its ensemble ethos, the company is committed to equity, diversity, inclusion and making the Steppenwolf experience accessible to all. Groundbreaking productions from Balm in Gilead and August: Osage County to Downstate and Pass Over—and accolades that include the National Medal of Arts and 12 Tony® Awards—have made the theatre legendary. Artistic programming includes a membership series; a Steppenwolf for Young Adults season; and LookOut, a multi-genre performance series. The nationally recognized work of Steppenwolf Education engages more than 20,000 participants annually in Chicagoland communities promoting compassion, encouraging curiosity and inspiring action. While firmly grounded in the Chicago community, more than 40 original Steppenwolf productions have enjoyed success nationally and internationally, including Broadway, Off-Broadway, London, Sydney, Galway and Dublin. 2021 marked the opening of Steppenwolf's landmark Lefkofsky Arts & Education Center—deepening the company's commitment to Chicagoland teens and serving as a cultural nexus for Chicago. Glenn Davis and Audrey Francis are the Artistic Directors and E. Brooke Flanagan is Executive Director. Keating Crown is Chair of Steppenwolf's Board of Trustees.

Steppenwolf's Mission: Steppenwolf strives to create thrilling, courageous and provocative art in a thoughtful and inclusive environment. We succeed when we disrupt your routine with experiences that spark curiosity, empathy and joy. We invite you to join our ensemble as we navigate, together, our complex world. steppenwolf.orgfacebook.com/steppenwolftheatretwitter.com/steppenwolfthtr and instagram.com/steppenwolfthtr.

Published in Upcoming Theatre

Imagine being Jewish and attending a White Nationalists meeting undercover. Sounds crazy, right? In the award-winning comedian Alex Edelman’s acclaimed Broadway Solo Show, Just for Us you get to hear the story of how Edelman does the unthinkable by putting himself in an extremely uncomfortable situation among White Supremacists. It seems very serious but happens to work perfectly for this comedy show.

The show begins with a few cheesy jokes about gorillas and horses, and how Edelman is dedicated to his craft by spending $800 on sign language classes. Things quickly take a dramatic turn when Edelman shares the blatant anti-Semitism he began to face on Twitter years ago. The scenario gets even more interesting when he finds out there’s a meeting for White Nationalists seeking to “answer questions about their whiteness”. This finding leads to Edelman making a brave and possibly stupid decision to attend the meeting in an apartment located in Queens, New York.

Edelman’s experience attending the meeting carries through the rest of the show as he weaves in childhood stories and random funny lines about our society today. His jokes and anecdotes are brilliantly written with clever punchlines that even made himself laugh. This show is disturbingly relevant to the events unfolding in the world today. And as Jew, who was raised Orthodox, Edelman gives you an inside look of his life experience grappling with his Jewish identity and the hardships of anti-Semitism.

Alex Edelman is a stand-out comedian and is entertaining to watch on stage. He is actively moving around and has quirky movements as he shares his strange experiences and ridiculous thoughts. Comedy seems to come naturally to him as he quickly delivers joke after joke. Edelman did an amazing job engaging the crowd and made us feel like we were a part of his story. He even added a few quiet moments for us to feel how uncomfortable it was for him to be in the room full of anti-Semites at the White Nationalist meeting.

Throughout the show the crowd was on the edge of their seats as laughter echoed in the packed theater. Edelman keeps the audience hooked through ups and downs of laughter and intense silence as he unpacks the depths of serious topics of racism, anti-Semitism, and sheer ignorance. Following the show, audience members were raving with a standing ovation, clapping and cheering.

I spoke with a few of them, and many loved the show. A young man named Asher said, “The show was funny, but relatable, especially if you have experienced any form of being different.”

Another crowd member named Margo said, “It was surprisingly hilarious, endearing and came full circle in the end.” She continued, “It was universal for everybody, something we will take with us and carry from here on out.”

“Just For Us” directed by Adam Brace is hilarious and thoughtfully pieced together with each joke. It’s easily one of the best comedy shows I have seen in a long time. I highly recommend everyone attend this show, no matter your background. The jaw-dropping ending is worth every penny.

The Steppenwolf Theatre was the perfect setting for the comedy show. The theater was sold out and offered a variety of drinks at the bar. The Downstairs Theater has two levels of seating including main floor and balcony areas. The theater is accessible for everyone and is intimate enough so that you don’t feel like you are miles away from the stage.

The Just for Us show runs from Thursday, February 15 to Saturday February 24, 2024. The running time is a quick 85 minutes with no intermission. Showtimes vary day to day from 3:00 pm to 7:30 pm. It’s located in the Downstairs Theater at Steppenwolf Theatre Co. located on 1650 N. Halstead St. in Chicago. Tickets start at $52 and are on sale now at steppenwolf.org/justforus or at the Box Office at (312) 335-1650. Make sure to get your tickets soon as they are selling out fast!

Published in Theatre in Review

Matthew Paul Olmos is a playwright on the rise, and under the direction of Laura Alcalá Baker we have a chance to see a beautiful production of an exceptional work in its world premiere at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre. As the vernacular title suggests, “A Home What Howls (or the house what was ravine)” is not a staid work, not a constrained “Cherry Orchard” where emotions are buried between the lines.

Instead, Olmos’ work is poetic, magical, and musical as well, and the characters, though poor, are living rich, happy lives in their homes. In the first act, realism rules in many scenes, and Olmos shows a mastery of dialog and detail.

The play opens with a married couple—Abrana (Charin Alvarez) and Manuel Vargas (Eddie Torres) asleep on a bed. In the adjacent room their daughter Soledad (Leslie Sophia Pérez) is hard at work on papers scattered around the floor, perhaps her schoolwork, or maybe something else.

Her parents are awakened by sounds of trickling water running outside. Soon after, sound of a helicopter roars by, and we hear earth moving equipment as well. “There are nightmares around this house,” says Manuel as he and Abrana jump from the bed, and he begins fiddling with a trap door in the floor—an escape hatch?

We begin to piece together that this family is illegally living in a home condemned to make way for a reservoir, one that will allow housing and other development nearby ravine , through which a river flows. By means of a kind of inferential exposition, Olmos paints a portrait of what happens when families are driven from their homes by development—not from the outside looking in, but from inside the homes and families.

