Steppenwolf Announces 2022/23 Season Featuring 4 World Premieres & More

Steppenwolf Theatre Company has announced the 2022/23 Season today. With six Steppenwolf Membership Series productions and two Steppenwolf for Young Adults (SYA) productions, the 47th season is the storied company's first full season in its expanded home-welcoming audiences back to experience the next chapter of Steppenwolf's bold, visceral and muscular work, while celebrating a dynamic range of exciting new voices and Steppenwolf legends.

Artistic Director Glenn Davis shares, "Steppenwolf and the ensemble of artists that call our theater home are thrilled to share plans for our most robust in-person season since emerging from the pandemic. With six extraordinary works for adult audiences in the Ensemble and Downstairs Theaters, two world-premiere adaptations developed for teens in our Steppenwolf for Young Adults Series, and performances by countless local artists and itinerant companies continuing in our 1700 Theater, we are activating our expanded campus with an amazing spectrum of voices that reflect the vibrant city we call home."

This year, Steppenwolf unveiled its 50,000-square-foot Liz and Eric Lefkofsky Arts and Education Center, designed by world-renowned architect Gordon Gill FAIA of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture and featuring the new in-the-round Ensemble Theater in Honor of Helen Zell, with theater design and acoustics by Charcoalblue. Steppenwolf's first-ever dedicated education space, The Loft, encompasses the entire fourth floor of the new building, and two new full-service lobby bars designed by fc STUDIO, inc. offer additional spaces for socializing alongside the popular Front Bar. The 2022/23 Season continues this transformative moment with four world premieres and three Chicago premieres bursting with vital stories and questions for our times.

"Chicago formed who I am as an artist, and my goal is to do for Chicago what Chicago has done for us," shares Artistic Director Audrey Francis. "The newly expanded Steppenwolf campus was created as a love letter to our city-a space where audiences from across our 77 neighborhoods can share in the work on our stages and engage in conversations about it. The 2022/23 Season honors that commitment with wide-ranging programming that will activate not only our stages, but the spaces between. We can't wait to see how these plays catalyze conversation and inspire self-reflection and learning across our café and bars and throughout The Loft. This is the work of the Modern American Theatre-to knit back together the threads of a divided society and illuminate that there is more that unites us than divides us."

World premieres for the 2022/23 Season include: Vichet Chum's Bald Sisters, a story of sisters reconciling their family's Cambodian heritage with its complicated American present, directed by Patricia McGregor; ensemble member Kate Arrington's playwrighting debut with Another Marriage, an intimate and beautifully rendered portrait of marriage that upends the typical romantic comedy, directed by ensemble member and co-founder Terry Kinney; the SYA production of 1919, adapted by J. Nicole Brooks from Eve L. Ewing's collection of luminous and searing poems about the killing of Black teenager Eugene Williams off the segregated 1919 Chicago lakeshore and how this tragedy reverberates today, directed by Gabrielle Randle-Bent and Tasia A. Jones; and the SYA production of Chlorine Sky, directed by Ericka Ratcliff and adapted by Mahogany L. Browne from her popular young adult novel of the same title, an intimate coming-of-age story about two friends told in verse.

Three Chicago premieres bring more exciting new voices to Steppenwolf: James Ijames' fantastical play The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington, a fever dream about the dying "Mother of America," directed by Whitney White and featuring ensemble member Celeste M. Cooper; ensemble member Rajiv Joseph's Describe the Night, a sweeping and arresting epic that follows the unlikely lives of seven Russians as they unearth mysteries buried by decades of history and fiction; and Donnetta Lavinia Grays' stunning, poetic and heartbreaking portrait of Black love, Last Night and the Night Before, directed by Valerie Curtis-Newton and featuring ensemble member Namir Smallwood.

Concluding the 2022/23 Season, Steppenwolf returns to Harold Pinter's modern masterpiece No Man's Land, directed by Obie Award winner Les Waters and featuring ensemble member Austin Pendleton and ensemble member and co-founder Jeff Perry in an alcohol-fueled evening that is at turns a generational power struggle, a tug of war between expert wordsmiths, and a maze of murky meaning-or perhaps just two old English sots waxing nostalgic and waiting for the sun to rise.

