GOOD PEOPLE, BELLEVILLE, et al. Included in Steppenwolf's 2012-13 Season

Steppenwolf Theatre Company Artistic Director Martha Lavey announced today the 2012/13 Subscription Season, including a Steppenwolf-commissioned world premiere and the work of fifteen ensemble members. The season begins in Steppenwolf's Downstairs Theatre with David Lindsay-Abaire's Good People, directed by ensemble member K. Todd Freeman. Up next, ensemble member Anna D. Shapiro directs The Motherf**ker with the Hat by Stephen Adly Guirgis. In the Upstairs Theatre, ensemble member Austin Pendleton directs The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter. In April 2013, ensemble member Tina Landau directs the Steppenwolf-commissioned world premiere of Head of Passes by ensemble member Tarell Alvin McCraney, their first collaboration since the widely-praised The Brother/Sister Plays (2010). The season concludes with Belleville by Amy Herzog, directed by Anne Kauffmann.

"As we began assembling the plays for our 2012/13 season, we found ourselves compelled by an underlying theme uniting this diverse and exciting collection of works. In each of these five plays, there is a moment when the past reveals itself, unbidden but ineluctable in its force. We are calling this moment 'The Reckoning,'" comments Artistic Director Martha Lavey. "The word shimmers with Biblical meaning: the day of reckoning; with the mathematical record: a settling of accounts; with a narrative trajectory: a summing up. Each of these meanings adds an appropriate weight to the metaphors we use to make sense of our fate. Whether we narrate the story of our life with religious or secular cast, there is a deeply human impulse to discern a system of justice to explain our fate."

Steppenwolf ensemble members currently confirmed for the 2012/13 Season include: Alana Arenas, Ian Barford, K. Todd Freeman, Francis Guinan, Moira Harris, Jon Michael Hill, Tim Hopper, Tina Landau, John Mahoney, Mariann Mayberry, Tarell Alvin McCraney, James Vincent Meredith, Austin Pendleton, Molly Regan and Anna D. Shapiro. Additional casting to be announced.

Season subscriptions are currently on-sale. Packages start at $140. To purchase a 2012/13 subscription, contact Audience Services at 1650 N. Halsted St. or call (312) 335-1650 . Patrons can also visit the NEW www.steppenwolf.org, a fully reimagined, streamlined website with easier navigation, greater functionality and more opportunities to connect with Steppenwolf.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company's 2012/13 Subscription Season
(All plays, artists and dates are subject to change)

Good People
By David Lindsay-Abaire
Directed by ensemble member K. Todd Freeman
Featuring ensemble members Alana Arenas, Mariann Mayberry and Molly Regan
September 13 – November 11, 2012 in the Downstairs Theatre

When Margie Walsh loses her job at a South Boston dollar store, she reaches out to her old friend and flame Mike, a Southie boy who made good when he became a successful doctor. What begins as an attempt to hit Mike up for a job takes on a threatening cast when Margie realizes the power that secrets from Mike's past life hold over his current one. Penned by Pulitzer Prize-winner David Lindsay-Abaire, Good People is an incisive and funny character study of old friends, old flames and the question of whether you can ever leave the old neighborhood behind.

Good People was produced on Broadway in 2011 and marks David Lindsay-Abaire's debut at Steppenwolf Theatre Company. An ensemble member since 1993, K. Todd Freeman's recent Steppenwolf credits include The Brother/Sister Plays, The Tempest and Art.

The Motherf**ker with the Hat
By Stephen Adly Guirgis
Directed by ensemble member Anna D. Shapiro
December 27, 2012 – March 3, 2013 in the Downstairs Theatre

Things are on the up and-up for recovering alcoholic Jackie and girlfriend Veronica-until Jackie spots another man's hat in their apartment, and embarks on a sublimely incompetent criminal quest for vengeance. Fast-paced and uproarious, Mother… also asks probing questions about the havoc addiction wreaks. Ensemble member Anna D. Shapiro, director of the acclaimed Broadway premiere, returns to the helm with a new cast. Stephen Adly Guirgis is a playwright, screenwriter, director, actor and co-artistic director of LAByrinth Theater Company in New York City.

The Birthday Party
By Harold Pinter
Directed by ensemble member Austin Pendleton
Featuring ensemble members Ian Barford, Francis Guinan, Moira Harris and John Mahoney with Sophia Sinise
January 24 – May 19, 2013 in the Upstairs Theatre

Petey, Meg and their long-time tenant Stanley live comfortably, if without particular flair, in a seaside boarding house in England. But their humdrum daily routine of cornflakes, newspapers and naps comes to a sudden end when two mysterious men appear, bringing with them menace, mystery and one overwhelming question: What exactly are they searching for? When the group gathers together to celebrate Stanley's birthday, alliances are re-drawn, scandals are revealed and all are left teetering on a precipice. Dismissed by critics for its opacity when it first opened (and promptly closed) in London in 1958, Nobel laureate Harold Pinter's mordant and macabre play has since gained a reputation as one of the dark comic classics of the twentieth century.