Olmos departs from this style to solid realism filled with exposition in one crucial scene: a public hearing at which the now adult Soledad challenges government official Frank over the process by which these families in the way of development have been displaced. It is certainly the best representation I’ve run across of a marginalized community challenging the validity of an eminent domain claim by city officials to displace homeowners dwelling in an area coveted by developers.

As the ravine along which they live is being flooded, and their homes taken, Soledad challenges the city establishment at a public hearing, outing all the tropes which society accepts as the rules of the game—the original seizure of the land from indigenous people by treaty and ceremony; the surveys of businesses showing broad support for the development; Tim Hopper in the role of Frank is exquisitely obtuse. After all, he argues, a ceremony was held in which a “citizen” of the indigenous “transferred” rights to development to the city. “How was this representative procured?” Soledad asks.

The question flies over his head, as Frank goes on to describe, in all sincerity, a ceremony that he found moving—but it highlights the suggestion that the indigenous individual may have had no right to speak for his people. “You’re using the term ‘peace offering,’” Soledad says. “But Public Works uses the terms ‘relinquish’ and ‘transfer.’”

And what about the original homeowners who settled for generations in this indigenous land. ”They were not asked, but they were considered deeply,” Frank says. ”Only businesses” were surveyed, admits Frank, who is beginning to realize he has aquite an adversary in Soledad. Frank says the homeowners displaced were compensated for the value of their homes, which were dilapidated and brought them little. But a home is much more than a building, Soledad points out. How were they compensated for the loss of happiness and memories, and the dispersion of their families, she asks. Market value can’t equal that kind of loss.

“A Home What Howls” runs about 90 minutes, no intermission, and is part of Steppenwolf's Young Adults theater program. But as with other such works in the Young Adults series, it is profoundly good, so I try to see them all.

I will say that I couldn’t always follow the magical parts of the second half, as the old woman resident Syera Lama (Isabel Quintero) appears. She teams up with Soledad in a quest for the rights of the people, encountering a menacing train conductor, also played by Hopper. Quintera also appears numerous times disguised as a magical figure Coyote. Despite my own confusion, the audience was clearly digging it, and the laughter at comical scenes was quite full. “A Home What Howls" runs through March 2 in Steppenwolf’s new in-the-round Ensemble Theater. It’s a great chance to see the work of a playwright we will doubtless be hearing from more and more.

Published in Theatre in Review
Thursday, 11 January 2024 12:58

Steppenwolf Announces LookOut Spring 2024 Season

LookOut, Steppenwolf Theatre's performance series that presents the work of artists and companies across genre and form, proudly announces its Spring 2024 season, showcasing the work of Chicago's vibrant community of dancers, choreographers and movement makers. Highlights from the lineup of seven unique engagements include Anjal Chande's solo work The Next Cup of Tea that is the culmination of seven years of development; Maggie Bridger's multi-media and universally accessible inquiry of pain and care; and a work exploring Black futures against the backdrop of empire from interdisciplinary artist Benji Hart.

Additionally, the LookOut Series is excited to announce the return of its curatorial residency program, offering an opportunity for a Chicago dance practitioner to curate a series of performances over a two-week span. Following the success of last season's series work around curated by Kara Brody and Amanda Maraist, this season Helen Lee curates a series entitled MERGE, colliding musicians and dancers in unexpected configurations.

LookOut Series Associate Producer Lauren Steinberg comments, "When we hosted work around last spring, we were struck by how many members of the local dance community showed up to support the series. Since then, it has become abundantly clear that Chicago practitioners need more resources and space to show their work. We're thrilled that Helen Lee will continue this mission with MERGE, which will feature more than a dozen artists."

All LookOut performances take place in Steppenwolf's 1700 Theater, the intimate venue nestled behind Front Bar, 1700 N. Halsted St. Tickets, which range in price from $5 – $35, are now on sale by visiting steppenwolf.org/lookout or by calling the Box Office at (312) 335-1650.

The full LookOut Spring 2024 Season (in chronological order):

The Chronicles of Fabulous Freddie: That Love
By Fabulous Freddie
Dates: 
Friday, February 16 & Saturday, February 17 at 8 pm
Ticket Price: $20
Description: Fabulous Freddie brings his lived experience to the stage for an unforgettable night of dance, soundscapes and wearable design. This multi-practice and multi-media performance weaves a story of healing, heroism and humor into a FABULOUS tale of alchemizing surviving into thriving and shining.

Radiate
By Maggie Bridger
Dates: 
Thursday, February 22, Friday, February 23 & Saturday, February 24 at 8 pm
Ticket Price: $5 – $20
Description: Radiate explores the mundanity, humor and time-bending experience of pain and care. Working across video and movement, Radiate centers access through the open use of tools like captions, Artistic Sign Language and audio description, as well as various tools that will allow audiences to attend to and curate their embodied experience of the work.
Note: Masks are required in the theater for all performances of Radiate.

WORLDS END...WORLDS BEGIN
An evening with Kao Ra Zen and Friends
Dates: 
Friday, March 1 & Saturday, March 2 at 8 pm Sunday, February 18 at 3 pm
Ticket Price: $20
Description: An evening of multimedia performances that take you on a journey through worlds and words, dimensions and dances, multiverses and music. Featuring performances by: Kao Ra Zen, Il Worood Il Beledi, Devika Dhir, Chicago Mask Ensemble, Allen Turner, Shalaka, Vivian Meretrix, Jason Winslade, Christophe Preissing, Kyle Gregory Price, Alanis Zoe Castillo Caref and Marisela Tapia.

The Next Cup of Tea
By Anjal Chande with special guest Sharon Udoh
Presented in partnership with the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
Dates: 
Friday, March 8, Saturday March 9, Thursday, March 14, Friday, March 15 & Saturday, March 16 at 8 pm
Ticket Price: $11 – $33
Description: The Next Cup of Tea is a solo dance-theater performance by Anjal Chande that investigates how to make sense of the never-ending impulses that run through our hearts, our everyday moments and our contradictory experiences. Through improvisational dance and storytelling, Chande, accompanied by Sharon Udoh on the piano, reflects on money, her grandfather, the politics of art and more.
Accessible performances: Closed captioned (Friday, March 15), ASL interpreted and audio description (Saturday, March 16).