"Steppenwolf has long served as both a launching pad for new work and a place where our ensemble can daringly explore classics from a contemporary lens. The 2022/23 Season is no exception-and we are energized by the community of extraordinary artists whose collective work will animate our stages," shares Executive Director E. Brooke Flanagan. "This is Steppenwolf at its finest-lightning in a bottle. We invite audiences to dive into these poignant and irreverent stories and are hopeful that as we double down on our commitment to Chicago, Chicagoans will join us as members in supporting the collection of artists whose work illuminates our 47th season. By participating in the full ride ahead, audiences will explore our complex world and reconnect to the heartbeat of our shared humanity."

2022/23 Classic Memberships are now on sale starting as low as $125 and include all six Membership Series productions-three plays in the Downstairs Theater and three plays in the new Ensemble Theater. Classic Members get to choose their seats along with full membership benefits, including unlimited ticket exchanges. Flex Memberships offer six ticket credits that allow patrons flexibility in when and how they see shows at Steppenwolf. For patrons under 30, RED Card Memberships offer six ticket credits for just $100. All members can secure their seats to Steppenwolf for Young Adults performances before they go on sale to the public. Discounted packages for students and teachers and accessible packages are also available. For more information and to purchase Memberships, visit Audience Services at 1650 N. Halsted Street, call 312-335-1650 or visit steppenwolf.org/memberships.

Steppenwolf's LookOut Series also returns to the 1700 Theater in the 2022/23 Season for a full year of eclectic and genre-defying performance. A home for Chicago's resilient storytellers, comedians and musicians, LookOut recently relaunched with a bold slate of comedy, storytelling and music for Summer 2022 and beyond. Highlights include talk show That Shit's Trans: Live! hosted by Irregular Girl; a burst-out-of-quarantine celebration from storytelling series You're Being Ridiculous; an evening of hilarious comedy from Chicago favorites BAPS, and more. The LookOut series is ongoing, with full programming at steppenwolf.org/lookout.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company's 2022/23 Season

(All plays, artists and dates are subject to change)

Chicago Premiere

The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington

By James Ijames

Directed by Whitney White

Featuring ensemble member Celeste M. Cooper

September 1 - October 9, 2022

In the Downstairs Theater

The recently widowed "Mother of America" lies alone in her Mount Vernon bed, ravaged by illness and attended to by the very same enslaved people who will be free the moment she dies. The form-shifting fever dream that follows takes us deep into the uncomfortable and horrific ramifications of this country's original sin. Dizzying and fantastical, this skewering Chicago premiere from James Ijames' daring voice puts the American myth on trial.

World Premiere

Bald Sisters

By Vichet Chum

Directed by Patricia McGregor

December 1, 2022 - January 15, 2023

In the Ensemble Theater in Honor of Helen Zell

Ma is dead; now what happens? Vichet Chum's world premiere follows two sisters-at odds since birth-as they settle the affairs of their strong-willed, wise-cracking mother while reconciling their family's Cambodian heritage with its ever-so-complicated American present. Where's the will? A burial or cremation? And what do we do with Ma's teeth? Bald Sisters is an irreverent, comic and ultimately poignant examination of the ties that bind multigenerational families of immigrants together: history, spirituality, and humor.

Bald Sisters was developed at Steppenwolf as part of the SCOUT new play development program, which also developed La Ruta by Isaac Gómez.

Chicago Premiere

Describe the Night

By ensemble member Rajiv Joseph

March 2 - April 9, 2023

In the Ensemble Theater in Honor of Helen Zell

Truth is lie; lie is truth. Russia, 1920: Jewish writer Isaac Babel begins a journal while serving in war. Ninety years later, this same journal is found in the wreckage of a suspicious plane crash. What did Babel write, and why does it matter? Ensemble member Rajiv Joseph's sweeping and arresting epic follows the unlikely lives of seven Russians-soldiers and poets, KGB agents and babushkas-as they unearth mysteries buried by decades of history, fiction and blood.

Chicago Premiere

Last Night and the Night Before

By Donnetta Lavinia Grays

Directed by Valerie Curtis-Newton

Featuring ensemble member Namir Smallwood

April 6 - May 14, 2023

In the Downstairs Theater

Monique is on the run. From what, she will not say. Showing up on the doorstep of her sister's Brooklyn brownstone with her timid daughter Sam-and without her husband-their arrival raises more questions than it answers. As the specter of their abandoned life in Georgia creeps back into focus, the family is forced to consider what must be sacrificed to break a cycle of despair. Poetic and heartbreaking, Donnetta Lavinia Grays' stunning portrait of Black Love explores what it takes to nurture family in an often-cruel world.

