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Her Story Theatre has announced the World Premiere of Kurt McGinnis Brown's two-hander THE OFFICIAL BIOGRAPHY, to play March 28 – April 19 at The Den Theatre in Chicago. When young black journalist Xan Smith is assigned to interview the once successful, now aging white novelist, Henry Percival, the two form an unlikely bond during their contentious meetings. After Henry reveals something unexpected about his past, the two writers must consider the uncertain relationship of truth to storytelling in general, and specifically to the story of Henry's life. THE OFFICIAL BIOGRAPHY will keep audiences guessing as they follow its plot twists, surprises, and suspect decisions. The drama, which was workshopped at Chicago Dramatists in 2017 and Art Lit Lab in Madison, Wisconsin in 2016, is the work of prolific playwright Kurt McGinnis Brown, who has had plays produced across the country, including in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York. The Jeff Award-winner and former Artistic Director of Strawdog Theatre Richard Shavzin will direct. Press opening is Wednesday, April 1 at 7:30 pm in the Upstairs Main Stage of The Den Theatre, following previews on March 28, 29 and 31. It will play through April 19.

Veteran Chicago actor and Actors Equity member Gary Houston, whose many credits include GEM OF THE OCEAN and JOE TURNER'S COME AND GONE at the Goodman Theatre, will play the septuagenarian novelist Henry Percival. Shelby Marie Edwards, seen most recently in Pegasus Players' YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL and RABBITS IN THEIR POCKETS at Lifeline Theatre, has been cast as the young journalist Xan Smith.
 
The production team includes Garrett Bell (Set Design), Sam Bessler (Lighting Design), Mary Bonnett (Costume Design), George Zahora (Sound Design), Wendye Clarendon (Actors Equity member, Stage Manager), Morgan Watkinson and Josh Hogan (Assistant Stage Managers), Steve Kruse (Technical Director), Tristan Predmore (Lighting Technician), Nora Brooks (Scenic Painter), Lucas Holeman (Carpenter), and Kaitlyn Hettinger (Carpenter, Scenic Painter).

Tickets to THE OFFICIAL BIOGRAPHY are $40 for General Admission and $30 for Seniors plus taxes and fees) for regular performances; and $35 General Admission for previews. Students and industry members are $20 all performances, and group prices are $30 per person for all performances. Tickets are on sale now at www.thedenthreatre.comand The Den Theatre Box Office 773-697-3830.

IT’S TIME: ABOUT TIMELINE’S NEW HOME

Based on the novel by Junot Díaz, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao follows neurodivergent and perpetually lovelorn college student Oscar as he fixates on the fukú – a generational curse he believes has haunted his family’s love lives for decades. Oscar’s college roommate and his sister Lola by his side, the trio journeys to Santo Domingo, uncovering more about Oscar and Lola’s family history and the fukú than none of them bargained for.

At the heart of the story is the trio of Oscar (Lenin D’Anthony Izquierdo), Yunior (Kelvin Grullon), and Lola (Julissa Calderon), who are as messy, spirited, and loving as three college kids can be. Their chemistry feels genuinely lived-in: the easy humor, the sharp edges, the quiet loyalties. Their dynamic perfectly captures the complexities of chosen family, blurred boundaries, and sibling devotion, all while keeping the audience constantly laughing. 

While often sharp and funny, Oscar and Lola’s mother, Beli (Yohanna Florentino), delivers the production’s most devastating performance. She embodies the tension of someone trying – fiercely, desperately – to do right by her children, yet repeatedly falling short. Florentino’s performance is astonishingly intimate; even in a full theatre, she makes it feel as though her pain is being shared one-on-one with each audience member.

The show – especially in its first act – is funny, self-aware, and unabashedly camp. Although set among college-aged characters in the 1990s, Director Wendy Mateo has made the show feel timeless and accessible to audiences of all ages. The script incorporates a significant amount of Spanish, most often through colloquial phrases and biting insults, yet the cast’s physicality and clarity ensure that no translation is required to follow the emotional stakes. It’s a compelling reminder that audiences don’t need to speak Spanish to fully appreciate bilingual storytelling when the performances are this grounded.

Where the production occasionally stumbles is in its visual storytelling, particularly once the setting shifts to Santo Domingo. The scenic design’s abstract, college-forward aesthetic serves the first half well, but meshes less cohesively with the production’s second act shift into heightened spiritual and video game-inspired imagery. This evolution also introduces more disruptive set transitions – unlike the fluid, almost invisible shifts of Act One, several Act Two changes require full stops in the action, interrupting momentum and dampening the pacing. At its best, the projections and gaming motifs cleverly mirror Oscar’s inner grasp of reality and the story’s mythic foundation. At their weakest, however, they overtake the truly human stakes at the center of the narrative.

One moment in particular – a key story from Beli’s past – is partially rendered through animation and projection rather than live performance. Given the emotional precision already established onstage, the stylistic shift feels jarring and unintentionally distances the audience from what should be an intimate revelation. The production’s reliance on heightened, game-like aesthetics resurfaces in later confrontations as well, occasionally pushing character choices toward exaggeration at moments that call for gravity. The result is a tonal imbalance that slightly undercuts the weight of the story’s final turns.

While the stage adaptation diverges in notable ways from the novel, the production stands strongest when viewed as its own interpretation rather than a strict retelling. That said, the emotional core of Oscar’s story remains intact and, by the final moments, the theatre is silent enough to hear a pin drop – a testament to the emotional weight the cast ultimately earns.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is running in The Goodman’s Owen Theatre through April 12th. Tickets are available at https://www.goodmantheatre.org/show/the-brief-wondrous-life-of-oscar-wao/.

This review is proudly shared with our friends at www.TheatreInChicago.com.

Tin Drum Theatre Company is proud to announce the cast and creative team for the Chicago premiere of Southern Rapture at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave., June 11 - 28, written by Eric Coble and directed by Jason Palmer. The preview for Southern Rapture is Thursday, June 11 at 7:30 p.m. and the opening night performance is Friday, June 12 at 7:30 p.m. The performance schedule is Thursdays - Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. Tickets are $30 with $15 student tickets and may be purchased at TinDrumTheatre.com. 

In the heart of the Bible Belt, a local theatre company announces it will stage a play called Rapture in America—complete with seven seconds of male nudity—sending the city into a frenzy. Based on actual events, Eric Coble's Southern Rapture turns this civic eruption into a wickedly funny satire about artistic freedom, arts funding, the weaponization of civic institutions and what happens when conviction outruns common sense.

Originally commissioned by Actor's Theatre of Charlotte, Southern Rapture draws directly from one of the city’s most explosive cultural battles. In 1996, Charlotte Repertory Theatre announced a production of Angels in America.. The district attorney attempted to bring criminal charges, however, emergency court injunctions required the show to open. “Good Morning America” broadcast a train-wreck debate, turning a local arts dispute into a national spectacle.

Eighteen months later, county commissioners retaliated by slashing $2.5 million in arts funding, destabilizing organizations across the city. Although much of that funding was later restored, the interruption sent lasting ripples through Charlotte’s artistic landscape. Charlotte Rep won the Angels battle, but the controversy produced long-term consequences that cost it the war. Amid donor fatigue, mounting financial strain and leadership turnover, the company closed permanently in 2005.

The Southern Rapture ensemble cast includes Teddy Boone (he/him, Mayor Winston Paxton), Shannon Leigh Webber (she/her, Marjorie Winthrop), Michael Stejskal (he/him, Donald Sherman), Mary Anne Bowman (she/her, Allissa Marquand, Nyla-Jean Geisy, Julia Overmyer), Jenny Hoppes (she/her, Laverne Jackson, Pam, Clarice Paxton, Tina), Jordan Gleaves (he/him, Simon Larisher, Emmett Whipple, Nightline Host, Franklin McManus) and Andrew Bosworth (he/him, Mickey Stedman, Reverend Dupree, Anton Finewitz). 

The creative team includes Steve Needham (he/him, producer), Jason Palmer (he/him, director), Teddy Boone (he/him, casting director), Emily Nicholas (she/her, stage manager), Sil Rivera (they/them, asst. stage manager/scenic asst.), Kaitlyn Hettinger (she/her, technical director/scenic designer), Kasey Wolfgang (she/her, costume designer), Ellie Fey (she/her, lighting designer/master electrician), Zach Stinnett (he/him, sound designer) and Erin Alys (she/her, intimacy/movement director).

Content notice: Southern Rapture includes a brief nude scene.

