Joe Mantello, Laurie Metcalf & More to be Featured in Steppenwolf Theatre Company 2023/24 Season

Steppenwolf Theatre Company has announced its 2023/24 Season, featuring three world premieres and three Chicago premieres. The 48th Season includes five Steppenwolf Membership Series productions and continued teen and community programming through the work of Steppenwolf Education, including two Steppenwolf for Young Adults (SYA) productions that activate community in intergenerational spaces. Audiences are invited 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. The 2023/24 season is presented at Steppenwolf's expanded campus, which includes three theaters: the in-the-round Ensemble Theater in Honor of Helen Zell, the Downstairs Theater and the intimate 1700 Theater.

Artistic Directors Glenn Davis and Audrey Francis comment, "We have excitedly awaited the opportunity to program our first season as Artistic Directors. Working alongside our Ensemble and Staff, we are proud to bring a bold variety of voices and visions to our stages. This season embraces our city's desire for joy and laughter, our commitment to engage in conversation and community, and (in true Steppenwolf fashion), promises to disrupt your routine."

World premieres for the 2023/24 Season include Purpose, an epic drama that confronts family, faith and Black American Politics by two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, featuring ensemble members Alana Arenas, Glenn Davis and Jon Michael Hill; an eagerly-awaited, yet-to-be titled play by MacArthur Fellow Samuel D. Hunter (The Whale, Bright New Boise), directed by Tony winner Joe Mantello (Wicked, Airline Highway) and featuring Tony and Emmy Award-winning ensemble member Laurie Metcalf; and the SYA production of a home what howls (or the house what was ravine), a powerful look at displacement and youth activism by Matthew Paul Olmos, directed by Laura Alcalá Baker. Following its run at Steppenwolf, a home what howls will tour various locations and communities throughout the city.

Chicago premieres include the 2023/24 Season opener, Sanctuary City, Pulitzer Prize winner Martyna Majok's harrowing and hopeful tale of immigration and young love, directed by Steph Paul. Sanctuary City will be the first Steppenwolf production that includes both a full membership series run, as well as a full run of student matinees as a part of the Steppenwolf for Young Adults series, providing a synergistic opportunity to cultivate more intergenerational audiences. Additional Chicago premieres include POTUS, or Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive, Selina Fillinger's bawdy and irreverent look at sex, politics and the women in charge of the man in charge of the free world, directed by ensemble member and Artistic Director Audrey Francis and featuring ensemble members Celeste M. Cooper, Sandra Marquez, Caroline Neff and Karen Rodriguez; and MacArthur Genius Larissa FastHorse's The Thanksgiving Play, a skewering comedy about everything right, wrong and woke in America, featuring ensemble members Audrey Francis and Tim Hopper.

Steppenwolf's 2023/24 Season is dedicated to the memory of longtime Steppenwolf ensemble member Frank Galati (1943 - 2023).

Executive Director E. Brooke Flanagan adds, "Steppenwolf is known for ensemble-driven work, radical staging of extant plays and service as an incubator for provocative world-premieres. The season ahead has a brazen dose of the signature Steppenwolf artistic swagger that has thrilled audiences for decades. It is our greatest hope that audiences from across Chicago and around the world will join us for the ride and double-down on their commitment to live performance. Following the seismic disruption of the pandemic, it is the renewed commitment of our members, participation of ticket holders and generosity of donors that will safeguard our storied American theatre and Chicago cultural treasure."

2023/24 Classic Memberships are now on sale starting as low as $150 and include all five Membership Series productions - three plays in the Downstairs Theater and two in the Ensemble Theater. Classic Members get to choose their seats along with full membership benefits, including unlimited ticket exchanges. The Black Card, our flex membership, offers six ticket credits starting as low as $120 that allow patrons flexibility for when and how they see shows at Steppenwolf. For patrons under 30, RED Card Memberships offer six ticket credits for just $99. Discounted packages for students and teachers and accessible packages are also available. For more information and to purchase Memberships, visit Audience Services at www.steppenwolf.org or call (312) 335-1650.

"Steppenwolf for Young Adults (SYA) has a celebrated history of producing extraordinary stories that engage both teens and adults," comment Interim Director of Education Abhi Shrestha and SYA Producer Alex Lee Reed. "The 2023/24 season experiments with the producing model for teen audiences, expanding programming to cultivate intergenerational audiences, experiences, and most importantly - conversations. We are excited to activate a city-wide conversation around this year's SYA season theme: Finding a space to live, forging a world to thrive."