World Premiere

Another Marriage

By ensemble member Kate Arrington

Directed by ensemble member Terry Kinney

June 15 - July 23, 2023

In the Ensemble Theater in Honor of Helen Zell

You meet. You marry. You have kids. That's the way it always goes. Or is it? What if your story changes? What would it cost? Another Marriage is an intimate and beautifully rendered portrait of an ever-evolving relationship that may never be quite finished. Ensemble member Kate Arrington's playwrighting debut upends the typical romantic comedy to explore the liabilities of falling in and out of love-and time.

No Man's Land

By Harold Pinter

Directed by Les Waters

Featuring ensemble members Austin Pendleton and Jeff Perry

July 13 - August 20, 2023

In the Downstairs Theater

In the drawing room of his stately Hampstead mansion, the wealthy, aging Hirst hosts his newfound acquaintance, the enigmatic Spooner, for an evening of endless beer, scotch, and vodka. The night winds on, the drinks keep pouring and the ground keeps shifting-until two sinister younger men arrive and interrupt the bacchanal. Steppenwolf returns to Harold Pinter's modern masterpiece: a generational power struggle, a tug of war between expert wordsmiths, a maze of murky meaning. Or perhaps it's just two old English sots waxing nostalgic and waiting for the sun to rise. In No Man's Land, you can never be certain, and nothing is at is seems.

Steppenwolf for Young Adults

2022/23 Season: Finding the words to speak your truth

Steppenwolf for Young Adults performances will be held on weekdays at 10 a.m. for school groups and on weekends for the public. In addition to 100 CPS classrooms receiving free workshops that explore the themes of each play, classroom teachers will receive free professional development and curricular support, allowing them to build upon content from the source books and plays.

World Premiere

1919

By Eve L. Ewing

Adapted by J. Nicole Brooks

Directed by Gabrielle Randle-Bent and Tasia A. Jones

October 4 - 29, 2022

In the Ensemble Theater in Honor of Helen Zell

On July 27, 1919, Chicago erupted following the killing of seventeen-year-old Eugene Williams in treacherous waters off the segregated Lake Michigan shoreline. The days that followed made an indelible mark on the city-its sense of boundaries, of relationships between neighbors, and of the underlying systems of inequity and racism that persist today. Adapted by J. Nicole Brooks from Eve L. Ewing's collection of searing and luminous poems, this world premiere is a hopeful, lyrical exploration of Black Chicagoans' resistance, fortitude, and endurance: past, present and future.

World Premiere

Chlorine Sky

By Mahogany L. Browne based on her book

Adapted by Mahogany L. Browne

Directed by Ericka Ratcliff

February 14 - March 11, 2023

In the Downstairs Theater

"Ok, so boom. / We ain't friends anymore." Sky and Lay Li were always in sync. But now their rhythms are changing; Sky likes swimming, and Lay Li is all about beauty. Sky, basketball; Lay Li, boys. Things just make more sense underwater and on the court. A world premiere adaptation of Mahogany L. Browne's popular young adult novel, Chlorine Sky is an intimate coming-of-age story told in verse about two girls who are best friends-until they aren't. Sometimes, growing up means growing apart.

Along with two exciting Steppenwolf for Young Adults world premieres in the 2022/23 Season, Steppenwolf Education will offer free workshops and programming for educators and students throughout the year in The Loft, the company's first-ever dedicated education space encompassing the entire fourth floor of the new Arts and Education Center-including open hours each Thursday from 4-7 p.m. in which teens (ages 14-19) can come to do homework, listen to music, practice a monologue or just hang out! Steppenwolf was founded more than 46 years ago by a circle of students who craved a space to call their own, and the Arts and Education Center continues and amplifies that vision, growing the reach of Steppenwolf's education programming from 20,000 to 30,000 students annually. For more information on The Loft and Steppenwolf for Young Adults programming, visit steppenwolf.org/education.

The Expanded Steppenwolf Campus

Steppenwolf Theatre Company's trailblazing new 50,000 square foot theater building and education center, the Liz and Eric Lefkofsky Arts and Education Center, was designed by world-renowned architect Gordon Gill FAIA of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, with construction by Norcon. The centerpiece of the new Arts and Education Center is the new 400-seat in-the-round Ensemble Theater in Honor of Helen Zell-one of its kind in Chicago-with theater design and acoustics by Charcoalblue.