World After This One
By Benji Hart
Dates: 
Friday, March 22 & Saturday, March 23 at 8 pm
Ticket Price: $27
Description: Looking through the lenses of three Black art forms: the queer street style of vogue, the Afro-Boricua dance and drumming tradition of bomba, and gospel music, World After This One uses movement and spoken word to examine how Black people have historically reclaimed the materials of empire to construct portals to impossible futures.

MERGE
Curated by Helen Lee
Dates: 
March 28 – April 6
Description: MERGE is a portal into the works of various movement and sound artists from all walks of life. Each program moves like a concert with an opening gesture followed by a headlining performance. Together these pairings collide creating a world where the entanglements of the chaotic and harmonious facets of dance and music can offer us a place to ruminate, delight and sometimes heal.

Program One:
Desert Turtle by Mitsu Salmon
bones fragile by Hannah Marcus
Dates: 
Thursday, March 28, Friday, March 29 & Saturday March 30 at 8 pm
Ticket Price: $35
Description: The evening begins with Hannah Marcus performing bones fragile, a movement and live sound looping piece that explores moments of infiniteness, tenderness and memory. Afterwards, artist Mitsu Salmon draws from her own family history, voice and geology in her work Desert Turtle.

Program Two:
Kissing The Earth by Kinnari Vora
Freedom From and Freedom To featuring Cristal Sabbagh, Scott Rubin, Amanda Maraist, Sharon Udoh, Kara Brody & Krissy Bergmark
Dates: 
Thursday, April 4, Friday, April 5 & Saturday April 6 at 8 pm
Ticket Price: $35
Description: Freedom From and Freedom To, led by Cristal Sabbagh, invites a pair of movement and sound improvisors from across Chicago to gather in front of a live audience, where they are grouped by chance. Artist Kinnari Vora dives into ritual with her piece Kissing The Earth, an offering to the ancestors who lived and breathed and at the same time are alive within us.

Accessibility
Steppenwolf's 1700 Theater is equipped with an induction hearing loop and assistive listening devices are available upon request. Our building features wheelchair-accessible seating and restrooms, push-button entrances, a courtesy wheelchair, and all-gender restrooms, with accessible counter and table spaces at our bars. For additional information regarding accessibility, visit steppenwolf.org/plan-your-visit/accessibility/ or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Sponsor Information
The LookOut series is supported in part by the Walder Foundation. United Airlines is the Official and Exclusive Airline of Steppenwolf. Steppenwolf is also grateful for the significant season support from Allstate Insurance Company, Northern Trust, Amazon, ArentFox Schiff, Conagra Brands Foundation, Kirkland & Ellis, PNC, and Vinci Restaurant. Steppenwolf also acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council Agency. This project is partially supported by a CityArts Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company is a Chicago theater that is home to America's ensemble. The company began performing in the mid-1970s in the basement of a Highland Park, IL church—today Steppenwolf is the nation's premier ensemble theater with 49 members who are among the top actors, playwrights and directors in the field. Deeply rooted in its ensemble ethos, the company is committed to equity, diversity, inclusion and making the Steppenwolf experience accessible to all. Groundbreaking productions from Balm in Gilead and August: Osage County to Downstate and Pass Over—and accolades that include the National Medal of Arts and 12 Tony® Awards—have made the theatre legendary. Artistic programming includes a membership series; a Steppenwolf for Young Adults season; and LookOut, a multi-genre performance series. The nationally recognized work of Steppenwolf Education engages more than 20,000 participants annually in Chicagoland communities promoting compassion, encouraging curiosity and inspiring action. While firmly grounded in the Chicago community, more than 40 original Steppenwolf productions have enjoyed success nationally and internationally, including Broadway, Off-Broadway, London, Sydney, Galway and Dublin. 2021 marked the opening of Steppenwolf's landmark Lefkofsky Arts & Education Center—deepening the company's commitment to Chicagoland teens and serving as a cultural nexus for Chicago. Glenn Davis and Audrey Francis are the Artistic Directors and E. Brooke Flanagan is Executive Director. Keating Crown is Chair of Steppenwolf's Board of Trustees.

Steppenwolf's Mission: Steppenwolf strives to create thrilling, courageous and provocative art in a thoughtful and inclusive environment. We succeed when we disrupt your routine with experiences that spark curiosity, empathy and joy. We invite you to join our ensemble as we navigate, together, our complex world. steppenwolf.orgfacebook.com/steppenwolftheatretwitter.com/steppenwolfthtr and instagram.com/steppenwolfthtr.

Published in Upcoming Theatre

Steppenwolf Theatre Company, the nation's premier ensemble theater company, is pleased to present Steppenwolf for Young Adults' (SYA) world premiere of a home what howls (or the house what was ravine) by Matthew Paul Olmos and directed by Laura Alcalá Baker. This powerful and poetic look at displacement and youth activism will play February 7 – March 2, 2024 in Steppenwolf's stunning in-the-round Ensemble Theater in Honor of Helen Zell, 1646 N. Halsted St. in Chicago. The press opening is Saturday, February 10, 2024 at 7:30 pm.

The cast includes ensemble member Tim Hopper (Downstate, Chicago, New York & London) with Charín Álvarez (I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter¡Bernarda!), Leslie Sophia Pérez (I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter), Isabel Quintero (La Osa Menor) and Eddie Torres (Downstate, Chicago, New York & London).

A coyote howling. A home in disarray. A young woman alone. In Matthew Paul Olmos' world premiere, Soledad Vargas is in the city, fighting for her family's right to live on their land. When hope starts to dwindle, how far will she go, and what will she be forced to leave behind? A modern myth drawn from the real-life struggles of displaced communities around the globe, a home what howls is a lyrically-rendered quest of youth activism standing against forces of injustice.

Ticket Information

a home what howls will feature both public performances and student matinees, inviting all audiences to experience this world premiere. Regular tickets are $5 for high school students, $15 for college students and begin at $20 for the general public. Single tickets to a home what howls are now on sale at steppenwolf.org and (312) 335-1650.

Student Matinees

Student matinees will take place at 10 am on weekdays from Wednesday, February 7 – Friday, March 1, 2024. Tickets are only $5 for students and chaperones are free. Recommended for grades eight and up. To register your school, click here.

