Steppenwolf for Young Adults' 2015-16 Season to Include World Premiere of THE COMPASS & 1984

Steppenwolf for Young Adults (SYA) is pleased to launch its 2015/16 season with George Orwell's 1984, adapted by Andrew White, directed by SYA Artistic and Educational Director Hallie Gordon, who directed last season's critically acclaimed production of George Orwell's Animal Farm. White received a 2004 Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Adaptation for George Orwell's 1984. The season concludes with the world premiere of The Compass, devised and directed by Michael Rohd. The Compass is an interactive experience that explores the intersection of technology and decision-making.

Group tickets for public performances and student matinees are now on sale. To book a group of 10 or more, email groups@steppenwolf.org or call 312-392-2422. For more information, visit steppenwolf.org/groups. To book student matinee groups, contact Education and Community Programs Coordinator Lauren Sivak at 312-654-5643.

Single tickets ($20) to public performances of George Orwell's 1984 go on sale Friday, June 5 at 11am. Single tickets to The Compass will go on sale at a later date.

Steppenwolf for Young Adults' 2015/16 Season

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

George Orwell's
1984
Adapted by Andrew White
Directed by Hallie Gordon
October 21 - November 15, 2015 in the Upstairs Theatre

Winston Smith works for the Ministry of Truth located in the nation of Oceania, part of a vast empire in a constant, shifting war against other superstates. Dissent is not tolerated (not even in thought), and Winston and his fellow citizens are under perpetual electronic surveillance by their ever-watchful ruler Big Brother. When Winston falls in love with a co-worker, their illegal affair pushes them to rebel and face the darkest and most dangerous corners of the regime. On the heels of last year's gripping Animal Farm, Steppenwolf for Young Adults presents Orwell's dystopian masterpiece in a multi-media production that is a haunting, shockingly timely look at a future that seems disturbingly present.

Andrew White is a founding member of Lookingglass Theatre Company, where he currently serves as Artistic Director. As a Lookingglass Ensemble Member and performer, he has participated in the workshop and development of more than 30 Lookingglass original adaptations and world premieres. In 2004, Andrew wrote and directed an adaptation of George Orwell's 1984, which received a Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Adaptation. He wrote and directed the company's 1989 production of Of One Blood, about the 1964 murders of Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman in Mississippi. Andrew wrote the book and lyrics for the musical Eastland produced at Lookingglass in 2012.

Hallie Gordon (Director, George Orwell's 1984) serves as Artistic and Educational Director of Steppenwolf for Young Adults. Along with selecting the young adult productions each season, she has created the Young Adult Council, a group of high school students who collectively help to create innovative programming for their peers. As Educational Director, Hallie has worked closely with the Chicago Public Schools to create an environment in which all students and teachers have access to the theater. For Steppenwolf, Hallie directed Orwell's Animal Farm last season to critical acclaim and sold-out performances, in addition to Leveling Up, The Book Thief, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, To Kill a Mockingbird, the world premiere of a new adaptation by Tanya Saracho of The House on Mango Street and Harriet Jacobs, adapted for the stage by Lydia R. Diamond. A new premiere of Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, also adapted by Lydia R. Diamond, won a Black Excellence Award from the African American Arts Alliance of Chicago and also transferred Off-Broadway to The New Victory Theatre. Hallie is the recipient of The Helen Coburn Meier & Time Meier Achievement Award.

SYA presents Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (Copyright, 1949) by permission of Bill Hamilton as the Literary Executor of the Estate of the Late Sonia Brownell Orwell.

The Compass
Devised and directed by Michael Rohd
February 24 - March 12, 2016 in the Downstairs Theatre
World Premiere

Do you constantly second guess yourself? Do you always procrastinate? How would you feel if you never had to make a decision again? Meet The Compass, a brand-new app aimed at young people that does the heavy lifting on your daily thinking. The Compass is a groundbreaking, live interactive performance that explores the intersection of technology and decision-making. Join us as we (and you) navigate the question: When someone else, or something else, tells you what to do, what exactly are you responsible for? This is not a play. It is an experience.

SYA hosted a series of free events, titled Project Compass, throughout the 2014/15 Season aimed at engaging theater audiences to dialogue about what goes into making a decision and how we are each guided by our own moral compass. These events have served as fodder for the world premiere of The Compass.

"Once we developed the idea for the story and the investigation at its heart (the intersection of decision-making and technology), Steppenwolf really made opportunities where we could pursue that investigation in multiple formats and spaces. Over the past year we've been interviewing experts, conducting cross-generational workshops, inviting other artists to respond to the theme with their own short works-all of this research has pushed and pulled at our core concept in key ways. The show has been truly impacted by these interactions and encounters, which I find exciting," shares Michael Rohd.

Michael Rohd is founding artistic director of Sojourn Theatre, a 15-year-old ensemble-based company. He is on faculty at Northwestern University and author of the widely translated book Theatre for Community, Conflict, and Dialogue. His work with Sojourn, other theaters, arts councils, municipal/regional government bodies and in non-arts sector settings around the nation focuses on social practice, civic practice and capacity-building projects through collaboratively designed arts-based event, engagement and participation strategies. He leads the Center for Performance and Civic Practice, where current projects include Chicago's Civic Practice Lab and The Catalyst Initiative, a national program supported by The Andrew Mellon Foundation. He is currently the Doris Duke artist-in-residence at Chicago's Lookingglass Theatre Company.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company is a participant in the Audience (R)Evolution Program, funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and administered by the Theatre Communications Group, the national organization for the professional not-for-profit American theatre.

Group tickets for student and public performances in the SYA 2015/16 Season are on sale now.

School group tickets to the 2015/16 Season are available by contacting Education and Community Programs Coordinator Lauren Sivak at 312-654-5643. Performances Tuesday - Friday at 10am are reserved for school groups only.

Group tickets (10 or more) to public performances are available by emailing groups@steppenwolf.org or by calling 312-392-2422. For additional information, visit steppenwolf.org/groups.

Single tickets ($20) to public performances of 1984 go on sale Friday, June 5 at 11am. Tickets will be available through Audience Services (1650 N Halsted), at 312-335-1650 or at steppenwolf.org. Student tickets are available for $15 with valid student I.D.

Single public tickets to The Compass will go on sale at a later date.

Major foundation support for Steppenwolf for Young Adults is provided by the Polk Bros. Foundation and Alphawood Foundation. Steppenwolf for Young Adults is also supported in part by contributions from The Crown Family, Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, Sage Foundation, Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, Northern Trust Company, Field Foundation of Illinois, Dr. Scholl Foundation, the Helen Brach Foundation, ITW Foundation, Siragusa Foundation, Robert and Isabelle Bass Foundation, Inc. and Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Foundation; as well as Steppenwolf's Auxiliary Council, a community of dynamic young professionals.

Steppenwolf for Young Adults is a citywide partner of the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) School Partner Program.

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