The expanded Steppenwolf campus is a cultural nexus for Chicago, offering bold and ambitious opportunities for creative expression, social exchange, unparalleled accessibility, and arts-driven learning for Chicago youth in The Loft, Steppenwolf's first-ever dedicated education space. The campus expansion also features bright new lobbies and two new full-service bars for socializing designed by fc STUDIO, inc. The $54 million new building is part of Steppenwolf's multi-phase, ongoing $73 million Building on Excellence expansion campaign. Learn more about Steppenwolf's campus expansion at steppenwolf.org/buildingonexcellence.

2022/23 Season Artist Bios

The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington

James Ijames (playwright) is a playwright, director and educator. He has appeared regionally in productions at The Arden Theatre Company, The Philadelphia Theatre Company, The Wilma Theatre, Baltimore Center Stage, Mauckingbird Theatre Company, and People's Light and Theatre. James' plays have been produced by Flashpoint Theater Company, Orbiter 3, Theatre Horizon, Wilma Theatre, The National Black Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Definition Theatre and Shotgun Players, and have received development with PlayPenn New Play Conference, The Lark, Playwright's Horizon, Clubbed Thumb, Villanova Theater, Wilma Theater, Azuka Theatre and Victory Gardens. James is the 2011 F. Otto Haas Award for an Emerging Artist recipient, and he has two Barrymore Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Play for Superior Donuts and Angels in America and two Barrymore Awards for Outstanding Direction of a Play for The Brothers Size (Simpatico Theatre Company) and Gem of the Ocean (Arden Theatre). James is a 2015 Pew Fellow for Playwriting, the 2015 winner of the Terrance McNally New Play Award for WHITE, the 2015 Kesselring Honorable Mention Prize winner for ...Miz Martha, a 2017 recipient of the Whiting Award, a 2019 Kesselring Prize for Kill Move Paradise and a 2020 Steinberg Prize. James was a founding member of Orbiter 3, Philadelphia's first playwright producing collective. He received a B.A. in Drama from Morehouse College in Atlanta and a M.F.A. in Acting from Temple University in Philadelphia. James is an Associate Professor of Theatre at Villanova University and a co-artistic of the Wilma Theater.

Whitney White (director) is an Obie Award and Lilly Award winning director, actor, and musician based in Brooklyn, New York. She is the current recipient of the Susan Stroman Directing award, an Artistic Associate at the Roundabout, and a part of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. Her original musical Definition was part of the 2019 Sundance Theatre Lab 2016 ANT Fest, and her five-part musical exploration of Shakespeare's Women and ambition; Reach for It is currently under commission with the American Repertory Theater in Boston. She has developed work with: The New York Times, Ars Nova, The Drama League, Roundabout, New York Theatre Workshop, 59E59, The Lark, The Movement, Jack, Bard College, NYU Tisch, Juilliard, Princeton, SUNY Purchase, South Oxford, Luna-Stage/">Luna Stage and more.

Whitney is a believer in collaborative processes and new forms. Her musical discipline is rooted in indie-soul and rock. She is passionate about black stories, reconstructing classics, stories for and about women, genre-defying multimedia work and film. Past fellowships include: New York Theatre Workshop 2050 Fellowship, Ars Nova's Makers Lab, Colt Coeur and the Drama League. MFA Acting: Brown University/Trinity Rep. BA Political Science, Certificate in Musical Theatre: Northwestern University.

Celeste M. Cooper (actor) has been a Steppenwolf Theatre Company ensemble member since 2018. Steppenwolf credits: BLKS, The Doppelgänger (an international farce), Familiar, A Doll's House, Part 2. Chicago credits: Blues for an Alabama Sky, The Hard Problem (Court Theatre); Measure for Measure (Goodman Theatre); Stick Fly (Windy City Playhouse); Never the Sinner (Victory Gardens Theater); Our Lady of 121st Street, Ruined (Eclipse Theatre); Fight 4 Your Life/The Incredible Cece (MPAACT and Stage 773). Regional: For Colored Girls... (Kansas City Repertory); Building The Wall (Curious Theatre Company); The Hammer Trinity (The House Theatre/Adrienne Arsht). TV: Chicago PD, Sense8. Film: Chiraq, Range Runners. Awards: The Phylicia Rashad- Most Promising Actress award (Black Theater Alliance); Best Actress/Range Runners (Twister Alley Film Festival); listed in the NewCity Stage Players magazine as one of the 50 people who really perform for Chicago in 2020. Celeste is also an ensemble member and casting associate with Eclipse Theatre Company. She has a B.A. in Speech Communications & Theatre from Tennessee State University and an M.F.A. in Acting from The Theatre School at DePaul University. In 2014, Celeste won The Phylicia Rashad Most Promising Actress award from the Black Theater Alliance and in 2019 she won Best Actress for her work in Range Runners at the Twister Alley Film Festival.