ABOUT ERIC COBLE, playwright

Eric Coble is an award-winning American playwright whose work spans sharply drawn dramas, audacious comedies, and incisive social satire. Born in Edinburgh and raised on the Navajo and Ute reservations of the American Southwest, Coble brings a distinctive blend of wit, empathy and theatrical boldness to the stage.

His plays have been produced across the United States and internationally, including on Broadway, Off-Broadway and at major regional theatres. His Broadway debut—The Velocity of Autumn, starring Estelle Parsons and Stephen Spinella—earned Parsons a Tony Award nomination. Other widely produced works include The Giver (stage adaptation), Bright Ideas, My Barking Dog, Fairfield, The Dead Guy, Natural Selection and Southern Rapture, among many others.

Coble’s scripts have received a Jeff Award, the ATCA Steinberg New Play Award citation, the Governor’s Award for the Arts (Ohio) and multiple Edgerton New Play Awards. His work has been developed or produced by The Kennedy Center, Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Class Company, Denver Center Theatre Company, Cleveland Play House, Alliance Theatre, Arena Stage and Actors Theatre of Louisville, among others.

Known for his sharp comic voice and his ability to illuminate the tensions and absurdities of contemporary American life, Coble continues to be a vital and provocative presence in the new-play landscape. He is a member of the Playwrights’ Center and a graduate of Ohio University’s MFA program.

ABOUT JASON PALMER, director

Jason Palmer is the co-founder and co–artistic director of Tin Drum Theatre Company, where he helps shape bold, conversation-driven work in Chicago’s storefront scene. He recently directed the 2024 world premiere of Winter Garden by Steve Needham and the 2025 Chicago premiere of Nick Payne’s Incognito.

A multi-disciplinary theatre-maker with over 30 years of experience, Palmer’s work spans directing, producing, performance, dramaturgy and design across New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Ireland. Early in his career he served as literary manager and assistant director at Gilgamesh Theater Group and assistant directed Keith Reddin’s Off-Broadway premiere of Black Snow. In Chicago, his long association with the erstwhile Bailiwick Repertory Theatre included performing, stage management and coordinating several seasons of the Bailiwick Directors’ Festival. His performance in Nicholas Patricca’s Oh Holy Allen Ginsberg at the 2006 International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival earned a Best Actor nomination and an Honorable Mention.

Palmer has also worked with the Western Region of Actors’ Equity Association and the Directors Guild of America, giving him a strong grounding in theatrical and labor structures. His technical experience includes lighting design, set construction and stage management, and he is a multiple-time Irene Ryan nominee.

As co–artistic director of Tin Drum Theatre Company, Palmer is committed to developing new work and supporting Chicago’s next generation of storefront artists.

ABOUT TIN DRUM THEATRE COMPANY

Tin Drum Theatre Company exists to disrupt complacency and reassert theatre’s civic purpose. Creating theatre that asks something of its audience, moving beyond comfort to provoke conversation and critical engagement. Tin Drum believes community begins where audiences and ideas collide, and where dramatic disturbances are created.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company, under the leadership of Artistic Directors Glenn Davis and Audrey Francis and Executive Director E. Brooke Flanagan, today announced its 2026/27 Season, marking the next chapter of the company's bold, visceral and muscular work, while celebrating a dynamic range of exciting new voices and Steppenwolf legends. The 51st Season features five Steppenwolf Membership Series productions: two world premieres, a Chicago premiere, an English-Language premiere and a modern masterpiece – all emblematic of Steppenwolf's indelible impression on the American Theatre. Steppenwolf also doubles down on its decades-long mission to immerse Chicago's youth in the arts through its lauded educational initiatives – and provide much-needed artistic space for the city's bustling community of multi-disciplinary artists, along with itinerant theatre companies.

Steppenwolf Artistic Directors Glenn Davis and Audrey Francis comment, "It is perhaps clearer today than at any other moment in our 50-year history: Steppenwolf is the place to experience the next big thing in American theatre. From Broadway transfers of plays that were born right here on Halsted Street, to world premieres that go on to be produced all over the country, this company continues to define cutting-edge, risky and damn fine theatre for audiences around the world."

Davis and Francis continue, "But, if you know Steppenwolf, you know that the awards, the recognition, the platitudes: it's all secondary to what drives us forward. Everything we do begins with our North Star of bringing Chicago audiences theatre they can sink their teeth into, brought to life by our ensemble of world class artists. In planning our 51st season, we knew we wanted to bring Chicago a slate of plays that deliver on Steppenwolf's promise of teeing up gritty, provocative and riotous drama – before you might see it somewhere else."

Raising the curtain on Steppenwolf's 51st Season, Suzan-Lori Parks' Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Topdog/Underdog returns to North Halsted more than two decades after the company's celebrated 2003 production. Helmed by Tony Award-winning director Kenny Leon, ensemble members Glenn Davis and Namir Smallwood go head-to-head in this fast-paced and ferocious thrill ride. Up next, Steppenwolf continues its tradition of bringing new works to the American theatre canon with the world premiere of Chicago playwright Stephanie Alison Walker's biting satire Adirondack Chair Circle, directed by Tony Award winner Pam MacKinnon and featuring ensemble member Audrey Francis. The 2026/27 continues with the Chicago premiere of The Comeuppance, a riveting dark comedy from Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, the Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning playwright of Purpose. Ensemble member Tina Landau ​directs this co-production with American Conservatory Theater featuring an ensemble-stacked cast including Celeste M. Cooper, Caroline Neff, Karen Rodriguez and Namir Smallwood​. Next spring, Steppenwolf presents the English-Language premiere of Ellen B., a psychological thriller by internationally-lauded playwright Marius von Mayenburg, translated by Daniel Brunet and directed by Whitney White. Concluding the 2026/27 season, ensemble member Terry Kinney directs the world premiere of Adam Rapp's haunting and emotional The Night Fawn, featuring ensemble member Cliff Chamberlain. 

The 2026/27 Season is presented at Steppenwolf's expanded campus, which includes three theaters: the Ensemble Theater in Honor of Helen Zell, the Downstairs Theater and the intimate 1700 Theater.

Steppenwolf Executive Director E. Brooke Flanagan adds, "Moving into the theater's next half century, Steppenwolf continues our commitment to the core values that have made us a global leader of theatrical innovation and a cultural citizen for the City of Chicago. The five dynamic plays produced by our company will be complemented by robust teen programming and education programs that throw open our doors for the next generation of learners, makers and appreciators. Additionally, our three stages will welcome a wide variety of local and visiting artists across discipline, expanding our service as a neighborhood hub for art and innovation."

2026/27 Classic Memberships are now on sale starting as low as $165* 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 $128* 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 $107*. Discounted packages for students and teachers and accessible packages are also available. For more information and to purchase Memberships, visit Audience Services at steppenwolf.org or call (312) 335-1650. *Prices include handling fees

Throughout the 2026/27 Season, Steppenwolf continues its commitment to education and the next generation of audiences with dedicated student matinee performances during four of the five Membership Series productions (Topdog/Underdog, Adirondack Chair Circle, The Comeuppance and Ellen B.). Reaching nearly 15,000 teens, educators and community members annually, Steppenwolf Education and Engagement also includes in-school residencies, teen programs, community partnerships and public programs, educator trainings and Maker Workshops – a series of on-site workshops in artmaking and theater production. For additional information about Steppenwolf's Education and Engagement programming and to register your school for a field trip visit steppenwolf.org/education.

Additionally, Steppenwolf's 2026/27 Season reaffirms the organization's commitment to spotlighting the work of Chicago's vibrant and eclectic artistic communities in the 1700 Theater. Since opening its doors in 2016, this malleable, intimate space has hosted over 1,000 performances featuring the wide breadth of innovative, bold and adventurous work from more than 3,200 artists across a variety of performance genres. As it steps into its second decade of programming, the 1700 Theater will be the home of an ongoing collaboration with Teatro Vista Productions as part of a multi-year partnership between the two organizations while also continuing to feature performing artists across theatrical disciplines of dance, drag, music, storytelling, comedy, puppetry and more.

Steppenwolf also plans to continue presenting the work of exciting visiting artists and companies in the Downstairs Theater and Ensemble Theater, after the success of presentations of comedy, musical theater and theater artists in recent seasons. These engagements are announced on a rolling basis, with Steppenwolf Members enjoying early access. 