Also in 2023/24, Steppenwolf's LookOut Series plans to keep the party going in the 1700 Theater with a full year of eclectic and daring performance. A home for Chicago's performing artists of all stripes, LookOut will shortly announce their eclectic lineup for Summer 2023 and beyond. Highlights will include concerts from Grammy Award winners, showcases of Chicago's brightest comedians, fantastic drag shows, provocative performance art, readings of plays in development - and everything in between. The LookOut series is ongoing, with full programming at steppenwolf.org/lookout.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company'S 2023/24 SEASON

Chicago Premiere!

Sanctuary City

By Martyna Majok
Directed by Steph Paul

September 14 - November 18, 2023

In the Ensemble Theater in Honor of Helen Zell

Press opening: Saturday, September 23, 2023 at 7:30 pm

Newark, NJ. Post-9/11. Two teenagers, brought to America as children, now face an unlikely foe: unexpected, unreciprocated love. Their friendship is no longer enough (for one of them) and their adopted country doesn't love them back. Pulitzer Prize winner Martyna Majok brings light to the sacrifices made by DREAMers, lovers and life-long friends in the heartbreaking and hopeful Sanctuary City - a story that fractures and transcends - crossing boundaries, borders and genre in search of a place to call home.

Chicago Premiere!

POTUS, or Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive

By Selina Fillinger
Directed by ensemble member Audrey Francis
Featuring ensemble members Celeste M. Cooper, Sandra Marquez, Caroline Neff and Karen Rodriguez

October 26 - December 3, 2023
In the Downstairs Theater

Press opening: Sunday, November 5, 2023 at 6 pm

It's just another (omg, wtf, lmfao) day at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. When a White House PR nightmare spins into a legit sh*tshow, seven brilliant and beleaguered women must risk life, liberty and the pursuit of sanity to keep the commander-in-chief out of trouble. POTUS, or Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive is a bawdy and irreverent look at sex, politics and the women in charge of the man in charge of the free world. Who knew that global crisis is always just a four-letter word away?

World Premiere!

Purpose

By Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Featuring ensemble members Alana Arenas, Glenn Davis and Jon Michael Hill

March 14 - April 21, 2024
In the Downstairs Theater

Press opening: Sunday, March 24, 2024 at 6 pm

For decades, the influential Jasper family has been a pillar of Black American Politics: civil rights leaders, pastors and congressmen. But like all families, there are cracks and secrets just under the surface. When the youngest son Nazareth returns home to Illinois with an uninvited friend in tow, the family is forced into a reckoning with itself, its faith and the legacies of Black radicalism. Rowdy, hilarious and filled with intrigue, Purpose is an epic family drama - a long-awaited world premiere from one of the country's most celebrated voices.

Chicago Premiere!

The Thanksgiving Play

By Larissa FastHorse

Featuring ensemble members Audrey Francis and Tim Hopper

April 25 - June 2, 2024
In the Ensemble Theater in Honor of Helen Zell

Press opening: Sunday, May 5, 2024 at 6 pm

Four (very) well-intentioned theatre people walk into an elementary school. The work at hand: a Thanksgiving pageant that won't ruffle any feathers. What could possibly go wrong? In MacArthur Genius Larissa FastHorse's skewering and satirical comedy, well, just about everything. Rambunctious, thorny and not altogether politically correct, The Thanksgiving Play serves up the hypocrisies of woke America on a big, family-style platter. Come get ya some.

World Premiere!

UNTITLED (title to be announced)

By Samuel D. Hunter

Directed by Joe Mantello
Featuring ensemble member Laurie Metcalf
June 13 - July 21, 2024
In the Downstairs Theater

Press opening: Sunday, June 23, 2024 at 6 pm

Here's what we know. MacArthur Fellow Samuel D. Hunter (The Whale, Bright New Boise) is writing. Tony Award winner Joe Mantello (Wicked, Airline Highway) is directing. Emmy Award-winning ensemble member Laurie Metcalf (The Conners, Hacks) is starring. They want to do a show together at Steppenwolf. Who are we to get in their way?

STEPPENWOLF FOR YOUNG ADULTS 2023/24 SEASON

Exploring Steppenwolf for Young Adults' 2023/24 theme "Finding a space to live, forging a world to thrive," SYA performances will be held on weekdays at 10 am 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. The spring production will launch a neighborhood tour across Chicago following its run at Steppenwolf. Teachers are invited to sign up here.