Bald Sisters

Vichet Chum (playwright) is a Cambodian American playwright, actor and novelist living in NYC. Bald Sisters will be his first time working at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, though he vividly remembers seeing The Pillowman directed by Amy Morton on a college theatre trip many moons ago. He is the recipient of the Princess Grace Award, an Edgerton Foundation New Play Award and the Laurents/Hatcher Award. He currently serves as a board member for the New Harmony Project, a curator for Space on Ryder Farm, and a steering committee member for the Asian American Performers Action Coalition. Play groups (current and past) include Ars Nova, Page 73 and Space on Ryder Farm. He is presently working on commissions for Audible, Steppenwolf Theatre, Cleveland Play House, and Merrimack Repertory Theatre. Chum is a proud graduate of the University of Evansville and Brown University/Trinity Repertory Company.

Patricia McGregor (director) has twice been profiled by The New York Times for her direction of world premieres. Her recent credits include co-author and director of the world premiere of Lights Out, Nat King Cole (Peoples Light ) Skeleton Crew (Geffen Theater) Grief (Center Theater Group) Parchman Hour (Guthrie Theater), Hamlet (The Public Theater), Ugly Lies the Bone (Roundabout Theatre Company), brownsville song (b-side for tray) (Lincoln Center Theater), the world premiere of Stagger Lee (Dallas Theater Center), and the world premiere of Hurt Village (Signature Theatre Company). Other credits include A Raisin in the Sun, Winter's Tale, Spunk, Adoration of the Old Woman, Blood Dazzler, Holding It Down, Four Electric Ghosts, Nothing Personal, and The House That Will Not Stand. She served as tour consultant on the J. Cole World Tour and premiered a new piece at BAM by composer Ted Hearne and poet Saul Williams. For several years she has directed the 24 Hour Plays on Broadway. She is a Usual Suspect at New York Theatre Workshop, a co-founder of Angela's Pulse with her sister, choreographer and organizer Paloma McGregor, and was a Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow at Yale School of Drama, where she also served as Artistic Director of the Yale Cabaret.

Describe the Night

Rajiv Joseph (playwright) is a Steppenwolf Theatre Company ensemble member. His play Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo was a 2010 Pulitzer Prize finalist for Drama and also awarded a grant for Outstanding New American Play by the National Endowment for the Arts. He has twice won the Obie Award for Best New American Play, first in 2016 for Guards at the Taj (also a 2016 Lortel Winner for Best Play), and again in 2018 for Describe the Night. Other plays include King James, which recently had its world premiere at Steppenwolf, Letters of Suresh, Gruesome Playground Injuries, Animals Out of Paper, The North Pool, The Lake Effect, Archduke and Mr. Wolf. He is a graduate of Cleveland Heights High School in Ohio. He received his Bachelor's degree from Miami University in Ohio, and his MFA from New York University's Tisch School for the Arts.

Last Night and the Night Before

Donnetta Lavinia Grays (playwright) is the author of Where We Stand (Lucille Lortel, Drama League, and AUDELCO award nominee), Last Night and the Night Before, Warriors Don't Cry, Laid to Rest, and The Review or How to Eat Your Opposition. She is the recipient of The Whiting Award for Drama, Helen Merrill Playwright Award, The National Theater Conference's Stavis Playwright Award, Lilly Award, Todd McNerney National Playwriting Award, and the Doric Wilson Independent Playwright Award. For television she has staffed on Spectrum's Manhunt, FX's Y: The Last Man and served as Executive Story Editor on Joe Vs. Carole for Peacock. Broadway acting credits include The Skin of Our Teeth, In The Next Room, or the vibrator play and Well. Off-Broadway: Where We Stand (WP Theater/Baltimore Centerstage), Men on Boats (Playwrights Horizons/Clubbed Thumb) O, Earth (The Foundry Theatre), In the Footprint (The Civilians, as an Associate Artist), and Shipwrecked! An Entertainment (Primary Stages). Film: The Book of Henry, Wild Canaries, The English Teacher, and The Wrestler. TV: Recurring roles on New Amsterdam, Happy, Rubicon, Mercy and Law and Order: SVU. And guest starring roles on High Maintenance, The Night Of, Blue Bloods, The Blacklist, A Gifted Man, Law & Order, Law & Order: CI and The Sopranos.