STEPPENWOLF THEATRE COMPANY'S 2026/27 SEASON

Topdog/Underdog 
Written by Suzan-Lori Parks 
Directed by Kenny Leon​ 
September 17 — November 1, 2026 
Featuring ensemble members Glenn Davis and Namir Smallwood​ 
in the Downstairs Theater 
Press opening: Sunday, September 27, 2026 at 6 pm

Brothers Lincoln and Booth, named in jest, are two Black men living in America just trying to get by. Lincoln dresses like his namesake, reenacting his assassination for money and laughs. Booth stays stuck in their apartment, working tirelessly on his three-card hustle. Sibling rivalry and a lifetime of resentment come to a head in this fast-paced and ferocious thrill ride from Suzan-Lori Parks. The deck is stacked with a Tony Award-winning director, a Pulitzer Prize-winning script and a tour-de-force showdown for ensemble members Glenn Davis and Namir Smallwood. "Take thuh cards and show me whatcha got!" 

Adirondack Chair Circle – World Premiere!
Written by Stephanie Alison Walker 
Directed by Pam MacKinnon 
Featuring ensemble member Audrey Francis​ 
October 22 — December 6, 2026 
in the Ensemble Theater 
Press opening: Sunday, November 1, 2026 at 6 pm

Banna has it all... or at least that's what the other suburban moms think. Beneath the charcuterie boards, backyard soirees and pickleball, there's a funny feeling bubbling underneath this seemingly perfect facade. Is it the pressure to save her children from the beliefs of the school district? Or is it just that suspicious crow watching her every move? A piercing world premiere from a playful Chicago voice, Stephanie Alison Walker's Adirondack Chair Circle exposes the hilarious hypocrisy of the clubs we join and the company we keep. And has a damn good time doing it. 

The Comeuppance – Chicago Premiere!
Written by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Directed by ensemble member Tina Landau ​
A co-production with American Conservatory Theater 
Featuring ensemble members Celeste M. Cooper, Caroline Neff, Karen Rodriguez and Namir Smallwood​ 
February 4 — March 21, 2027 
in the Downstairs Theater 
Press opening: Saturday, February 13, 2027 at 7:30 pm

Welcome back, St. Anthony's graduating class of 2002! On the night of their 20th high school reunion, a group of misfit Millennial classmates reconnect for a familiar pregame: drinks, pot, a limo ride and a whole lot of messy memories. But, in Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' riveting dark ensemble comedy, a specter looms over the proceedings, reminding us that time only marches forward, even for '90's kids. This Chicago premiere from the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of Purpose is a contemplative, hilarious and grave reflection on life and death. 

Ellen B. – English-Language Premiere!
Written by Marius von Mayenburg ​
Translated into English by Daniel Brunet
Directed by Whitney White
April 1 — May 9, 2027 
in the Ensemble Theater
Press opening: Sunday, April 11, 2027 at 6 pm

Astrid, a teacher, lives with Klara, her considerably younger partner – and also her former student. When Wolfram, the school's headmaster, drops by for a visit, he brings with him uncomfortable accusations, and the search for truth erupts into a wicked game of power and desire. In this psychological thriller with no easy answers, internationally-lauded playwright Marius von Mayenburg touches the nerve between past and present, professional and private, truth and lie.

The Night Fawn – World Premiere!
Written by Adam Rapp
Directed by ensemble member Terry Kinney
Featuring ensemble member Cliff Chamberlain​
May 27 — July 3, 2027 
in the Downstairs Theater
Press opening: Sunday, June 6, 2027 at 6 pm

Brendan has a story, one that hurts to tell. He's lost his job, his marriage has ended and he's headed back home to settle his late mother's affairs. It's there that he finds the need to talk, as an unthinkable secret from his childhood demands attention. A provocative confession with haunting implications about memory and revenge, Adam Rapp's The Night Fawn offers a sunset to our season – but real monsters don't wait to come out after dark. 

2026/27 SEASON ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

Topdog/Underdog 

Suzan-Lori Parks (Playwright) is a multi-award-winning writer and musician. She is the first African-American woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Topdog/Underdog, which recently won the 2023 Tony Award for Best Revival. Her other plays include Sally & Tom (2024), Plays for the Plague Year (Drama Desk Award, Best Music, 2023) and Father Comes Home From The Wars (2014). Parks' first marathon-writing "micro diary plays," 365 Days/365 Plays were produced worldwide in what was the largest grassroots collaborative theatre project to date. She is a MacArthur "Genius" Fellow, a novelist: Getting Mother's Body (Random House); and a screenwriter: Girl 6, Genius: Aretha, and The United States vs Billie Holiday. Parks also writes songs and fronts her band "SLP& The Joyful Noise," with her punk-couture medicine show, The Tune Up, world-premiering this summer. As a college student Parks is grateful to have studied creative writing with James Baldwin, who encouraged her to write for the theatre.

Kenny Leon (Director) is a Tony Award-winning director. Broadway: Othello, Our Town, HOME, Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch, Topdog/Underdog, Ohio State Murders, A Soldier's Play, American Son, Children of a Lesser God, Holler If Ya Hear Me, A Raisin in the Sun, The Mountaintop, Stick Fly, August Wilson's Fences, Gem of the Ocean and Radio Golf. Off-Broadway: This World of Tomorrow (The Shed), King James, The Underlying Chris, Everybody's Ruby, Emergence-See! (The Public), Smart People (Second Stage). Opera: Amahl and the Night Visitors, Margaret Garner. Television: Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia, Colin in Black & White, 4400, Amend: The Fight for America, American Son (adapted for Netflix), Hairspray Live!, The Wiz Live!, Steel Magnolias, Dynasty, In My Dreams. Author: Take You Wherever You Go. Artistic Director Emeritus: Kenny Leon's True Colors Theatre Company. Senior Resident Director: Roundabout Theatre Company. Awards: Obie, Actors Fund Medal of Honor, George Abbott Lifetime Achievement for American Theatre, Jason Robards Award for Excellence in Theatre.

Glenn Davis (Lincoln) 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), Describe the Night, and, most recently, Purpose. Broadway credits include Purpose (Tony nomination–Best Featured Actor, Tony Award–Best Play) and Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo (also Kirk Douglas Theatre, Mark Taper Forum). Off-Broadway credits include Transfers (MCC Theatre), Wig Out! (Vineyard Theatre), Downstate (Playwrights Horizons, Outer Critics Circle Nomination) and King James (MTC). 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); Othello (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.

Namir Smallwood​ (Booth) joined the Steppenwolf Theatre Company ensemble in 2017. Steppenwolf: Mr. Wolf, You Will Get Sick, The Book of Grace, The Seagull, Bug, True West, BLKS, Monster, Man In Love, The Hot L Baltimore, Last Night and the Night Before. Broadway: Bug, Pass Over. Off-Broadway: Pipeline, Pass Over (Lincoln Center). Chicago: Primary Trust (Goodman); Charm (Northlight Theatre); The Grapes of Wrath (The Gift Theatre); East Texas Hot Links (Writers Theatre). Regional: Marin Theatre Company, Pillsbury House Theatre, Ten Thousand Things, Guthrie Theater. International: True West (Galway International Arts Festival). Television: Chicago Fire, Betrayal, Elementary, American Rust (Showtime/FreeVee), Power Book IV: Force (STARZ). Film: Rounding, About Time, Bailey's Blues.