The a home what howls production team includes Lauren Nichols (Scenic Design), Uriel Gómez (Costume Design), Lindsey Lyddan (Lighting Design), Peter Clare (Sound Design), April Dawn Guthrie (Original Music), Maya Vinice Prentiss (Fight Choreographer & Intimacy Consultant), Kate DeVore (Vocal Coach), Mike Przygoda (Music Consultant), Bryar Barborka (Dramaturg), Patrick Zakem (Creative Producer), Elise Hausken (Production Manager), JC Clementz, CSA (Casting), Michelle Medvin (Production Stage Manager) and Kathleen Barrett (Assistant Stage Manager).

PRODUCTION DETAILS

Title: a home what howls (or the house what was ravine)

Playwright: Matthew Paul Olmos

Director: Laura Alcalá Baker

Cast: Charín Álvarez (abrana vargas), Tim Hopper (frank, male conductor), Leslie Sophia Pérez (soledad), Isabel Quintero (coyotl/syera loma) and Eddie Torres (manuel vargas).

Location: Steppenwolf's Ensemble Theater in Honor of Helen Zell, 1646 N. Halsted St., Chicago

Dates: Previews: Friday, February 9 at 7:30 pm and Saturday, February 10 at 3 pm

Public Run: Saturday, February 17 – Saturday, March 2, 2024

Public Performance Curtain Times: Saturdays at 3 pm & 7 pm. Please note: there will be an added 7:30 pm performance on Friday, February 23 at 7:30 pm.

Tickets: Single tickets for a home what howls ($20 - $30) are now on sale at steppenwolf.org and the Box Office at (312) 335-1650. Regular tickets are $5 for high school students and $15 for college students.

Accessible Performance Dates:

 

Spanish Language-Captioned Student Matinee: Friday, February 16 at 10 am

Open-Captioned Public Performance: Saturday, February 17 at 3 pm
Relaxed Sensory Friendly Public Performance: Saturday, February 17 at 3 pm

Audio-Described and Touch Tour Public Performance: Saturday, February 24 at 3 pm (1:30 pm touch tour, 3 pm curtain)
ASL-Interpreted Student Matinee: Friday, March 1 at 10 am

ASL-Interpreted Public Performance: Saturday, March 2 at 3 pm

Published in Upcoming Theatre

Steppenwolf Theatre Company, the nation's premier ensemble theater company, is pleased to announce Harry Lennix (The Blacklist, The DC Universe) and Tamara Tunie (Law & Order: SVUI Wanna Dance with Somebody) will join the cast of its world premiere of Purpose, an epic family drama by two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, directed by two-time Tony Award winner Phylicia Rashad.

 

Lennix and Tunie are joined by ensemble members Alana Arenas (David Makes Man, The Brother/Sister Plays), Glenn Davis (King JamesDownstate) and Jon Michael Hill (Elementary, Pass Over) with Ayanna Bria Bakari (Last Night and the Night BeforeThe Chi).

"I am simply honored to welcome Harry and Tamara as they make their Steppenwolf debuts in Purpose," shares Artistic Director Glenn Davis. "Harry – born and raised in Chicago and a Northwestern alum – has been a lifelong mentor of mine, so appearing onstage with him is both thrilling and humbling. Meanwhile I've known Tamara and have been a big fan of her work for years and have nothing but admiration for her career across film, TV and theater. I know they both will feel right at home at Steppenwolf, and we look forward to sharing their immense talents with Chicago audiences."

 

Purpose will play March 14 – April 21, 2024 in Steppenwolf's Downstairs Theater, 1650 N. Halsted St. in Chicago Single tickets for Purpose starting at $20 are now on sale at steppenwolf.org or the Box Office at (312) 335-1650. The press opening is Sunday, March 24, 2024 at 6 pm.

For decades, the influential Jasper family has been a pillar of Black American Politics: civil rights leaders, pastors and congressmen. But like all families, there are cracks and secrets just under the surface. When the youngest son Nazareth returns home to Illinois with an uninvited friend in tow, the family is forced into a reckoning with itself, its faith and the legacies of Black radicalism. Rowdy, hilarious and filled with intrigue, Purpose is an epic family drama – a long-awaited world premiere from one of the country's most celebrated voices.

The creative team includes Todd Rosenthal (Scenic Design), Dede Ayite (Costume Design), Amith Chandrashaker (Lighting Design), Rob Milburn & Michael Bodeen (Sound Design), Patrick Zakem (Creative Producer), Tom Pearl (Producing Director), JC Clementz, CSA (Casting), Laura D. Glenn (Production Stage Manager) and Jaclynn Joslin (Assistant Stage Manager). For full cast and creative team bios, click here.

Production Details:

Title: Purpose – World Premiere!

Playwright: Branden Jacobs-Jenkins

Director: Phylicia Rashad

Cast: Alana Arenas (Morgan Jasper), Glenn Davis (Solomon "Junior" Jasper Jr.) and Jon Michael Hill (Nazareth "Naz" Jasper) with Ayanna Bria Bakari (Angela Houston) Harry Lennix (Solomon "Sonny" Jasper) and Tamara Tunie (Claudine Jasper).

Location: Steppenwolf's Downstairs Theater, 1650 N. Halsted St., Chicago

Dates: Previews: Thursday, March 14 – Saturday, March 23, 2024

Regular run: Tuesday, March 26 – Sunday, April 21, 2024

Curtain Times: Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30 pm; Saturdays at 3 pm & 7:30 pm; and Sundays at 3 pm. Please note: there will not be a performance on Tuesday, March 19 or Tuesday, April 16; the will be a 2 pm performance on Wednesday, April 10; there will not be a 7:30 pm performance on Wednesday, April 10.

Tickets: Single tickets for Purpose ($20 - $102) are now on sale at steppenwolf.org and the Box Office at (312) 335-1650. Steppenwolf Flex Memberships are also currently on sale: Black Card Memberships with six tickets for use any time for any production and RED Card Memberships for theatergoers under 30.

