New Work by Tracy Letts, Chicago Premiere of THE FLICK & More Set for Steppenwolf's 2015-16 Season

Steppenwolf Theatre Company Artistic Director Martha Lavey announced today the 2015/16 Subscription Season, which marks the company's 40th anniversary.

Formed in 1976 by a collective of actors, Steppenwolf is the longest standing, most distinguished ensemble theater in the United States. The anniversary season opens with John Steinbeck's epic masterpiece East of Eden adapted by ensemble member Frank Galati and directed by founding ensemble member Terry Kinney. Galati's 1988 adaptation of Steppenwolf's The Grapes of Wrath won him two Tony Awards and catapulted the company into the national spotlight. Ensemble member Tracy Letts (August: Osage County) debuts a new work; ensemble member Bruce Norris directs the Chicago premiere of his hit play, Domesticated; Steppenwolf begins a relationship with award-winning playwright Annie Baker; and ensemble member Yasen Peyankov directs a Chicago premiere by the wildly original playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis.

"This is the final season for which I will have the privilege of leading the play selection process. Anna D. Shapiro, the ensemble and I are enormously proud of the work we are able to bring to the stage as we celebrate 40 years. Three of the plays are authored by Steppenwolf ensemble members; one by a playwright who returns to Steppenwolf for the fourth time; and finally, a playwright new to our theater with whom we anticipate an ongoing relationship," comments Artistic Director Martha Lavey. "It's a season that you could only experience at Steppenwolf. Nothing could make me happier than to showcase our artists and this season as a beautiful expression of what makes our theater unique."

Season subscriptions are currently on sale.Packages start at $100. Student, educator and access discount subscriptions available. To purchase a 2015/16 subscription, visit Audience Services at 1650 N Halsted St, call 312-335-1650 or visit steppenwolf.org.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company's 2015/16 Subscription Season

World Premiere
John Steinbeck's
East of Eden
Adapted by ensemble member Frank Galati
Directed by founding ensemble member Terry Kinney
September 17 - November 15, 2015 in the Downstairs Theatre

From the award-winning adaptor of the Steppenwolf classic production The Grapes of Wrath

Escaping a turbulent past, Adam Trask is determined to make a new start in California's Salinas Valley. Adam and his wife Kate settle on a beautiful farm, and soon Kate gives birth to twins Caleb and Aaron. But family history, sibling rivalry and the impending danger of World War One will threaten their little piece of paradise. East of Eden is a sprawling and unflinching story that asks if is it possible to escape the mistakes of previous generations and choose your own course.

Ensemble member Frank Galati adapted and directed Steppenwolf's groundbreaking production of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath in 1988, which won a Tony Award for Best Play and for Best Direction. Co-founder and ensemble member Terry Kinney was in the original cast of The Grapes of Wrath. Among Kinney's Steppenwolf directing credits are The Violet Hour, A Streetcar Named Desire, A Clockwork Orange, Of Mice and Men and One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, which moved to Broadway and won a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play.

Chicago Premiere
Domesticated
Written and directed by ensemble member Bruce Norris
December 3, 2015 - February 7, 2016 in the Downstairs Theatre

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Qualms and Clybourne Park

Politician Bill Pulver faces the cameras to stumble his way through a carefully crafted apology as his wife Judy stands stoically behind him...but what is she REALLY thinking? We are about to find out in Bruce Norris's wickedly funny, unpredictable play about a marriage burst apart by a sex scandal. This scathing, wildly entertaining play investigates gender politics, modern marriage and the sexual mysteries of the animal kingdom.

Domesticated marks the ninth play by Bruce Norris that Steppenwolf has produced. The play premiered at the Lincoln Center in New York in 2013. Most recently Steppenwolf premiered Norris's The Qualms, which had a subsequent production at Playwrights Horizons. For Clybourne Park, Norris won the Tony Award for Best Play, the Olivier and Evening Standard Awards (London) for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. He is the recipient of the Steinberg Playwright Award, The Whiting Foundation Prize for Drama, as well as two Joseph Jefferson Awards for Best New Work.