Adirondack Chair Circle

Stephanie Alison Walker (Playwright) is an internationally-produced, award-winning playwright whose work is known for the personalization of the political, humor in darkness and the dramatization of the resilience of women. She is a native Chicagoburbian who has lived all over including London, Buenos Aires, San Juan Island and fifteen years in Los Angeles. She received her Bachelors in English/Creative Writing and Spanish from the University of Colorado and her Master of Professional Writing from the University of California. She began writing plays while working for Fox Theatricals in Chicago. Her play about the housing crisis, American Home, was the inaugural winner of American Blues Theatre's Blue Ink Award. Her play about the mothers of the disappeared in Argentina, The Madres, received a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere at Teatro Vista in Chicago, Skylight Theatre Company in L.A., Moxie Theatre in San Diego and Shrewd Theatre Company in Austin. It was the 2019 Winner of the Francesca Primus Prize, winner of the Ashland New Plays Festival, the Generations Prize and semi-finalist for the CTG/ Humanitas Prize for playwriting. Her follow-up play The Abuelas, premiered at Teatro Vista and was recently adapted into a short film titled The Birthday Gift. The Art of Disappearing was a finalist for the Primus Prize and enjoyed critical praise for the world premiere in Chicago by 16th Street Theater in 2015. Friends with Guns, her play about liberals and gun ownership was an O'Neill Finalist, winner of Best New Play at the 2019 Valley Theatre Awards, and had its Chicago premiere by A Short Leap Theatre Company in 2025. Sophia Hayden Deserves Better tells the story of the architect of the Woman's Building at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago and was recently a part of Gglassfest by Lookingglass Theatre in Chicago. The Ordeal of Water, inspired by the first women to work as Longshoremen at the Port of Los Angeles, was most recently a part of Bay Street Theater's New Works Festival. Adirondack Chair Circle, her play that tackles suburban book-banning moms, was developed at The Inkwell Theater Company and A Red Orchid's Studio at A Red Orchid. Her short plays have been anthologized by Smith & Kraus. Her full-lengths are published by Broadway Publishing, Inc. In addition to writing plays, she is currently adapting Friends with Guns and The Abuelas as features while raising two spirited boys and selling real estate in the suburbs of Chicago. She is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild of America, Honor Roll Playwrights, NNPN Affiliated Artist, and a proud alumni of the Playwrights Union. stephaniealisonwalker.com

Pam MacKinnon (Director) is a Tony, Drama Desk and multi-Obie Award winning director. She is the artistic director of American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. She has directed more than eighty productions. Her Tony Award-winning production of Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? originated at Steppenwolf. Her production of Bruce Norris's Downstate (Steppenwolf, National Theatre and Playwrights Horizons) was celebrated with several Jeff Awards and won Pam her second Obie. She served as president of SDC, the national Union of choreographers and directors.

Audrey Francis​ (Cast) currently serves as Artistic Director of Steppenwolf Theatre, alongside Glenn Davis, where she has been an Ensemble member since 2017. Audrey directed You Will Get Sick in Steppenwolf's 2024/25 season and POTUS in the 2023/24 season. She has performed on stage in Catch as Catch Can (upcoming), Noises Off, The Thanksgiving Play, The Herd, Between Riverside and Crazy, The Fundamentals, The Doppelgänger (an international farce) and Dance Nation. TV and film credits include Justified: City Primeval, Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, Empire, Perpetrator, Knives and Skin and Later Days. Audrey is an acting coach for NBC, Fox, Showtime, and Amazon. She is also the co-founder of Black Box Acting and the co-creator of Steppenwolf's corporate training program, Steppenwolf IMPACT.

The Comeuppance

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins ​(Playwright) is a Brooklyn-based playwright. Recent theatre credits include Purpose (Tony Award; Pulitzer Prize; Broadway, Steppenwolf), Appropriate (Tony Award; Broadway, Second Stage), 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 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.

Tina Landau ​(Director) is a writer, director and Steppenwolf ensemble member since 1997 where her 20 productions include Ms. Blakk for President (also writer with Tarell McCarney), The Brother/Sister Plays, The Wheel, The Time of Your Life, Head of Passes, Space (also writer), The Berlin Circle, The Tempest, Superior Donuts, and more. Many of these productions then moved on to play at multiple theaters such as The Public in NYC, the Taper in LA, Seattle Rep, American Conservatory Theater and Berkeley Rep. On Broadway, Tina wrote the book for and directed the musical Floyd Collins (Lincoln Center Theater, 6 Tony noms including Best Revival), wrote book, co-lyrics and directed Redwood (starring Idina Menzel), and conceived and directed The SpongeBob Musical (12 Tony noms, Drama Desk & Outer Critics Circle winner–Best Direction and Best Musical.) Her other Broadway credits include Paula Vogel's Mother Play (with Jessica Lange, 4 Tony noms including Best Play), Tracy Letts' Superior Donuts and the musical Bells Are Ringing (also both Tony nominated). Her Off-Broadway productions include Bill Irwin and David Shiner's Old Hats, Chuck Mee's Big Love and Iphigenia 2.0 (all Signature), Paula Vogel's A Civil War Christmas (NYTW), Tarell McCraney's Head of Passes and In the Red and Brown Water (both at the Public) and Wig Out! (Vineyard). Regionally, Tina has directed the musicals Transparent (CTG in Los Angeles) and Dave (Arena Stage), among numerous others. She's been additionally recognized by the Drama League, New Dramatists, Lucille Lortel and Obie awards, and is the recipient of a United States Artist Fellowship and a Princess Grace Statuette. Tina was an Artist-in-Residence at Little Island in NYC and is the co-author with Anne Bogart of The Viewpoints Book.

Celeste M. Cooper (Cast) is joyful to join the cast of The Comeuppance and is grateful to the creative team, fellow performers and audience for the opportunity to explore and share another story together. Steppenwolf: BLKS, Doppelgänger, Familiar, A Doll's House, Part 2, virtual show Duchess! Duchess! Duchess! (New York Times Critic pick); The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington, POTUS. Chicago Theatre: Blues for an Alabama Sky (Court Theatre–Jeff Awards Best Production); Measure for Measure (Goodman Theatre); Stick Fly (Windy City Playhouse); Ruined (Eclipse Theatre); Corduroy (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); and more. Regional: For Colored Girls... (Kansas City Repertory); Building The Wall (Curious Theatre in Denver); Mrs. Harrison (Indiana Repertory); What I Learned in Paris (South Coast Repertory); Confederates (The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis). TV: Recurring on Chicago P.D.; guest roles on 4400 and Sense8. Film: Spike Lee's Chiraq; leading role in indie feature Range Runners (currently streaming). Radio: Unshackled Radio Program – voicing dramatized true stories. Awards: Most Promising Actress (Black Theater Alliance); Best Actress – Range Runners (Twister Alley); NewCity Stage magazine's "People Who Really Perform for Chicago" (2020 & 2023). Education: BA – Tennessee State University; MFA – The Theatre School at DePaul University. IG: @be_that_light | Represented by: Paonessa Talent Agency

Caroline Neff (Cast) is a Steppenwolf ensemble member. At Steppenwolf, she was last seen in Mr. Wolf, Fool for Love, POTUS, Another Marriage, Describe the Night, Seagull, Dance Nation, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, You Got Older, Linda Vista (also Taper Forum and Broadway), The Fundamentals, The Flick, Airline Highway (also Broadway), The Way West, Three Sisters, Annie Bosh is Missing and Where We're Born. Select theatre credits include: Lettie (Jeff Award Best Actor; Victory Gardens Theater); Uncle Vanya (Goodman Theatre); A Brief History of Helen of Troy (Jeff Award for Best Actress), The Knowledge, Harper Regan, In Arabia We'd All Be Kings (Steep Theatre); The Downpour (Route 66 Theatre); Port (Griffin Theatre); 4000 Miles (Northlight Theatre); Moonshiner (Jackalope Theatre). Regional credits include: Peerless (Yale Repertory Theatre). Film and television credits include: Parallax (upcoming Apple TV), FBI, Three Women, Let the Right One In, The Red Line, Chicago P.D., Chicago Fire, Open Tables and Older Children, and heard in multiple Audible Projects such as: Song of the Northwoods, Crowded Hours, Denali and Boar's Nest. She is a proud company member of Steep Theatre and holds her BA from Columbia College.

Karen Rodriguez (Cast) currently stars as Wanda Salazar in Netflix's The Hunting Wives alongside Brittany Snow and Dermot Mulroney. She'll next star in Spider Noir in 2026 alongside Nicolas Cage and Brendan Gleeson. Ms. Rodriguez joined the Steppenwolf ensemble in 2018. On the Steppenwolf main stage, she has appeared in POTUS, The Seagull, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, Dance Nation, La Ruta, The Doppelgänger (an international farce) and The Rembrandt. Select theatre credits include I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter (Seattle Rep), The Way She Spoke (Greenhouse Theater Center), Breach (Victory Gardens Theater), The Displaced (Haven Theatre), Hookman (Steep Theatre) and Blue Skies Process (Goodman Theatre). Television credits include Acapulco (Apple TV) with Eugenio Derbez, SWARM (Amazon Prime) created by Janine Nabers and Donald Glover, The Big Leap (FOX), Shining Girls (Apple TV) with Elisabeth Moss and Jamie Bell, season 2 and 3 of Power Book IV: Force (STARZ), Chicago Fire and Chicago Justice. She's thrilled to be back on the Steppenwolf stage. Instagram: xkarenxrodriguez.