Accessible Performance Dates:

Audio-described and touch tour: Sunday, April 7 at 3 pm (1:30 pm touch tour, 3 pm curtain)

Open-captioned: Thursday, April 4 at 7:30 pm and Saturday, April 13 at 3 pm

ASL-interpreted: public performance: Friday, April 12 at 7:30 pm 

Artist Biographies:

Alana Arenas (Morgan Jasper) joined the Steppenwolf Theatre Company ensemble in 2007 and created the role of Pecola Breedlove for the Steppenwolf for Young Adults production of The Bluest Eye, which also played at the New Victory Theater Off-Broadway. Recent Steppenwolf appearances include the Steppenwolf for Young Adults production of MonsterThe FundamentalsMarie AntoinetteTribesBellevilleHead of PassesGood PeopleThree SistersThe MarchMan in LoveMiddletownThe Hot L BaltimoreThe Etiquette of VigilanceThe Brother/Sister PlaysThe TempestThe CrucibleSpare Change and The Sparrow Project. Other theatre credits include Disgraced (American Theater Company), The Arabian Nights (Lookingglass Theatre Company, Berkeley Repertory Theatre and Kansas City Repertory Theatre), Eyes (eta Creative Arts), SOST (MPAACT), WVON (Black Ensemble Theater) and Hecuba (Chicago Shakespeare Theater). Television and film credits include David Makes Man, Canal Street, CrisisBossThe BeastKabuku Rides and Lioness of Lisabi. She is originally from Miami, Florida, where she began her training at the New World School of the Arts. Alana holds a BFA from The Theatre School at DePaul University.

Ayanna Bria Bakari (Angela Houston) Steppenwolf Theatre Company: Last Night and the Night Before. Chicago: Relentless, Too Heavy for Your Pocket (TimeLine Theatre); RelentlessHow to Catch Creation (Goodman Theatre); As You Like It (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); The Niceties – Black Theater Alliance Award, Stickfly (Writers Theatre). Regional: The Salvagers (Asst. Dir. at Yale Repertory Theatre); Clyde's (TheaterWorks Hartford); Sunflowered (Northern Sky Theater); The Rainmaker (Peninsula Players Theatre); The Orginalist (Indiana Repertory Theatre). Television: Wu-Tang: An American Saga (HULU), The CHI (Showtime), Chicago PDChicago FireEmpire (FOX) and 61st Street (AMC). Film: Holiday Heist (BET). Education: BFA, The Theatre School at DePaul University. Ayanna Bria is a governing ensemble member of The Story Theatre and is represented by Stewart Talent. #BLACKLIVESMATTER.

Glenn Davis (Solomon "Junior" Jasper Jr.) is an actor, producer and Artistic Director of Steppenwolf Theatre Company alongside Audrey Francis, where he has been an ensemble member since 2017. His Steppenwolf credits include: Downstate, The Christians, You Got Older, The Brother/Sister Plays, Head of Passes, King James (also Mark Taper Forum, Manhattan Theatre Club) and most recently Describe the Night. Broadway credits include: Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo (also Kirk Douglas Theatre, Mark Taper Forum). Off-Broadway credits include: Transfers (MCC Theatre), Wig Out! (Vineyard Theatre) and Downstate (Playwrights Horizons). Other regional credits include: Moscow x6 (Williamstown Theatre Festival). International credits include: Downstate (National Theatre, UK), Edward II, The Winter's Tale and As You Like It (Stratford Festival), as well as Othello at The Shakespeare Company. Television credits include: Billions, 24, The Unit, Jericho and The Good Wife. Glenn is an artistic associate at the Young Vic in London and at the Vineyard Theatre in New York. He is also a partner in Cast Iron Entertainment, a collective of artists consisting of Sterling K. Brown, Brian Tyree Henry, Jon Michael Hill, Andre Holland and Tarell Alvin McCraney. Cast Iron is currently in residence at The Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles. In 2021, Glenn founded The Chatham Grove Company along with his producing partner Tarell Alvin McCraney, which is currently in an overall deal with Universal Content Productions (UCP).

Jon Michael Hill (Nazareth "Naz" Jasper) joined the Steppenwolf Theatre Company ensemble in 2007. Steppenwolf: True West (also Galway International Arts Festival), Pass Over, Constellations, Head of Passes, The Hot L Baltimore, The Tempest, Kafka on the Shore, The Unmentionables. Broadway: Pass OverSuperior Donuts. Off-Broadway: The Refuge Plays (New York Theatre Workshop) Pass Over (Lincoln Center). Film: Pass Over, Widows, In The Radiant City, No Pay, Nudity. Television: Upcoming: A Man in Full (Netflix) Elementary (CBS), Detroit 1-8-7 (ABC), Eastbound and Down (HBO), Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (NBC) and Person of Interest (CBS).

Harry Lennix (Solomon "Sonny" Jasper) is a distinguished film, television, stage actor and producer. For the past 10 years, he starred as "Harold Cooper" in NBC's long-running, hit series The Blacklist. Lennix's breakout role was "Dresser" in 20th Century Studio's feature The Five Heartbeats, from director Robert Townsend. He has portrayed fan-favorite characters in blockbuster franchise films such as "General Swanwick/Martian Manhunter" in DC Entertainment's Man of SteelBatman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice and Zack Snyder's Justice League and as "Commander Lock" in Warner Brothers' The Matrix franchise films The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. He also starred as "Joe Adams" in the Oscar Award-winning feature Ray.

 

Lennix received widespread critical acclaim and a Golden Satellite Award as "Aaron" in Julie Taymor's Titus with Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange. Other select film credits over his decades-spanning career include Spike Lee's Chi-Raq and Clockers, Gina Prince-Bythewood's Love & BasketballStomp the YardCanal StreetNothing Is ImpossibleThe Last FallA Beautiful SoulState of PlayResurrecting the ChampChrystalBarbershop 2: Back In BusinessGet on the Bus and Bob Roberts. He has also starred in and produced several films for his production company Exponent Media Group.

On television, Lennix garnered acclaim starring as political activist "Adam Clayton Powell, Jr." in Showtime's Keep the Faith Baby. For his performance, he won a Black Reel Award and earned Golden Satellite Award and NAACP Image Award Nominations. He also starred as "Jim Gardner," the Chief of Staff to POTUS, in the Golden Globe-nominated ABC series Commander in Chief, for which he received an NAACP Image Award Nomination. Other television credits include Showtime's Billions, HBO's Insecure and Little Britain, CW's Emily Owens, M.D., NBC's ER, Fox's Dollhouse and 24, among many others. He recently lent his voice to Matthew A. Cherry's animated MAX series Young Love, based on his Oscar-winning short film, Cartoon Network's Transformers: Robots in Disguise and can soon be heard in Zack Snyder's animated Netflix series Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas.