This marks the first production of Pinter's classic at Steppenwolf. The ensemble members featured in The Birthday Party have nearly 125 Steppenwolf credits among them.

Head of Passes
By ensemble member Tarell Alvin McCraney
Directed by ensemble member Tina Landau
Featuring ensemble members Alana Arenas, K. Todd Freeman, Jon Michael Hill, Tim Hopper and James Vincent Meredith
April 4 – June 9, 2013 in the Downstairs Theatre

Setting: The distant present, at the mouth of the shifting Mississippi River. Shelah's family and friends plan a surprise birthday party for her. But the festivities are quickly overshadowed by a series of revelations that point to a dark secret in the family's past-revelations that leave Shelah trying to find faith, a footing and a truer sense of God. Ensemble members Tarell Alvin McCraney and Tina Landau, the writer and director behind Steppenwolf's lauded production of The Brother/Sister Plays, team up again for this ensemble drama, told in McCraney's signature style-a vast and bustling landscape, where the spiritual world mingles freely with the day-to-day.

Head of Passes is a Steppenwolf-commissioned world premiere, funded in part by The Joyce Foundation. Playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney has been an ensemble member since 2010. Tina Landau's Steppenwolf credits include McCraney's The Brother/Sister Plays, Space, The Time of Your Life, The Tempest and Superior Donuts.

Belleville
By Amy Herzog
Directed by Anne Kauffmann
Featuring ensemble members Alana Arenas and Kate Arrington
June 27 – August 25, 2013 in the Downstairs Theatre

Twenty-something American expats Zack and Abby live an enviably hip, do-gooder existence in the up-and-coming neighborhood of Belleville, Paris. But a single encounter one morning in the apartment they rent from their Senegalese landlords Alioune and Amina tips the scales of their relationship, revealing that the bubble they've built abroad is much closer to bursting than it appears.

Dubbed a "thrillingly good" drama with elements of a "nail-biting psychological thriller" by The New York Times, Amy Herzog's play asks unsettling questions about upheaval and the power of a lie. Anne Kauffmann, director of Belleville's acclaimed Yale Repertory Theatre premiere, directs this new production.

Free post-show discussions are offered after every performance in the Subscription Season. Steppenwolf is located near all forms of public transportation and is wheelchair accessible. Street and lot parking are available. Performances featuring American Sign Language interpretation, open captioning and audio description are offered during the run of each play. Assistive listening devices and large-print programs are available for every performance.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Chicago, IL (Martha Lavey, Artistic Director; David Hawkanson, Executive Director) is one of the nation's leading ensemble theaters, producing up to 16 productions each year in its three Chicago theater spaces-including programming dedicated to the development of new plays and theater for young adults. Steppenwolf's productions have enjoyed success both nationally and internationally, including off-Broadway, Broadway, London, Sydney and Dublin. Formed in 1976 by a collective of actors, Steppenwolf has grown into an ensemble of 43 actors, writers and directors. For additional information, visit www.steppenwolf.org, www.facebook.com/SteppenwolfTheatre and www.twitter.com/SteppenwolfThtr.

Currently on stage are Time Stands Still by Pulitzer Prize-winner Donald Margulies, directed by ensemble member Austin Pendleton (through May 13, 2012) in Steppenwolf's Upstairs Theatre (1650 N. Halsted St.); the Steppenwolf for Young Adults production of fml: how Carson McCullers saved my life, a new play by Sarah Gubbins, directed by Joanie Schultz (public performances March 4, 9, 10, 17 and 18) in Steppenwolf's Downstairs Theatre (1650 N. Halsted St.); and Garage Rep in The Steppenwolf Garage (1624 N. Halsted St.), featuring Oohrah! by Bekah Brunstetter, directed by Brad Akin, presented by LiveWire Chicago (through April 8, 2012); Hit the Wall by Ike Holter, directed by Eric Hoff, presented by The Inconvenience (through April 15, 2012); and He Who, written and directed by Michael Montenegro, presented by Theatre Zarko (through April 8, 2012).

Upcoming productions in the 2011/12 season include The March, based on the novel by E.L. Doctorow, adapted for the stage and directed by ensemble member Frank Galati (April 5 – June 10, 2012) in Steppenwolf's Downstairs Theatre (1650 N. Halsted St.); NEXT UP (June 5 – 24, 2012) in The Steppenwolf Garage (1624 N. Halsted St.), featuring Life and Limb by Keith Reddin, directed by Emily Campbell; South of Settling by Emily Schwend, directed by Adam Goldstein; and The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, directed by Laley Lippard; and Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov, adapted by ensemble member Tracy Letts, directed by ensemble member Anna D. Shapiro (June 28 – August 26, 2012) in Steppenwolf's Downstairs Theatre (1650 N. Halsted St.).