Valerie Curtis-Newton (director) is currently Head of Directing at the University of Washington School of Drama and serves as the Founding Artistic Director for The Hansberry Project, a professional African American theatre lab. She has worked with professional theatres across the country including: The Guthrie Theatre, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Seattle Rep, Playmakers Repertory Company, Actors' Theatre of Louisville, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Intiman Theatre, Seattle Children's Theatre, The Mark Taper Forum, New York Theatre Workshop and Southern Repertory Theatre, among others. Awards: 2020: Seattle Times Most Influential People of the Last Decade; 2019: Theatre Puget Sound - Gregory Falls Award for Sustained Achievement; 2016: Seattle Times Footlight Award (Best in Show); 2014: Stranger Genius Awards in Performance and the Crosscut Courage Award for Culture; 2012: Gypsy Rose Lee Award for Excellence in Direction; 2001: Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation's (SDCF) Gielgud Directing Fellowship; 1997-1999: NEA/TCG Career Development Fellowship for Directors.

Namir Smallwood (actor) joined the Steppenwolf Theatre Company ensemble in 2017. Steppenwolf credits: Bug, True West, BLKS, Steppenwolf for Young Adults' Monster, Man In Love, The Hot L Baltimore. Broadway: Pass Over. Off Broadway: Pipeline, Pass Over (Lincoln Center). Chicago: The Lost Boys of Sudan (Victory Gardens Theater); 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. Television: Chicago Fire (NBC), Betrayal (ABC), Elementary (CBS), American Rust (Showtime). Film: Rounding.

Another Marriage

Kate Arrington (playwright) Kate Arrington joined the Steppenwolf Theatre Company ensemble in 2007. She has appeared at Steppenwolf in East of Eden, The Qualms, Belleville, The Hot L Baltimore, Detroit, A Parallelogram, Fake, When the Messenger is Hot, The Well-Appointed Room, The Pain and the Itch and The Violet Hour. She is the creator of Steppenwolf's 88-Seat Project which brings ensemble members together with teens across Chicago for a weekend each summer. In New York, she has appeared on Broadway in Our Mother's Brief Affair, Grace, and The American Plan as well as off-Broadway at many theaters including Playwrights Horizons, The Duke, BAM, Primary Stages, Lincoln Center and Soho Rep. Film and television credits include Ray Donovan, Billions, Brittany Runs a Marathon, Knives and Skin, The Irishman, The Incoherents, The Missing Person, Standing Up, Falling Down, Madam Secretary, The Good Wife, Instinct, The Blacklist, and Elementary. Most recently, Kate has appeared in the HBO series Winning Time and Mare of Easttown. Kate is a proud graduate of Northwestern University where she majored in Performance Studies.

Terry Kinney (director) is a co-founder and ensemble member of Steppenwolf Theatre Company. His acting work includes Balm in Gilead, Orphans, Tracers, The Grapes of Wrath (Tony Award nomination) and Buried Child on Broadway. He has directed many productions, including (for Steppenwolf) And a Nightingale Sang..., A Clockwork Orange, A Streetcar Named Desire, Of Mice and Men, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (also on Broadway, winner of the Tony Award for Best Revival), and The Violet Hour. Other work includes reasons to be pretty (Tony Award nomination, best play), The Price (Broadway), The Babylon Line (LCT), and Curse of the Starving Class. Kinney also works in film and television. His films include: Fly Away Home, Sleepers, The Firm, Last of the Mohicans, Devil in a Blue Dress, Abundant Acreage Available and The Little Things, among others. Television work includes: Oz, thirtysomething, Black Box, Show Me a Hero, Good Behavior, Fargo, Billions, Inventing Anna, and most recently, The Watcher for Netflix.

No Man's Land

Les Waters (director) is an Obie Award-winning director. On Broadway, he has directed In the Next Room (or the Vibrator Play) by Sarah Ruhl and Dana H. by Lucas Hnath. Waters has also directed at Clubbed Thumb, BAM, Playwrights Horizons, Second Stage, Connelly Theatre, NAATCO, Soho Rep, Signature Theatre, and Manhattan Theatre Club. He was Associate Artistic Director of Berkeley Repertory Theatre from 2003-2011 and the Artistic Director of Actors Theatre of Louisville from 2012-2018. He is both the subject and co-author of The Theatre of Les Waters: More like the Weather, edited by Scott T. Cummings, to be published by Routledge in April 2022.