In theatre, Lennix made his Broadway debut in August Wilson's Tony nominated Radio Golf. He also starred in August Wilson's King Hedley II at the Mark Taper Forum. His portrayal of "Malcolm X" at the Goodman Theater earned him the first Ollie Award. He received Joseph Jefferson Citations for his starring roles in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and Caught in the Act. He has directed and appeared in productions across the country including Northlight Theatre Company's Permanent Collection at LA's Greenway Arts Alliance, which was later remounted at The Kirk Douglas Theater. He directed the stage version of Robert Townsend's The Five Heartbeats, which received three NAACP Theater Award Nominations and The Glass Menagerie for Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company. In 2001, he was part of the first American company to be Invited to the Royal Shakespeare Company in the production of Cymbeline. This spring he returns to the Chicago stage in two new plays: Steppenwolf's Purpose and Congo Square's How I Learned What I Learned.

A proud Chicagoan raised on the city's South Side, Lennix is creating The Lillian Marcie Center and AAMPA (African American Museum of The Performing Arts), an arts complex he calls "the Black version of Lincoln Center." In 2019 he was named Ambassador for the Prostate Cancer Foundation and brings his message of early detection through PSA's and public speaking. He serves as Spokesman for NOBLE, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, and is an ambassador to the National Association of Drug Court Professionals. He is on the Advisory Council of Northwestern University, his alma mater, and is a board member of Reading Rescue, a training program for educators teaching reading skills to at-risk elementary school children.

Tamara Tunie (Claudine Jasper) has a distinguished body of work that encompasses stage, television and film. Last year she was seen in the role of Cissy Houston, mother of the great American icon Whitney Houston, in I Wanna Dance with Somebody, reuniting her with Caveman's Valentine and Eve's Bayou director, Kasi Lemmons.


Ms. Tunie also triumphed on the London stage last season at the Old Vic in the critically-acclaimed production of Mike Bartlett's The 47th, in which she starred as Kamala Harris opposite Bertie Carvel's Donald Trump in a futuristic imagining of a presidential run-off between the two. Under the direction of Rupert Goold, Tunie received glowing notices: "Tamara Tunie is magnetizing in her performance," "the charismatic Tamara Tunie," "utterly convincing," "sturdy under fire."

One of the distinct hallmarks of Ms. Tunie's remarkable career is a long examination of American culture and its unique social and power dynamics. Beginning with such films as Oliver Stone's Wall Street with Michael Douglas, Harold Becker's City Hall with Al Pacino, Taylor Hackford's Devil's Advocate with Keanu Reeves and Charlize Theron, to Robert Zemeckis' Flight opposite Denzel Washington, with whom she also starred on Broadway as "Calpurnia" in Julius Caesar, Ms. Tunie's attraction to content with depth and meaning is apparent. This thread continues with the Sundance TV series The Red Road, where Tamara starred as the challenged Native-American tribal chief "Marie Van Der Veen" opposite Jason Momoa; the BBC/Netflix international drama Black Earth Rising which scrutinizes the West's complicity in the destabilization of Africa, portraying "Under-Secretary of State, Eunice Clayton;" and AMC's Dietland where she explored the underbelly of the American Beauty-Industrial Complex as "Julia," manager of the mysterious "beauty closet."

Ms. Tunie's award-winning stage works include the world premiere of American Son, a searing examination of race and class in which she originated the role of "Kendra Ellis-Connor;" her Obie-Award winning turn as "Marvelous" in Danai Gurira's Familiar, which grapples with identity, assimilation, tradition and the clashing of ideals of an African-Immigrant family; and most recently she starred in the world premiere of Bernarda's Daughters, where she portrayed matriarch "Florence Delva" with "oracular grandeur," another contemporary play that "mines" the effects of gentrification, police brutality and what it means to be "American,"  in a Haitian-American family in Brooklyn.

Ms. Tunie first gained an international following in the role of medical examiner "Dr. Melinda Warner" with 23 seasons on Dick Wolf's legendary NBC series Law & Order: SVU. She was a series regular on the Netflix cult favorite Cowboy Bebop, and she appeared on the Apple-TV futuristic-drama See as "The Bank" opposite Jason Momoa and Alfre Woodard.  

Recurring guest-starring roles include such hit shows as Almost FamilyEmergenceBetter Call SaulBlue BloodsBillionsAlpha House24ElementaryThe Good Wife and Survivor's Remorse.

Ms. Tunie is a Founder of Black Theatre United. She is Chair Emerita of the Board of Directors of Figure Skating in Harlem, a non-profit organization that supports academic excellence and instills life skills to young girls in the Harlem community through the art and discipline of figure skating, to ensure they are champions "off the Ice!" She serves on the Board of Directors at Harlem Stage/The Gatehouse, City Theatre Company in Pittsburgh, and is on the Advisory Board of Hearts of Gold, a not for profit that supports women and their children in New York City shelters, and helps them transition out of the system.

In 2005, Mayor Bloomberg awarded Ms. Tunie the "Made in New York Award" from the City of New York, for her support and commitment to Film, Television and Theater.

Ms. Tunie holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from Carnegie-Mellon University, and now serves on the Executive Board of Trustees.

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (Playwright) is a Brooklyn-based playwright and producer and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist. Recent theater credits include The Comeuppance (Signature Theatre), Girls (Yale Rep), Everybody (Signature Theatre), War (Yale Rep; Lincoln Center/LCT3), Gloria (Vineyard Theatre), Appropriate (Obie Award; Signature Theatre), An Octoroon (Obie Award; Soho Rep, Theatre for a New Audience) and Neighbors (The Public Theater). He was showrunner, executive producer and writer for HULU/FX's drama series, Kindred, based on Octavia E. Butler's groundbreaking novel. He currently teaches at Yale University and serves as Vice President of the Dramatists Guild council and on the boards of Soho Rep, Park Avenue Armory, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and the Dramatists Guild Foundation. Honors include a USA Artists fellowship, a Guggenheim fellowship, the MacArthur fellowship, the Windham-Campbell Prize for Drama and the inaugural Tennessee Williams Award.