Namir Smallwood​ (Cast) joined the Steppenwolf Theatre Company ensemble in 2017. Steppenwolf: Mr. Wolf, You Will Get Sick, The Book of Grace, The Seagull, Bug, True West, BLKS, Monster, Man In Love, The Hot L Baltimore, Last Night and the Night Before. Broadway: Bug, Pass Over. Off-Broadway: Pipeline, Pass Over (Lincoln Center). Chicago: Primary Trust (Goodman); Charm (Northlight Theatre); The Grapes of Wrath (The Gift Theatre); East Texas Hot Links (Writers Theatre). Regional: Marin Theatre Company, Pillsbury House Theatre, Ten Thousand Things, Guthrie Theater. International: True West (Galway International Arts Festival). Television: Chicago Fire, Betrayal, Elementary, American Rust (Showtime/FreeVee), Power Book IV: Force (STARZ). Film: Rounding, About Time, Bailey's Blues.

Ellen B.

Marius von Mayenburg (Playwright) is a playwright, director and translator. Born in Munich, he studied playwriting at the Academy of the Arts, Berlin and was dramaturg and writer in residence at the Schaubühne Berlin. His plays (such as The Ugly One, Fireface, A Piece of Plastic) are translated into more than 30 languages, have been successfully produced worldwide at the Schaubühne Berlin, The Royal Court Theatre/London, the Young Vic, London, the National Theatre Oslo, Théâtre national de la Colline, Paris, La Scala, Paris among many others and have won several awards. As a translator he has translated works by William Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde, as well as contemporary plays by writers such as Martin Crimp, Alan Ayckbourn and Sarah Kane into German. His most recent trilogy consists of the plays Ex, Ellen Babić and Egal, which have all been premiered internationally at theaters such as Rikstheatre in Stockholm, Sweden, the National Theater of Reykjavik, the Burgtheater Vienna. As a director, Marius von Mayenburg has worked at the Schaubühne Berlin, Residenztheater in Munich, Schauspiel Frankfurt, Riksteater Stockholm, Nationaltheater Oslo and others.

Daniel Brunet (Translator) is a director, performer, producer and translator. He was born in Syracuse, New York, studied theater and film at Boston College and moved to Berlin in 2001 with the support of a Fulbright Scholarship. Brunet became Producing Artistic Director of English Theatre Berlin | International Performing Arts Center in 2012. He has received multiple awards for his over thirty play translations, including the Literary Fellowship in Translation from the U.S. National Endowment of the Arts. His translation of Wolfram Lotz's The Ridiculous Darkness was published by Oberon Books in 2019. In addition to Ellen Babić, Brunet has also translated Ex and Egal (Whatever) by Marius von Mayenburg.

Whitney White (Director) is a Tony Award nominee, Obie Award and Lily Award-winning director, writer and performer. Broadway: Liberation, Jaja's African Hair Braiding, The Last Five Years. Other: All Is But Fantasy (Royal Shakespeare Company), Walden (Second Stage), Jordan's (The Public), Saturday Church (NYTW), The Secret Life of Bees (The Almeida, UK), The Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington (Steppenwolf), Soft (MCC), On Sugarland (New York Theatre Workshop, Lucille Lortel and Drama Desk nominations, Outstanding Direction), Semblance (NYTW), The Amen Corner (Shakespeare Theatre Company), Our Dear Dead Drug Lord (WP Theater, Second Stage), What to Send Up When It Goes Down (The Movement Theatre Company, Woolly Mammoth, A.R.T., The Public Theater). Staff writer: I'm a Virgo (Amazon Studios). Writer/performer of Macbeth in Stride (A.R.T., Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Musical Performance by an Actress). Recipient of the Herb Alpert Award, Jerome Fellowship, Susan Stroman Directing Award. Part of the Rolex Protegé and Mentorship Arts Initiative. MFA Acting: Brown University/Trinity Rep, BA: Northwestern University. Whitney-White.com

The Night Fawn

Adam Rapp (Playwright) is the author of numerous plays, which include Nocturne (New York Theatre Workshop), Finer Noble Gases (2006 Edinburgh Fringe First Award, 26th Humana Festival), The Metal Children (The Vineyard) and Red Light Winter (Steppenwolf, Barrow Street Theatre), for which he won Chicago's Jeff Award for Best New Work, an Obie and was named a finalist for the 2006 Pulitzer Prize. The Sound Inside received its world premiere at the 2018 Williamstown Theatre festival and was named one of the New York Times best plays of 2019. It premiered on Broadway at Studio 54 in the fall of 2019 and went on to be nominated for 6 Tony Awards, including Best Play. He received a Tony nomination for writing the book for the musical The Outsiders, which is currently running on Broadway. The Outsiders went on to win Best Musical at the 2024 Tony Awards. His playwriting honors include Boston's Elliot Norton Award, The Helen Merrill Prize, The 2006 Princess Grace Statue, A Lucille Lotrel Playwright's fellowship, The Benjamin H. Danks Award, the PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation Award, a 2021 Arts and Letters Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the Best Theatre Newcomer prize from List Magazine and the Writers' Guild of Great Britain. Adam served as executive producer and showrunner for American Rust: Broken Justice and recently published a new novel, Wolf at the Table.

Terry Kinney (Director) is a co-founder and ensemble member of Steppenwolf Theatre Company. His Steppenwolf acting work includes Balm in Gilead, Orphans, Tracers, The Grapes of Wrath (Tony Award nomination), and Buried Child on Broadway. Steppenwolf (directing): Another Marriage, And a Nightingale Sang..., A Clockwork Orange, A Streetcar Named Desire, Of Mice and Men, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (also Broadway, winner Tony Award, Best Revival), and The Violet Hour. Other work: reasons to be pretty (Tony Award nomination, Best Play), The Price (Broadway), The Babylon Line (LCT), and Curse of the Starving Class. Film: Fly Away Home, Sleepers, The Firm, Last of the Mohicans, The Little Things, among others. Television: Oz, Good Behavior, Fargo, Billions, Inventing Anna, and The Watcher.

Cliff Chamberlain​ (Cast) joined the Steppenwolf Theatre Company ensemble in 2018. Steppenwolf Theatre Company: The Dance of Death, You Will Get Sick, Fool For Love, The Minutes, Belleville, Clybourne Park, Theatrical Essays, Superior Donuts. Chicago: The Seagull (Goodman Theatre); The Sparrow (The House Theatre of Chicago). Broadway: The Minutes, Superior Donuts. Television: Homeland, Altered Carbon, The Act, Easy, State of Affairs, Chicago P.D., Paper Girls, The Chair. Film: The Rip, Moses the Black, The Wise Kids. Cliff trained at UCSB and The School at Steppenwolf.

ADDITIONAL 2026/27 SEASON INFORMATION

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 Subscription Series production. Assistive listening devices (ALDs), large-print programs and braille 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/access or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Sponsor Information:

United Airlines is the Official and Exclusive Airline of Steppenwolf. Steppenwolf is also grateful for the significant season support from lead sponsors Allstate Insurance Company, Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Crown Family Philanthropies, Caroline and Keating Crown, Julius Frankel Foundation, Lefkofsky Family Foundation, Northern Trust, Anne and Don Phillips, John Hart and Carol Prins, Shubert Foundation, Inc, Walder Foundation, and Zell Family Foundation. Steppenwolf also acknowledges generous support from premier sponsors Anonymous, Andrew and Amy Bluhm, Michael and Cathy Brennan, Ann and Richard Carr, Chicago Community Trust, Conagra Brands Foundation, Rich and Margery Feitler, FROST CHICAGO, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Orlebeke Foundation, Polk Bros. Foundation, Sacks Family Foundation, Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, Thoma Bravo, Bryan Traubert and Penny Pritzker, and Vinci Restaurant. Steppenwolf also acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council and the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events.

About Steppenwolf Theatre Company:

Steppenwolf Theatre Company is the nation's premier Ensemble Theater with 50 members who are among the top actors, playwrights and directors in the field. Thrilling, powerful, groundbreaking productions have made this theatre legendary. From the 1980 phenomenon of Balm in Gilead, to The Grapes of Wrath, August: Osage County, Downstate, The Brother/Sister Plays, and now, the 2025 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning Purpose, Steppenwolf Theatre has had a long-running and undeniable impact on American Theatre and Chicago's cultural landscape. Founded in 1975 by Terry Kinney, Jeff Perry and Gary Sinise, Steppenwolf started as a group of young people in their teens and early 20s performing in the basement of a church. Today, the company's artistic force remains rooted in the original vision of its founders: an artist-driven theatre, whose vitality is defined by its appetite for bold and innovative work. Every aspect of Steppenwolf is rooted in its Ensemble ethos, from the intergenerational artistic programming to the multi-genre performance series LookOut, to the nationally recognized work of Steppenwolf Education and Engagement which serves nearly 15,000 teens annually. While 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. Steppenwolf also holds accolades that include the National Medal of Arts, 14 Tony Awards, two Pulitzer Prize-winning commissions and more. Led by Artistic Directors Glenn Davis and Audrey Francis, Executive Director E. Brooke Flanagan and Board of Trustees Chair Keating Crown — Steppenwolf continually redefines the boundaries of live theater and pushes the limits of acting and performance.