Chicago Premiere!

Sanctuary City

By Martyna Majok
Directed by Steph Paul

October 23 - November 18, 2023

In the Ensemble Theater in Honor of Helen Zell

Newark, NJ. Post-9/11. Two teenagers, brought to America as children, now face an unlikely foe: unexpected, unreciprocated love. Their friendship is no longer enough (for one of them) and their adopted country doesn't love them back. Pulitzer Prize winner Martyna Majok brings light to the sacrifices made by DREAMers, lovers and life-long friends in the heartbreaking and hopeful Sanctuary City - a story that fractures and transcends - crossing boundaries, borders and genre in search of a place to call home.

World Premiere!

a home what howls (or the house what was ravine)

By Matthew Paul Olmos

Directed by Laura Alcalá Baker

February 7 - March 2, 2024

In the Ensemble Theater in Honor of Helen Zell

Press opening: Saturday, February 10, 2024 at 7:30 pm

A coyote howling. A home in disarray. A young woman alone. In Matthew Paul Olmos' world premiere, Soledad Vargas is in the city, fighting for her family's right to live on their land. When hope starts to dwindle, how far will she go, and what will she be forced to leave behind? A modern myth drawn from the real life struggles of displaced communities around the globe, a home what howls is a lyrically-rendered quest of youth activism standing against forces of injustice.

2023/24 SEASON ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

Sanctuary City

Martyna Majok (Playwright) was awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play, Cost of Living, which debuted on Broadway this fall. Other plays include Sanctuary City, Queens and Ironbound. Other awards include The Obie Award for Playwriting, The Academy of Arts and Letters Award for Exceptional Playwriting, Hull-Warriner Award, Lanford Wilson Prize, Lilly Award, Lucille Lortel Award, Helen Merrill Prize, Helen Hayes Award, Jean Kennedy Smith, two Jane Chambers Awards, The Hermitage/Greenfield Prize, Francesca Primus Prize and NYTW's 2050 Fellowship. She is currently writing a musical adaptation of The Great Gatsby, with music by Florence Welch and Thomas Bartlett, and developing projects for TV and film.

Steph Paul (Director) is a Brooklyn-based director/choreographer who clears space for uninhibited physical truth. What comes up must come out. She weaves together her lived experience as a first-gen Haitian-American, body percussionist, dancer and athlete and is passionate about building teams. Credits include: How to Defend Yourself (New York Theatre Workshop, Victory Gardens, Humana Festival), Where the Mountain Meets the Sea (Manhattan Theatre Club, Humana Festival), The Royale (KCRep, City Theatre, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis), Becky Nurse of Salem (Lincoln Center), The Last Match (Writers Theatre), The Wolves (Studio Theatre), Richard III (Shakespeare Theatre Company). Additional Chicago credits include: Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Goodman Theatre, Court Theatre, Definition Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Albany Park Theater Project and Third Rail Projects. International: NYU Abu Dhabi, Royal Opera House Muscat, National Theatre of Scotland. Awards: 2021 Princess Grace Award, 2019 Helen Hayes Award, St. Louis Theatre Circle and Jeff Award nominee. Steph is a proud Chicago Dance Crash Artistic Associate and SDC member. She is also a big fan of curating playlists, açaí bowls and improbable comebacks. www.stephpaul.com

POTUS, or Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive

Selina Fillinger (Playwright) is an LA-based writer and performer. Original plays include The Collapse, Something Clean, Faceless and The Armor Plays: Cinched/Strapped. She recently made her Broadway debut with her seven-woman farce, POTUS, or Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive. Her plays have been developed at Roundabout Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, McCarter Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Old Globe Theatre, Alley Theatre, St. Louis Repertory Theatre and Northlight Theatre. She's currently commissioned at South Coast Repertory and Roundabout. She was a Hawthornden Fellow and a resident of McCarter's Sallie B. Goodman Artist's Retreat; Something Clean is the recipient of the 2019 Laurents/Hatcher Award and Cinched/Strapped received the 2019 Williamstown Theatre Festival's L. Arnold Weissberger New Play Award. POTUS was on the 2019 Kilroys List. Selina wrote for the third season of Apple TV's The Morning Show; she's developing a feature with Chernin/Netflix, and a pilot with Hunting Lane/Hulu.