Jeff Perry (actor) is a co-founder of Steppenwolf Theatre Company, The School At Steppenwolf, Steppenwolf Classes West and Steppenwolf Films, and has acted and directed in over 40 productions. Broadway: The Caretaker, The Grapes of Wrath, August: Osage County. Off Broadway: Balm in Gilead, Tribes, Educating Rita. Regional: Streamers, Time of Your Life, Anna Christie, A Steady Rain. International: The Grapes of Wrath, August: Osage County. Film: A Wedding, Remember My Name, Trial By Fire. Television: Nash Bridges, Grey's Anatomy, Scandal, $1, Dirty John, Inventing Anna. Upcoming: Co-Producer of The Steppenwolf Theatre Documentary.

Austin Pendleton (actor) is an ensemble member of Steppenwolf Theatre Company. He began working with Steppenwolf in 1979, when he directed the ensemble in Say Goodnight, Gracie. After that he returned to direct Loose Ends, Three Sisters, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Then he was cast opposite Laurie Metcalf in Educating Rita, directed by Jeff Perry, and was asked to join the ensemble officially. Since then, he has acted and directed at Steppenwolf frequently, and most recently acted on Broadway in the Steppenwolf-originated The Minutes by Tracy Letts, directed by Anna Shapiro. He has acted over the years in several Broadway shows (the first being the original production of Fiddler on the Roof, in which he was the first Motel, the Tailor), and many off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway shows. He has also directed in these venues, winning a Tony Award nomination for The Little Foxes (with Elizabeth Taylor) and an Obie Award for Three Sisters (with Peter Sarsgaard and Maggie Gyllenhaal). He's appeared in about 300 movies, and on TV in recurring roles in Oz and Homicide. He has written three plays: Orson's Shadow (Steppenwolf and off-Broadway); Uncle Bob (the second production of the play, after its New York premiere); and Booth, which after its New York premiere played at Writers' Theater in Glencoe. He was also commissioned by Writers' Theatre to write the libretto for A Minister's Wife, a musical adapted from Shaw's Candida, with music by Josh Schmidt and lyrics by Jan Tranen, conceived and directed by Michael Halberstam, which then moved to the Newhouse Theatre at Lincoln Center in New York.

1919

Dr. Eve L. Ewing (author) is a sociologist of education and a writer from Chicago. She is the award-winning author of four books: the poetry collections Electric Arches and 1919, the nonfiction work Ghosts in the Schoolyard: Racism and School Closings on Chicago's South Side, and most recently a novel for young readers, Maya and the Robot. She is the co-author (with Nate Marshall) of the play No Blue Memories: The Life of Gwendolyn Brooks. She has written several projects for Marvel Comics, most notably the Ironheart series as well as Marvel Team-Up and Champions. Ewing is an assistant professor at the University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice. Her work has been published in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Times, and many other venues. Currently she is working on her next book, Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism, which will be published by One World.

J. Nicole Brooks (playwright) is an actor, writer, director, and educator based in Chicago. Brooks's writing practice includes playwriting, screenwriting, essays, and poetry. As a theatre artist, Brooks is an ensemble member and Mellon Foundation Playwright in Residence at the Tony Award-winning Lookingglass Theatre Company. Other artistic affiliations include artistic membership at Collaboration and Sideshow Theatre Company. As a playwright, Brooks has created original works including Black Diamond: The Years the Locusts Have Eaten; Fedra: Queen of Haiti; HeLa; Black Moon Lilith and the award-winning Her Honor Jane Byrne. Brooks has also served as director and associate director mounting successful theatre productions of Mr. Rickey Calls A Meeting; Thaddeus & Slocum: A Vaudeville Adventure; Her Honor Jane Byrne; Sex with Strangers; and Black Diamond: The Years the Locusts Have Eaten. Honors include TCG Fox Foundation, 3Arts, Mellon Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Kilroys List, the 2021 Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award for Her Honor Jane Byrne and the Chicago Public Library Foundation 21st Century Award. Brooks is also an award-winning actor appearing in theatrical productions at Goodman Theatre, Lookingglass, Court Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, and Theatre at Boston Court. Recent television credits include guest recurring roles on the cult fav South Side (HBO Max), The Chi (Showtime), Chicago Fire (NBC, Hulu) and the critically acclaimed chapter four of Fargo (FX Network) starring opposite Chris Rock. Brooks also appeared in the box office hit CANDYMAN (Say My Name) directed by Nia DaCosta produced by Jordan Peele.