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.org, facebook.com/steppenwolftheatre, twitter.com/steppenwolfthtr and instagram.com/steppenwolfthtr.

Teamwork, bravery and fun are at the forefront of Splish Splash: A Day on the Lake, The Goodman's latest Theater for the Very Young (TVY) offering for theatergoers 0-5 and their adult friends and family.  Co-directed by Jamal Howard (The Lizard y El Sol) and Ellie Levine (Threshold's RAIN at Filament Theatre), this nautical adventure—recently extended through March 22—was developed in collaboration with Northwestern undergraduate students and 2- to 5-year-olds from Total Child Preschool in Evanston. Splish Splash: A Day on the Lake appears in The Goodman's Alice Center in an extended run over two more weekends: March 7, 8, 21 and 22. Splish Splash also appears at three Chicago Public Schools—Talcott Fine Arts and Museum Academy, Gregory Academy and Ruth Bader Ginsburg Elementary School—March 9-13.  For tickets ($13 adults 18+; $18 kids 12 months-17 years; under 12 months free), visit the Box Office (170 N. Dearborn), call 312.443.3800 or purchase at GoodmanTheatre.org/Splash. The Goodman is grateful for the support of Wintrust Commercial Bank (Community Programs Sponsor) and Kirkland & Ellis, LLP (Arts in Community Sponsor).

When the moon tumbles into the lake and breaks into pieces, it's up to a brave crew of young sailors to help the Great Blue Heron and their friends—Crayfish, Beaver, Turtle and Yellow Perch—put it back together again. Through songs, puppetry and joyful hands-on play, little ones and their grown-ups will dive into an underwater world of wildlife, wonder and waves. The cast includes Kylie Anderson (BOOK UP!), Sonia Goldberg (Kokandy Productions' Amélie), Tina Muñoz Pandya (The Matchbox Magic Flute) and Michael-Forest (Mikey) Walden (Refracted Theatre Company's Tambo & Bones).

Previous Goodman Theatre Theater for the Very Young productions include BOOK UP! (2025), The Lizard Y El Sol (2024) and In My Granny's Garden (2023).

Full company of Splish Splash: A Day on the Lake (in alphabetical order)

Developed in collaboration with Northwestern University's Imagine U

Co-directed by Jamal Howard and Ellie Levine

Kylie Anderson...Splash/Teaching Artist
Sonia Goldberg...Splish/Teaching Artist
Tina Muñoz Pandya...Blue Heron
Michael-Forest (Mikey) Walden...Sailor

CREATIVE TEAM

Set/Props/Costume Designer...Jillian Gryzlak 
Sound Designer...Stephen Moore 
Line Producer...Jared Bellot 
Production Associate...Jojo Wallenberg 
Production Assistant...Lauren Westfahl
Build Assistant...Ellie Terrell
Build Assistant...Kevin Rieg

Devised in collaboration with Madelyn Cantzler, Laura Fajardo-Riascos, Grace Hall, Ani Lawit, Andrew McCarthy, Kennedy Naseem, Sophie Pong, Ajayla Self and Ella Waffner.

Casting is by Lauren Port, CSA. 

ABOUT THE GOODMAN

Since 1925, The Goodman has been more than a stage. A theatrical home for artists and a gathering space for community, it's where stories come to life—bold in artistry and rich in history, deeply rooted in the city it serves.

Led by Walter Artistic Director Susan V. Booth and Executive Director John Collins, The Goodman sparks conversation, connection and change through new plays, reimagined classics and large-scale musicals. With distinctions including nearly 200 world or American premieres, two Pulitzer Prizes, 22 Tony Awards and nearly 200 Joseph Jefferson Awards, The Goodman is proud to be the first theater to produce all 10 plays of August Wilson's "American Century Cycle." In addition, the theater frequently serves as a production partner—with national and international companies to Chicago's Off-Loop theaters—to help amplify theatrical voices.

But The Goodman believes a more empathetic, more connected Chicago is created one story at a time, and counts as its greatest legacy the community it's built. Generation-spanning productions and programs offer theater for a lifetime; from Theater for the Very Young (plays designed for ages 0-5) to the long-running annual A Christmas Carol, which has introduced new generations to theater over five decades, The Goodman is committed to being an asset for all of Chicago. Education and Engagement programs led by Clifford Director of Education and Engagement Jared Bellot and housed in the Alice Rapoport Center use the tools of theater to spark imagination, reflection and belonging. Each year, these programs reach thousands of people (85% from underserved communities) as well as educators, artists and lifelong learners across the city.

The Goodman stands on the unceded homelands of the Council of the Three Fires—the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi Nations—and acknowledges the many other Nations for whom this land now called Chicago has long been home, including the Myaamia, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Sac and Fox, Peoria, Kaskaskia, Wea, Kickapoo, and Mascouten. The Goodman is proud to partner with the Gichigamiin Indigenous Nations Museum (Gichigamiin-Museum.org) and the Center for Native Futures (CenterForNativeFutures.org)—organizations devoted to honoring Indigenous stories, preserving cultural memory, and deepening public understanding.

The Goodman was founded by William O. Goodman and his family to honor the memory of Kenneth Sawyer Goodman—a visionary playwright whose bold ideas helped shape Chicago's early cultural renaissance. That spirit of creativity and generosity endures today. In 2000, through the commitment of Mr. Goodman's descendants—Albert Ivar Goodman and his late mother, Edith-Marie Appleton—The Goodman opened the doors to its current home in the heart of the Loop.

Marsha Cruzan is Chair of the Goodman Theatre Board of Trustees; Diane Landgren is Women's Board President; and Kelli Garcia is president of the Scenemakers Board for Young Professionals. 

TICKETS HERE

With spot-on performances across a large cast, William Inge’s 1949 script for “Come Back, Little Sheba” is receiving a definitive production at American Blues Theater’s intimate Studio Theater. Those of us of a certain age had this work buried deep into our cultural formation by the searing film version starring Shirley Booth, who won the 1952 Oscar and a Tony for her earlier Broadway performance as Lola. 

This was my first time to see the stage version, and director Elyse Dolan goes back to Inge’s original script, which fits beautifully into this captivating 90 minute show (no intermission). The set by Shayna Patel closely tracks Inge’s intentions, right down to the telephone at the base of the stairs. Lighting by Brendan Marble and Sound Design by Thomas Dixon couple especially well in high throttle jazz interludes signaling scene changes or turning points in the plot. And those costumes (Lily Walls) were just what the playwright envisioned, right out of the end of the 1940s.

Cisco Lopez as the Milkman with Gwendolyn Whiteside as Lola.

Contemporary audiences may see ‘Come Back, Little Sheba” as a showcase of the reduced role of women in post-WWII society, their lives centered on homemaking and “keeping their man happy.” But it is something more, too - a portrait of two diametrically opposite personalities - Lola (Gwendolyn Whiteside is remarkable) and her husband Doc (Philip Earl Johnson is a portrait of seething restraint) - locked together in an unbalanced relationship. Inge subtly laces in the clues to their unhappiness. Doc’s ambition to complete medical school was cut short when he felt compelled to marry Lola at 18 after getting her pregnant. Her pregnancy didn’t come to term, and he quit his medical studies. Instead of a doctor he became a chiropractor, and took to the bottle.

Lola, who was a high school beauty queen, has given up caring about her looks under the withering abuse she suffered during his drinking days. But he joined AA, and has eleven months sober - but lives with an internalized rigidity while presenting a caring face to the world around him. Underneath it all, he is filled with resentment.

On the couch, Ethan Surpan as Turk and Maya Lou Hlava as Marie.