Chicago Premiere
The Flick
By Annie Baker
Directed by Dexter Bullard
February 4 - May 8, 2016 in the Upstairs Theatre

Winner of the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Drama

Three underpaid employees sweep up stale popcorn in a run-down movie house called The Flick, one of the last theaters in Massachusetts still projecting 35mm films. For Avery, this isn't a dead-end job. It's a way to get closer to the art form he loves. Passionate debates about cinema lead to a friendship of sorts with co-workers Sam and Rose. But will their tentative bond survive as they reveal what they actually need from each other? The Flick is a heartfelt cry for the kind of authentic connection we all want, even if we're a little afraid of it.

Annie Baker makes her Steppenwolf debut with The Flick. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Susan Smith Blackburn Award and Obie Award for Playwriting, The Flick premiered at Playwrights Horizons in 2013. Described as "one of the freshest and most talented dramatists to emerge Off Broadway in the past decade" (New York Times), Baker's other works include The Aliens (Obie Award for Best New American Play), Body Awareness and Circle Mirror Transformation (Obie Award for Best New American Play), which Dexter Bullard directed at Victory Gardens in 2011. Bullard has directed for Steppenwolf's First Look Repertory of New Work and recently directed Big Meal at American Theatre Company. He is the head of Graduate Acting and Showcase Artistic Director with The Theatre School at DePaul University.

World Premiere
Mary Page Marlowe
By ensemble member Tracy Letts
Directed by TBA
March 31 - May 29, 2016 in the Downstairs Theatre

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of Killer Joe, Superior Donuts and August: Osage County

Mary Page Marlowe is an accountant from Ohio. She's led an ordinary life, making the difficult decisions we all face as we try to figure out who we really are and what we really want. As Tracy Letts brings us moments-both pivotal and mundane-from Mary's life, a portrait of a surprisingly complicated woman emerges. Intimate and moving, Mary Page Marlowe shows us how circumstance, impulse and time can combine to make us mysteries...even to ourselves.

Tracy Letts was awarded the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play for August: Osage County, which premiered at Steppenwolf in 2007, played on Broadway, London's National Theatre and the Sydney Theatre. Steppenwolf also produced the world premieres of Letts's Superior Donuts (transferred to Broadway in 2009);and Man from Nebraska (premiered at Steppenwolf in 2003, Pulitzer Prize finalist). Letts received a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play for Steppenwolf's production of Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? He has been an ensemble member since 2002.

Chicago Premiere
Between Riverside and Crazy
By Stephen Adly Guirgis
Directed by ensemble member Yasen Peyankov
June 23 - August 21, 2016 in the Downstairs Theatre

From the wildly original author of The Motherf**ker with the Hat

Ex-cop "Pops" Washington and his ex-con son Junior are barely holding on to one of the last great rent stabilized apartments in Manhattan. Pops has his hands (not to mention his apartment) full as he navigates a steady stream of sketchy houseguests and sweats out the impending verdict on his law suit against the police department. A celebration of the glorious contradictions that make up human nature, this rowdy dark comedy looks at the slippery nature of justice, and the grit it takes to finally move on.

Between Riverside and Crazy premiered at the Atlantic Theatre in New York under the direction of ensemble member Austin Pendleton. Steppenwolf has produced three other works by Guirgis, including the critically acclaimed The Motherf**ker with the Hat under ensemble member Anna D. Shapiro's direction. Ensemble member Yasen Peyankov most recently directed Steppenwolf's Russian Transport in 2014 and Hushabye at Steppenwolf as part of the 2014 First Look Repertory of New Work. Peyankov will direct Steppenwolf's upcoming production of Grand Concourse in 2015.

Season subscriptions are currently on sale.Packages start at $100. Student, educator and access discount subscriptions available. To purchase a 2015/16 subscription, visit Audience Services at 1650 N Halsted St, call 312-335-1650 or visit steppenwolf.org. Single tickets will go on sale at a later date.

As previously announced, Anna D. Shapiro will succeed Martha Lavey as Artistic Director at the start of the 2015/16 season. Shapiro began working with Steppenwolf in 1995, joined the ensemble in 2005 and is a Tony Award-winning director. She will serve alongside Managing Director David Schmitz. Lavey, who joined the ensemble in 1993, has served as Artistic Director of Steppenwolf for 20 years and will conclude her tenure at the end of the 2014/15 season, while still remaining an ensemble member.

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. Valet parking service ($13 cash) is available directly in front of the main entrance at 1650 N Halsted St starting at 5pm on weeknights, 1pm on weekends and at 12 noon before Wednesday matinees. Street and lot parking are also 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.

Photo by Walter McBride