Phylicia Rashad (Director) An accomplished actor and stage director, Phylicia Rashad became a household name when she portrayed Claire Huxtable on The Cosby Show, a character whose enduring appeal has earned her numerous honors and awards. She has appeared in NBC's This Is Us, in the popular Fox TV series Empire, in Tarell Alvin McCraney's Peabody Award-winning series David Makes Man on the OWN Network, Diarra From Detroit, The Good Fight, Little America, and The Crossover.

While television was a catalyst in the rise of Ms. Rashad's career, she has also been a force on the stage, appearing both on and Off Broadway, often in projects that showcase her musical talent such as Jelly's Last Jam, Into the Woods, Dreamgirls and The Wiz

In 2016, Ms. Rashad was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame and received the 2016 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Leading Actress in a Play for her performance as Shelah in Tarell Alvin McCraney's Head of Passes at the Public Theater. Ms. Rashad performed the role of the Duchess of Gloucester in Richard II, the 2020 Shakespeare on the Radio collaboration between The Public Theater and New York public radio station, WNYC.

On Broadway, Ms. Rashad has performed in Dominique Morriseau's Skeleton Crew (Tony and Drama Desk Awards), August: Osage County, Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (a role that she reprised on the London stage), August Wilson's Gem of The Ocean (Tony Award nomination) and in Shakespeare's Cymbeline at Lincoln Center. Ms. Rashad received both the Drama Desk and the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her riveting performance as Lena Younger in the 2004 Broadway revival of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in The Sun.

  

Among Ms. Rashad's film credits are CreedCreed II, Creed IIIJust Wright, Tyler Perry's Good DeedsFor Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Enuf and the 2020 release, A Fall From Grace. Recent film projects include Black BoxSoul and the Netflix holiday musical, Jingle Jangle

Ms. Rashad made her critically acclaimed directorial debut at the Seattle Repertory Theater with August Wilson's Gem of the Ocean. She has also directed Stephen Adly Guirgis' Our Lady of 121st Street, The RoommateBlues for an Alabama SkyMa Rainey's Black Bottom, Joe Turner's Come and Gone (2014 NAACP Theatre Award for Best Director), Immediate FamilyFencesA Raisin in the Sun and Four Little Girls.

Respected in the academic world, Ms. Rashad has served as Dean of the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts at Howard University since May 2021. In February 2023, she was appointed Howard University's inaugural holder of the Toni Morrison Endowed Chair in Arts and Humanities. Ms. Rashad has conducted Master Classes at many colleges, universities and arts organizations including Howard University, New York University, Carnegie Mellon, The Black Arts Institute of the Stella Adler Studio of Acting and the prestigious Ten Chimneys Foundation. Ms. Rashad also holds the distinction of being the first recipient of the Denzel Washington Chair in Theatre at Fordham University.

Rashad's commitment to excellence in the performing arts has been recognized by the numerous colleges and universities that have presented her with Honorary Doctorates.

Ms. Rashad has also received countless esteemed awards including the BET Honors Theatrical Arts Award, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre's Spirit of Shakespeare Award and the Inaugural Legacy Award of the Ruben Santiago Hudson Fine Arts Learning Center.

She serves on several important boards including Brainerd Institute Heritage (which is steering the restoration of Kumler Hall at the historic site of Brainerd Institute in Chester, South Carolina) and DADA, the Debbie Allen Dance Academy. Since 2017, Ms. Rashad has been the Brand Ambassador of the National Trust for Historic Preservation African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund. 

Phylicia Rashad graduated Magna Cum Laude from Howard University and is the mother of two adult children. 

Accessibility

As a commitment to make the Steppenwolf experience accessible to everyone, performances featuring American Sign Language Interpretation, Open Captioning and Audio Description are offered during the run of each STC production (see dates above). Assistive listening devices and large-print programs are available for every performance and all our spaces are equipped with an induction hearing loop. Our building features wheelchair accessible seating and restrooms, push-button entrances, a courtesy wheelchair and all-gender restrooms, with accessible counter and table spaces at our bars. For additional information regarding accessibility, visit steppenwolf.org/plan-your-visit/accessibility or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 

Steppenwolf's Mission: Steppenwolf strives to create thrilling, courageous and provocative art in a thoughtful and inclusive environment. We succeed when we disrupt your routine with experiences that spark curiosity, empathy and joy. We invite you to join our ensemble as we navigate, together, our complex world. steppenwolf.orgfacebook.com/steppenwolftheatretwitter.com/steppenwolfthtr and instagram.com/steppenwolfthtr.

Published in Upcoming Theatre

We all have tough days at work, but when your job is in the Oval Office, a bad day at work could be trouble for the entire country. In Steppenwolf’s regional premiere of ‘POTUS or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive’ by Selina Fillinger, an all-star female cast brings comedy and hijinks to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Steppenwolf Artistic director Audrey Francis directs this new play hot off its recent Broadway run with a cast of familiar Steppenwolf favorites. The chemistry between these seven performers is worth the admission price alone. Not to mention Selina Fillinger’s hilariously biting script. If you’re a fan of HBO’s ‘VEEP’, you’ll love these stressed out, foul-mouthed, political badasses.

Sandra Marquez plays Harriet, the chief of staff for a Trump-like president. Her day is unsettled after the president publicly refers to his wife in derogatory terms. On damage control is press secretary Jean (Karen Rodriguez), and tightly-wound aid Stephanie (Caroline Neff). Not only do they have to spin the narrative, but they also have to wrangle zany first lady, Margaret (Karen Aldridge). Take all of this and add in the president’s surprise pregnant girlfriend Dusty (Chloe Baldwin) and his pardon-seeking, ex-con sister Bernadette (Meighan Gerachis), and you’ve got yourself a first-class mess.  

Borrowing elements from traditional farce comedy, ‘POTUS’ is a whacky, madcap satire of just an average day at the White House. Though Fillinger likely wrote this play during the Trump administration, there’s a lot of universal and fair criticism that ultimately begs the question, couldn’t a woman do this job better?