A shift has entered this couple's fragile homelife with the arrival of the sprightly Marie (Maya Lou Hlava is perfect in the role). This comely coed is boarding with them, studying art at the university. She has a hot jock boyfriend, Turk (Ethan Surpan is a study in self-assured youthful machismo). Marie also has another boyfriend back home, Bruce (Justin Banks), a well-paid young businessman on his way up.

Inge sends the clues through the behavior of Johnson’s Doc that he is crushing on Marie, and quite jealous of Turk. Eventually his sober resolve crumbles under his longstanding unresolved resentment - that he is not an MD, this new jealousy, and that he is stuck with Lola, who smothers him with attention and coaches him somewhat intrusively on his AA practices. It is also an early serious treatment of the AA 12-step recovery program, founded ion the 1930s. Doc's involvement in it is core the the plot and character motivation. 

Lola, for her part, expresses her longing for better days gone by with a fixation on her runaway pup Sheba. Though Sheba went missing quite a while back, Lola still dreams of her return, and periodically calls for her puppy from the porch. An eternal optimist, she is ultimately the likeable center of the action. Marie and Turk love her. To show Lola through others’ eyes, Inge gives us two other characters, Elmo the Postman (William Anthony Sebastian Rose) and Milkman (Cisco Lopez). Whiteside’s Lola is so lonely she tries almost too hard to engage them, but nevertheless, her open heart compels their empathy and she wins them over. Everyone seems to love Lola except the next door neighbor Mrs. Coffman (Joslyn Jones), who derides Lola over her unkempt house.

In the last third of the play, mayhem breaks loose, and you will be stunned, shocked and glued to your seat by the culmination of this stunning drama. As Tolstoy put it, “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” And “Come Back, Little Sheba” shows how true this is. Highly recommended. 

“Come Back, Little Sheba” runs through March 22 at American Blues Theater in Chicago.

This review is proudly shared with our friends at www.TheatreInChicago.com.

FULLY COMMITTED, the one-actor tour de force comedy by Becky Mode, will play The Den Theatre March 13-28, 2026. It will be performed by Chicago actor Mike Newquist, playing nearly forty different characters. Newquist's many roles in Chicago theater include GOD OF CARNAGE with AstonRep, DESIGN FOR LIVING with Pride Films and Plays, and NICE GIRL for Raven Theatre. Derek Bertelsen, founder/artistic director of The Comrades and company member and co-artistic director for AstonRep Theatre Company, is producing and directing.

FULLY COMMITTED is a fast-paced, hilarious one-person comedy that takes audiences behind the scenes of New York's hottest restaurant. One actor brings to life nearly 40 characters—from desperate celebrities and ruthless socialites to frazzled staff —and at the center of it all, one very overworked reservationist. It's a razor-sharp satire of status, ambition, and customer service madness. This is the first time FULLY COMMITTED has been seen in Chicago in more 25 years.

Lyric Opera of Chicago continues its commitment to bold, new work with the world premiere of safronia, a landmark musical composition commissioned from Chicago’s first Poet Laureate, the interdisciplinary artist avery r. young. Presented for two performances, April 17 & 18, 2026, at the Lyric Opera House, safronia is an American story told through blues, gospel, and funk that places the Great Migration centerstage.

Part family saga, part American reckoning, safronia follows the booker family as they journey from the North back to their Mississippi hometown to lay their father’s ashes on land they were forced from. What begins as a burial ignites a volatile confrontation with memory, inheritance, and the unfinished business of history. Blending folklore, poetry, and gospel-rooted sound with Lyric's orchestral sweep, young crafts a work at once intimate and seismic. It is a Chicago-born story that speaks to the nation.

A Chicago story. An American reckoning.

Between 1910 and 1970, millions of Black families left the South in the Great Migration, reshaping cities like Chicago and redefining the nation’s cultural and political landscape. In safronia, that history is not the backdrop — it is the heartbeat.

The booker family once built something of their own. When that foundation is stripped away from under their feet, they join the tide of those heading North. Years later, they return to Mississippi not only to bury patriarch baar jacob booker, but to face the forces that drove them away.

At the center stands safronia booker, baar’s youngest daughter — fiercely loyal, sharp-witted, and unwilling to surrender what her father fought to claim. Around her gather magnolia, the family’s steady matriarch; king willie tate, determined to secure dignity in the North; and the town that has never forgotten the bookers’ claim to the land.

Through pride, humor, anger, faith, and music, safronia asks: What does it mean to return home? What is owed? And who decides what belongs?

A new opera with Sunday service energy

From the beginning, young set out to expand the definition of classical music.  

"This would not be ‘chocolate-covered Mozart,’" says young.

"The music Black people made in this country is American classical music," says young. "In safronia, those traditions — gospel hymns, blues progressions, funk rhythms, and the layered call-and-response of the Black church — are not softened or translated. They are the foundation."

With safronia, young reshapes the operatic experience and expands the operatic vocabulary, positioning Black musical traditions not at the margins of the art form, but at its core.

Clapping, snapping, percussive movement, and rhythmic vocal textures are embedded into the score and built into the performance. The energy of a Sunday service informs the structure of the work. The opera house becomes a participatory space. Audiences do not simply observe and witness; they move with the story.

avery r. young: An artist expanding what American opera can be

Selected in 2023 as Chicago’s first Poet Laureate from more than 1,300 applicants, avery r. young is a 3Arts Awardee — a distinction recognizing significant contributions to Chicago’s cultural life — and a Cave Canem Fellow, part of the nationally respected organization supporting Black poets. A composer, producer, educator, and co-director of the interdisciplinary arts collective Floating Museum, young works across poetry, music, performance, visual art, and sound design. His writing appears in The BreakBeat Poets, Poetry magazine, and alongside Cecil McDonald Jr.’s photography in In the Company of Black. He tours nationally with his band, de deacon board.

young first collaborated with Lyric in 2021 on Twilight: Gods (2020/21), a drive-through reimagining of Wagner’s Ring cycle conceived and directed by Yuval Sharon. For this ambitious, pandemic-era production staged in a Chicago parking garage, young wrote and performed poetic transitions that reframed Wagner’s epic through a distinctly Chicago lens. Following that project’s success, Lyric invited young to imagine a work of his own for the stage.

With safronia, young returns as composer, librettist, and performer in his first full-length operatic creation. Drawing on his own family’s Great Migration story and the musical traditions of Chicago’s West Side, young delivers a work that speaks locally and nationally at once.

The voices that bring safronia to life: a cast of national distinction

Composer and librettist avery r. young performs the role of baar jacob booker, the family patriarch whose presence anchors the work both in life and in memory.

Chicago-born singer-songwriter Meagan McNeal makes her Lyric debut in the title role of safronia booker. Known for collaborations with Makaya McCraven, Common, The O’Jays, Eminem, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, McNeal reached national audiences on NBC’s The Voice, where she worked alongside Jennifer Hudson.

Award-winning vocalist and actor Maiesha McQueen makes her Lyric debut as magnolia booker, the family’s regal matriarch. Her career spans Broadway and major regional theaters, including Waitress on Broadway and the national tour of Come From Away. Regionally, she portrayed Celie in The Color Purple at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts and Mahalia Jackson in Mahalia!.

Joseph Jefferson Award-winning performer Lorenzo Rush, Jr. appears as king willie tate, safronia’s husband and a man determined to build stability and dignity for his family in the North. A familiar presence on Chicago stages, Rush has performed at Marriott Theatre, Paramount Theatre, Porchlight Music Theatre, Drury Lane Theatre, Goodman Theatre, and Court Theatre. He is a Jeff Award recipient for Ain’t Misbehavin’, Five Guys Named Moe, and Sophisticated Ladies. His television credits include Chicago Fire and Fargo.

Jeff Parker returns to Lyric as bossman. Parker previously appeared at Lyric as Arne Duncan in The Walkers from Proximity (2022/23) and has performed at nearly every major Chicago theater, including Goodman, Steppenwolf, and Chicago Shakespeare Theater.

Grammy Award–winning bass-baritone Zachary James makes his Lyric debut as cholly, following performances with the Metropolitan Opera, English National Opera, and major houses across Europe and the United States. He was also recently seen in Jesus Christ Superstar at the Hollywood Bowl. James brings formidable presence to this layered role.

The ensemble includes Jessica Seals, Sydney Charles, Miciah Lathan, Kendal Marie Wilson, Maxel McCloud Schingen, and Bailey Haynes, all making their Lyric debuts, alongside Eric Andrew Lewis, who returns to Lyric after appearing in Jesus Christ Superstar (2017/18).