Audrey Francis (Director) currently serves as Artistic Director of Steppenwolf Theatre, alongside Glenn Davis, where she has been an Ensemble member since 2017. She is an actor, director, educator and coach. Recent Steppenwolf performing credits include The Herd, Between Riverside and Crazy, The Fundamentals, Doppelgänger (an International Farce) and Dance Nation. Recent TV credits include Justified: City Primevil, Chicago Med, Chicago Fire and Empire. Recent film credits include Knives and Skin, Later Days, Distant Learners and the upcoming Perpetrator. She has taught acting in New York, LA, Toronto, Sydney, and Melbourne, as well as at The University of Chicago, The Theatre School at DePaul and The School at Steppenwolf. Audrey is a professional acting coach for Showtime, NBC, Fox and Amazon, and is the co-founder of Black Box Acting.

Celeste M. Cooper (Cast) is excited to celebrate her fifth year as an ensemble member and remains grateful for the incredible stories she has been blessed to tell at this home. Steppenwolf: BLKS, Doppelgänger, Familiar and A Doll's House, Part 2, virtual show Duchess! Duchess! Duchess! (New York Times Critic Pick); The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington. Chicago: Blues for an Alabama Sky (Court Theatre - Jeff Awards Best Production); Measure for Measure (Goodman Theatre); Stick Fly (Windy City Playhouse); Ruined (Eclipse Theatre). Regional: For Colored Girls... (Kansas City Repertory); Building The Wall (Curious Theatre in Denver); Mrs. Harrison (Indiana Repertory); What I Learned in Paris (South Coast Repertory); Confederates (The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis). TV: recurring on Chicago PD, guest star role on The 4400 and Sense8. Film: Spike Lee's Chiraq, and a leading role in indie feature Range Runners currently streaming. Awards: Most Promising Actress (Black Theater Alliance); Best Actress - Range Runners (Twister Alley); Newcity Stage magazine listed her as "people who really perform for Chicago" in 2020 & 2023. She has a BA from Tennessee State University and MFA from The Theatre School at DePaul University. She is represented by Paonessa Talent Agency. IG @_be_that_light_

Sandra Marquez (Cast) is an award-winning Chicago-based actor, director and educator. In 2016, she was the first Latinx artist to join the Steppenwolf Theatre Company ensemble. Steppenwolf credits include: A Doll's House Part 2, The Roommate, The Doppelgänger, Mary Page Marlowe, The Motherfu&*er with the Hat, Sonia Flew, A Streetcar Named Desire. Other credits: Mala Hierba (Second Stage Theatre); Electricidad, The Happiest Song Plays Last, Mariela in the Desert (Goodman Theatre); Massacre, The Sins of Sor Juana, Another Part of the House (Teatro Vista); Clytemnestra in Iphigenia in Aulis, Agamemnon and Electra (Court Theatre); Mojada and Anna in the Tropics (Victory Gardens Theater); Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner (Oregon Shakespeare Festival). Marquez directed La Ruta by Isaac Gomez, marking the first all-Latina cast at Steppenwolf. More recently, she directed the critically acclaimed and sold-out world premiere of I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, also at Steppenwolf. Jeff Awards: Best Supporting Actress in A View from the Bridge (Teatro Vista) Jeff Award nominations: Best Actress in a Leading Role for 26 Miles (Teatro Vista & Rivendell Theater), Living Out (Teatro Vista). A longtime ensemble member at Teatro Vista, she served as the Associate Artistic Director alongside Artistic Director Edward Torres from 1998-2006. She is a member of the Northwestern University theater faculty where she enjoys teaching and mentoring young artists.

Caroline Neff (Cast) is a Steppenwolf ensemble member. At Steppenwolf, she was last seen in 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: The Red Line, Chicago PD, Chicago Fire, Open Tables and Older Children. She can currently be seen in recurring roles in: Let the Right One In (Showtime), Three Women (Starz), and heard in multiple Audible Projects such as: Song of the Northwoods, Crowded Hours and Boar's Nest. She is a proud company member of Steep Theatre and holds her BA from Columbia College.