After White House journalist Chris (Celeste M. Cooper) accidentally injures the president, all hell breaks loose. Even though most of the satire of the president is done so in reference to Trump, the ‘Weekend at Bernie’s’ theme in the second act underscores how much of our political machine is done by staffers rather than politicians themselves. It also points to the grizzly specter of age that hangs over many of our most influential Washington leaders.

It's rare to hear so many audience members audibly snap and respond with vocal enthusiasm, but the combination of strong casting, great script and near perfect direction make this a show that immediately resonates with people. While its themes are overtly feminist, there’s something for everyone. It’s a workplace comedy after all, and many of us know trouble of working in a chaotic environment.

As another presidential election year quickly approaches, plays like ‘POTUS’ ask us to demand more of our elected officials. Within a slapstick comedy, Fillinger poses some deep questions, specifically, “who’s running this show?” In her play it seems like nobody is really driving the car, so much as they’re just making sure it doesn’t catch on fire. When an administration just moves from controversy to the next, it makes you wonder is any progress being made?

Through December 10 at Steppenwolf Theatre. 1650 N Halsted St. 312-335-1650

*Extended through December 17th

 

Published in Theatre in Review

Well suited to the season, Rough House Theater brings its third annual edition of a macabre puppet show, “The House of the Exquisite Corpse III,” to the Merle Reskin Garage Space at the Steppenwolf Theatre campus on Halsted Street in Chicago.

The one-hour immersive experience gathers audiences in groups of 13, who are ushered in at 15 minute intervals to view a half-dozen 10-minute puppet performances. An emcee warns ticket-holders of foggy settings, and gore ahead—but presumably the squeamish would not choose to attend in the first place.

Each clatch of audience members are guided to the individual viewings, set behind canvas partitions or plasterless lath walls, into which peep holes have been riven or torn at a variety of heights and of differing shapes. Puppets are designed by manipulated by black-clad marionettes perform in the various settings.

At each of the six locations you don headphones to listen in to the puppets’ voices, and the background music and sound-effects, carefully matching to the live action of the puppet. The whole series was inspired by the book “Our Homes and How to Keep Them Healthy,” published in 1883 by Robert Brudenell Carter.

The first, to give newcomers a feel for it, is entitled “The Difficulty of Proof in Arsenic Poisoning Cases.” In a memorable performance, it features a young woman, bed-ridden with a hacking cough, being encouraged to sip tea by an arm intervening from the background.

After several healthy draughts of the steaming liquid, which only seem to worsen her condition, she fumbles with a 1930s radio console, stopping to hear various news reports of murders by poisoning, or antique recordings of classical music. You will have to attend to see her outcome, but know that the other settings shift in time and and setting, but maintain the disquieting tone, some with added gore and unpleasantness—a perfect prelude to Halloween!

Performers include Pablo Monterrubio-Benet and Grace Needlman, Lee and Sam Lewis, Corey Smith, Claire Bauman, Chio Cabrera and Jacky Kelsey, Justin D’Acci and Sion Silva, Ken Buckingham, and Felix Mayes and Kevin Michael Wesson. Process directors are Claire Saxe and Mike Oleon.

“House of the Exquisite Corpse III” runs through October 29 at Steppenwolf’s Merle Reskin Garage Space, 1624 N. Halsted in Chicago. It’s highly recommended, though not for the faint of heart certainly not those under 14.

*Extended through November 4th

Published in Theatre in Review

“Sanctuary City,” Steppenwolf’s latest production by Pulitzer-winning playwright Martyna Majok ("Cost of Living") takes us somewhere audiences likely haven’t been before—deep into the emotional experiences of undocumented American immigrants.

“Sanctuary City” may seem confusing at first. A series of quick cut, apparently repetitive scenes take place on a bare stage with a boy, B (Grant Kennedy Lewis) offering shelter in his mother’s apartment to a girl, G (Jocelyn Zamudio), who climbs in a window and ultimately into his bed, but just for warmth. We eventually learn that these young innocents have been school chums since third grade, when they arrived as minors with their mothers. Neither mothers nor B and G have permanent resident status.

Through these brief glimpses Majok establishes the depth of a growing bond between the two and soon enough the play comes into its own, with B and G now 17. After his mother abandons him to return to her homeland, somehow B ekes out a living and finishes senior year, while G’s path takes a turn for the better - her mother is naturalized, and citizenship is conferred on her as well. Yet G spends most of her time at B’s place, for she is a refugee as well from her immigrant mother’s abusive boyfriends.

As the two mature, Majok explores the stresses in daily life imparted by living in the netherworld of undocumented citizens. But that is only a backdrop to the challenges meted out by life in general, which goes on for both into young adulthood. When Henry {Brandon Rivera) enters the action as B's love interest, Majok gives us an intense exploration of a love triangle. Through twists and turns, Henry and G spar in gripping fashion over who has the greater claim on B.

This is playwriting of the highest order, and the performances by Zamudio and Rivera are deft and sensitive. But we experience B's pain through the remarkable performance by Lewis. One scene early on, where G surprises 17-year-old B with a cake for his seventeenth birthday, brought me to tears. Understated, mostly silent, with imagined props illuminated only by a cigarette lighter, it's his first one alone. No joy, just tears.

Again and again B feels the pangs of abandonment by his mother, his marginalized status in a gay relationship, his career dreams dashed as he is chained to menial work, and the uncertainty of where his relationship with G will go. 

Majok has accomplished something more in “Sanctuary City.” These are fully dimensioned characters, and their lives are interesting, quite aside from the issues around residency status. While many of us have sympathy for the plight of undocumented residents in the U.S., Majok humanizes them, bringing us to identify with their life struggles. And in so doing, she really shows why we would care for these individuals—and we gain the realization that each and every undocumented citizen also has a story that is compelling and worthy of our concern.

In “Sanctuary City,” we have three star actors, and a fourth - Majok’s script, brought amazingly to life by Steph Paul in Steppenwolf’s wonderful in-the-round Ensemble Theater. The scenic design by Yeoji Kim goes from minimalist to fully furnished as sets rise and lower in the second half.

“Sanctuary City” comes highly recommended. It runs through November 18 at Steppenwolf Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted St. in Chicago.

Published in Theatre in Review
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