Tasia A. Jones (co-director) is a director, performer, and educator focused on social justice and civically engaged theatre practices. She is an Assistant Professor of Instruction at Northwestern University. Steppenwolf Theatre Company: Pass Over (Assistant Director); The Roommate (Assistant Director). Chicago: Fannie: The Music and Life of Fannie Lou Hamer (Goodman Theatre, Associate Director); Intimate Apparel (Northlight Theatre); The MLK Project (Writers Theatre); The Steadfast Tin Soldier (Lookingglass Theatre, Assistant Director). Regional: Intimate Apparel (Utah Shakespeare Festival); Small Mouth Sounds (UCCS Theatreworks); Seussical (Jean's Playhouse). Upcoming: Intimate Apparel (Northlight Theatre); A Raisin in the Sun (American Players Theatre). Education: MFA Directing, Northwestern University; BFA Theatre Arts, Boston University.

Gabrielle Randle-Bent (co-director) is a scholar, dramaturg, and director based in Chicago. Steppenwolf Theatre Company: We are Proud to Present a Presentation... Off Broadway: Terminus (Dramaturg). Chicago: Othello (Court Theatre); Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (Dramaturg, Court Theatre); For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow is Enuf (Dramaturg, Court Theatre); The Oedipus Trilogy (Dramaturg, Court Theatre); Les Blancs (Court Theatre); The Pride Before (Sideshow Theatre Company); I, Banquo (Dramaturg, Chicago Shakespeare Theater); Intimate Apparel (Dramaturg, North Light). Upcoming: Year of Magical Thinking (Remy Bumppo); Once on this Island (Dramaturg, Oregon Shakespeare Festival). BA Stanford University, MA University of Texas at Austin, PhD Candidate Northwestern University.

Chlorine Sky

Mahogany L. Browne (author and playwright) selected as Kennedy Center's Next 50, is the Executive Director of JustMedia, a media literacy initiative supporting the groundwork of criminal justice leaders and community members. This position is informed by her career as a writer, organizer and educator. Browne has received fellowships from Art for Justice, Air Serenbe, Cave Canem, Poets House, Mellon Research & Rauschenberg. She is the author of recent works: Vinyl Moon, Chlorine Sky, Woke: A Young Poets Call to Justice, Woke Baby and Black Girl Magic. Browne is the founder of the diverse lit initiative, Woke Baby Book Fair. Her latest project is a poetry collection responding to the impact of mass incarceration on women and children: I Remember Death By Its Proximity to What I Love (Haymarket Books). She is the first-ever poet-in-residence at the Lincoln Center and lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Ericka Ratcliff (director) most recently directed Definition Theatre's production of WHITE, presented at Steppenwolf Theatre Company's 1700 Theater in partnership with Steppenwolf's LookOut Series. She is Artistic Director of Congo Square Theatre Company. Ericka first performed with Congo Square in the premiere production of Lydia Diamond's Stickfly. Other Congo credits include African Company Presents Richard III, Talented Tenth, The Colored Museum, 365 Plays/365 Days, and Bulrusher. She has performed regionally and locally with Second City, Steppenwolf, Northlight, Victory Gardens, Chicago Shakespeare, Collaboraction, Mixed Blood, Milwaukee Rep, CENTERSTAGE, Pittsburgh Playwrights and Alliance Theatre to name a few more than a few. Ericka is also an ensemble member with The House Theatre of Chicago and an artistic associate with Lookingglass. She is a graduate of Roosevelt University.

About Steppenwolf

A Safe Return

Steppenwolf is part of the growing coalition of more than 70 Chicagoland performing arts venues and producers that have agreed upon COVID-19 vaccination and mask requirements for all audiences, artists and staff. Audience members must provide proof of vaccination in addition to wearing masks. Learn more about Steppenwolf's guidelines at steppenwolf.org/welcomeback.

Steppenwolf has worked over the past year with our operations team, public health advisors and HVAC consultants to prepare its facility to safely welcome patrons back for performances. The addition of the new Liz and Eric Lefkofsky Arts and Education Center has expanded the square footage of the lobbies to nearly twice the previous amount of space offered to guests. Two additional elevators and multiple stairways have also been added to Steppenwolf's campus for ease of transition between seating levels. The HVAC systems have undergone upgrades to allow for increased filtration and a higher percentage of circulated fresh air across all three theaters.

Accessibility

Steppenwolf offers accessible services to ensure all audience members have access to our work, including American Sign Language interpretation (available for student matinees as scheduled with education staff or per public performances below), Spanish Language captions, wheelchair accessible seating and more. With questions, email access@steppenwolf.org.

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

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