Musically, safronia brings together the Lyric Opera Orchestra with members of avery r. young’s blues and funk ensemble, de deacon board. In addition to strings, winds, and brass, the score incorporates electric bass, organ, and harmonica — performed by three-time Grammy nominee and Blues Hall of Fame inductee Billy Branch — as well as keyboards by Chicago jazz pianist Theodis Rodgers Jr., who served as music director for Curtis Mayfield. The result is a sound that moves fluidly between operatic writing and the pulse of the Black church and juke joint.

A creative team built for new work

For a world premiere of this magnitude, safronia brings together a creative team fluent in new work, fearless storytelling, and music that lives at the crossroads of tradition and innovation.

safronia is directed by Timothy Douglas in his Lyric debut following more than 150 productions nationwide, including the world premiere of Jasmine Barnes and Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton’s She Who Dared at Chicago Opera Theater. Douglas has created new productions for companies including Boston Lyric Opera and New Orleans Opera. Widely respected for staging works that fuse intimacy with scale, he is known for excavating the emotional core of new pieces and shaping them into theatrically urgent events.

Conductor Paul Byssainthe, Jr., in his Lyric debut, bridges sacred, classical, and theatrical traditions with uncommon authority. He currently serves as Associate Music Director for the Broadway revival of Ragtime at Lincoln Center Theater and previously led Goddess, the Kenya-set Afro-jazz musical at The Public Theater, as well as the Broadway revival of The Wiz.

The creative team includes costume designer Jessica Jahn, returning to Lyric following Blue (2024/25) and West Side Story (productions in 2019 and 2023); lighting designer Jason Lynch; video designer VAM Studio, an award-winning Chicago-based collective known for community-centered visual storytelling; and choreographer Kia Smith, founder of South Chicago Dance Theatre — all making their Lyric debuts.

Together, this team does more than mount a premiere — they build a world.

Continuing Lyric’s investment in the future of opera

With safronia, Lyric makes a bold statement about the future of the art form. These two performances represent a five-year investment in the development of a new American work — commissioned by Lyric, conceived in conversation, cultivated through collaboration, and brought to the mainstage with the full force of the company behind it.

In recent seasons, Lyric has accelerated its commitment to expanding the canon through ambitious contemporary projects including Proximity (2022/23) — featuring The Walkers by Daniel Bernard Roumain and Anna Deavere Smith, Four Portraits by Caroline Shaw and Jocelyn Clarke, and Night by John Luther Adams and John Haines — as well as Will Liverman and DJ King Rico’s The Factotum (2022/23), a reinvention of Rossini set on Chicago’s South Side, and the site-specific Twilight: Gods (2020/21). Each signaled a company willing to challenge assumptions about what opera is, who it serves, and whose stories command its grandest stages.

safronia builds on that momentum at an even greater scale. Developed over half a decade, the work reflects Lyric’s long-term strategy to commission, nurture, and premiere operas that speak directly to the American experience. By investing deeply — artistically, financially, and institutionally — in new voices and new forms, Lyric positions itself not simply as a presenter of the repertoire, but as an architect of its future.

In bringing safronia to life, Lyric asserts that American opera is not a distant tradition to be inherited. It is a living form to be shaped — here, now, and on its mainstage.

Two performances only:

• Friday, April 17, 2026 at 7:00 p.m.
• Saturday, April 18, 2026 at 7:30 p.m.

Language: Sung in English, with projected English titles above the stage.

Running time: Approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes, including one intermission.

Exhibition: The Art of Culture: Presented March 2 – April 18, 2026 in Lyric’s Grand Foyer and Mezzanine, in celebration of Lyric's performances of Madama Butterfly, El último sueño de Frida y Diego, and safronia, this six-week exhibition highlights the traditions and artistic legacies of Japanese, Mexican, and African American cultures. The Art of Culture features an exploration of Japan’s historic Geisha culture, visual artwork by Mexican American artists, and selections from Vanessa Charlot’s Down in the Delta, a photographic journey through the Deep South inspired by the Great Migration. Community partners include the Japanese Cultural Center, the National Museum of Mexican Art, and photographer, filmmaker, and scholar Vanessa Charlot. The exhibition is free to all ticketholders.

Pre-performance talks: Ticketholders are invited to a free pre-opera talk presented by Vanessa Charlot, 2025 Crossroads Arts Fellow and faculty member at the University of Mississippi, whose work is also featured in The Art of Culture. Talks begin one hour before each performance in the theater’s Steiner Parquet (main floor).

Accessibility: Braille and large-print programs, high-powered opera glasses, assistive listening devices, and booster seats are available from the theater’s Steiner Parquet coat checks at all performances. For more information on accessibility services, visit lyricopera.org/accessibility.

Location: Lyric Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive, Chicago, Illinois.

For more information and tickets, visit lyricopera.org/safronia or call 312.827.5600.

The Auditorium (Chicago's landmark stage at 50 E. Ida B. Wells Drive) presents Bat Out Of Hell – The Musical direct from London's West End. Featuring the timeless music of Jim Steinman and Meat Loaf, this electrifying production is full of rock 'n' roll favorites. The one night only presentation is Thursday, April 9, 2026 at 7:30 PM at The Auditorium, 50 E Ia B Wells Dr. Tickets go on sale on Friday, January 30 at 9:00 AM and will be available at auditoriumtheatre.org or by calling The Auditorium's Ticket Service Center at 312.341.2300.

Featuring some of the most iconic rock songs ever recorded, Bat Out Of Hell – The Musical boasts an epic world class cast of singers, dancers, actors, accompanied by a dynamic eight-piece rock band. As the Lost boys and girls flee into the tunnels below the city from its ruler Falco, his teenage daughter Raven locks eyes with fearless leader of the Lost, the immortal Strat, and the immensity of their love-at-first-sight-obsessions threaten to destroy both of their families.

Bat Out Of Hell became one of the best-selling albums in history, selling over 68 million copies worldwide. 16 years after the release of the original album, Steinman scored again with Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell, which contained the massive hit I Would Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That). For the stage musical, the legendary and award-winning Jim Steinman incorporated iconic songs from the Bat Out of Hell albums, including You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth, Bat Out of Hell, I Would Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That), It's All Coming Back to Me, and Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad, as well as the previously unreleased song What Part of My Body Hurts the Most.

Bat Out Of Hell - The Musical has book, music and lyrics by Jim Steinman, direction by Jay Scheib, with musical supervision and additional arrangements by Michael Reed, additional choreography by Xena Gusthart, set and costume design by Jon Bausor, original wig designs by Linda McKnight, video design by Finn Ross, lighting design by Patrick Woodroffe, sound design by Gareth Owen, orchestrations by Steve Sidwell, original casting by David Grindrod CDG, North American Tour Casting by Kinlore Casting – Kate Lumpkin, CSA, Associate Director Alli Coyne, and General Management by Evan Bernardin Productions – Jenna Lazar. Bat Out of Hell – The Musical won the UK'S Radio 2 Audience Award for Best Musical at the Evening Standard Awards and was nominated for 8 LONDON WhatsOnStage Awards, including Best New Musical. Loved by audiences and critics alike, it garnered 5 stars from the UK's The Independent, Daily Mirror, Daily Express, Manchester Evening News, Metro, while the New York Times called it 'extravagant, absurd, compulsively hummable." Bat Out Of Hell -The Musical has played limited seasons at Manchester Opera House, London Coliseum, London's Dominion Theatre, Toronto's CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre and New York City Center with successful runs in Canada, Germany, a residency in Las Vegas and the international tour which took the show to the UK, Ireland, Germany, Australia and New Zealand.

The Canadian and US dates of Bat Out Of Hell – The Musical, are produced by Emmy and Tony Award winner Michael Cohl, CEO of S2BN Entertainment and the former Chairman of Live Nation, Tony Smith & David Sonenberg with executive producers Glenn Orsher and Julian Stoneman. For more information about the show, visit BatOutOfHellMusical.com.

About The Auditorium

The Auditorium, located at 50 E. Ida B. Wells Drive in Chicago, is an Illinois not-for-profit organization committed to presenting the finest in international, cultural, community, and educational programming to all of Chicago and beyond as The Theatre for the People. The organization also is committed to the continued restoration and preservation of this National Historic Landmark that originally opened in 1889. The Auditorium's 2025-26 performance season features a dynamic mix of cultural events from ballet to rock and roll and everything in between. For more information on The Auditorium and a complete listing of events at The Auditorium please visit AuditoriumTheatre.org.