BWW Q&A: Caroline Neff on FOOL FOR LOVE at Steppenwolf Theatre Company

Steppenwolf Theatre Company, the nation’s premier ensemble theater company, is pleased to present a searing revival of Sam Shepard’s dark and beautiful masterpiece Fool for Love, directed by Jeremy Herrin, playing January 30 – March 16, 2025 in Steppenwolf’s Downstairs Theater, 1650 N. Halsted St. in Chicago.

Single tickets are now on sale at steppenwolf.org or the Box Office at (312) 335-1650. 

Fool for Love features ensemble members Cliff Chamberlain (Martin), Tim Hopper (The Old Man) and Caroline Neff (May) with Nick Gehlfuss (Eddie).

In a sweltering motel room in the Mojave Desert, May and Eddie lick their wounds and get ready for another relentless round. This brawl is eternal and infernal. And the Old Man is always watching.

Perhaps the sexiest, most haunting play of the 20th century, Fool for Love is a twisted and tequila-soaked love letter from Sam Shepard, one of the greatest American Playwrights, indulging the need to get inside someone just to tear them apart.

Caroline Neff is a Steppenwolf ensemble member. At Steppenwolf, she was last seen in 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: FBI, Three Women, Let the Right One In,The Red Line, Chicago PD, 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.

What attracted you to the iconic role of May in Fool for Love?

This is a play we study in college. Every program I know teaches this play, and the beautiful thing about reading Shepard is that your brain can analyze it, find meaning, investigate every moment and relationship, but the trick of acting Shepard is to release all of that. He wrote complicated, nuanced humans and every time I get to a moment in the script that my brain wants to analyze, my heart urges me to stop thinking. It's very smart in the way it shows the authentic, erratic nature of love.

Talk a bit about your fellow cast members. Audiences may recognize Nick Gehlfuss (Eddie) as Dr. Will Halstead from Chicago Med.

Where to begin!!!! Every single human in this room is meant to be there - hard workers, compassionate scene partners, and game to try anything. Nick is playing Eddie, and we started working a little before rehearsals just to get our brains in the right space. He shows up early every day to practice his lasso-ing skills, run lines, and always brings something new to try. Tim Hopper, playing the Old Man is one of the smartest actors I've ever worked with. He's constantly reading about Shepard on our breaks, always ready with a quote or reference to a story that he's just read that somehow is just the thing we needed to hear. Cliff Chamberlain, playing Martin, has a gift, where he makes vulnerability look like strength. He's kind and funny, always emotionally present.

What’s the dynamic like in the rehearsal room with Director Jeremy Herrin, whose accolades include three Olivier Awards?

Jeremy is very much an actor's director. He gives us a lot of opportunities to work out the details together, but always has a point of view that guides us in the right direction. Smart precise notes, and often ones that I'm not expecting, which in the moment he says them, unlocks a secret that the text had been keeping from me. He's also FUNNY, and we have so many running jokes in the room - all someone needs to say is "threatening" or "potato chips" and we're on the floor.

Sam Shepard’s plays have been described as “quintessential Steppenwolf,” with productions dating back to the early 1980s. Fool for Love was first performed in 1984. Why do you think the company has always been drawn to Shepard?

So many of our ensemble members have such deep roots to Illinois and the midwest - the secrets those big open fields can keep felt under explored before Shepard. The messiness of a cheap hotel room was attractive to a group of folks who knew that life and those people better than they did the quiet suburban backyard. I often hear Shepard referred to as "muscular", and I think that's what Steppenwolf artists do best - act first and think later.

Looking ahead, what are a few of your “dream roles” as an actor?

Any role is a dream role that surrounds me with smart artists. I feel very fortunate any time I get to work, and finding the dream components of each job is a tiny joy I get to give myself every time!

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