Karen Rodriguez (Cast) joined the Steppenwolf ensemble in 2018. She was most recently seen in The Seagull. Other Steppenwolf credits include: Steppenwolf for Young Adults critically acclaimed adaptation of I am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter and on the mainstage in Dance Nation, La Ruta, The Doppelganger (an international farce) and The Rembrandt. Other selected Chicago credits include: The Way She Spoke (Greenhouse Theater Center), Breach (Victory Gardens Theater), The Displaced (Haven), Hookman (Steep Theatre), Blue Skies Process (Goodman Theatre). Television credits include: The Big Leap, Chicago Fire, Shining Girls and Swarm.

Purpose

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (Playwright) is a Brooklyn-based playwright, producer and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist. Most, recently he was the showrunner, executive producer and writer for HULU/FX's drama series, Kindred, based on Octavia E. Butler's groundbreaking novel. His plays include Girls, Everybody, War (Yale Rep; Lincoln Center/LCT3), Gloria (Vineyard Theatre), Appropriate (Obie Award; Signature Theatre), An Octoroon (Obie Award; Soho Rep, Theatre for a New Audience) and Neighbors (The Public Theater). A Residency Five playwright at Signature Theatre, his honors include a USA Artists, Guggenheim and MacArthur fellowships, the Windham-Campbell Prize for Drama and the inaugural Tennessee Williams Award, and he currently serves as Vice President of the Dramatists Guild council. He teaches at Yale University.

Alana Arenas (Cast) joined the Steppenwolf Theatre Company ensemble in 2007 and created the role of Pecola Breedlove for the Steppenwolf for Young Adults production of The Bluest Eye, which also played at the New Victory Theater Off-Broadway. Recent Steppenwolf appearances include the Steppenwolf for Young Adults production of Monster, The Fundamentals, Marie Antoinette, Tribes, Belleville, Head of Passes, Good People, Three Sisters, The March, Man in Love, Middletown, The Hot L Baltimore, The Etiquette of Vigilance, The Brother/Sister Plays, The Tempest, The Crucible, Spare Change and The Sparrow Project. Other theatre credits include Disgraced (American Theater Company), The Arabian Nights (Lookingglass Theatre Company, Berkeley Repertory Theatre and Kansas City Repertory Theatre), Eyes (eta Creative Arts), SOST (MPAACT), WVON (Black Ensemble Theater) and Hecuba (Chicago Shakespeare Theater). Television and film credits include David Makes Man, Canal Street, Crisis, Boss, The Beast, Kabuku Rides and Lioness of Lisabi. She is originally from Miami, Florida, where she began her training at the New World School of the Arts. Alana holds a BFA from The Theatre School at DePaul University.

Glenn Davis (Cast) is an actor, producer and Artistic Director of Steppenwolf Theatre Company alongside Audrey Francis, where he has been an ensemble member since 2017. His Steppenwolf credits include Downstate, The Christians, You Got Older, The Brother/Sister Plays, Head of Passes, King James (also Mark Taper Forum) and most recently Describe the Night. Broadway credits include Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo (also Kirk Douglas Theatre, Mark Taper Forum). Off-Broadway credits include Transfers (MCC Theatre) and Wig Out! (Vineyard Theatre) and Downstate (Playwrights Horizons). Other regional credits include Moscow x6 (Williamstown Theatre Festival). International credits include Downstate (National Theatre, UK), Edward II, The Winter's Tale and As You Like It (Stratford Festival), as well as Othello (The Shakespeare Company). Television credits include Billions, 24, The Unit, Jericho and The Good Wife. Glenn is an artistic associate at the Young Vic in London and at the Vineyard Theatre in New York. He is also a partner in Cast Iron Entertainment, a collective of artists consisting of Sterling K Brown, Brian Tyree Henry, Jon Michael Hill, Andre Holland and Tarell Alvin McCraney. Cast Iron is currently in residence at The Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles. In 2021, Glenn founded The Chatham Grove Company along with his producing partner Tarell Alvin McCraney, which is currently in an overall deal with Universal Content Productions (UCP).

Jon Michael Hill (Cast) has been a Steppenwolf ensemble member since 2007 and was last seen on Steppenwolf's stage in True West (Steppenwolf, Galway International Arts Festival). Other Steppenwolf credits include: The Unmentionables, Superior Donuts (Broadway, Outer Critics Circle award, Theater World award, Tony nomination), Kafka on the Shore, The Tempest, Hot L Baltimore, Head of Passes, Constellations, Pass Over (Lincoln Center, Amazon Prime, Broadway). Film/TV: Detective Bell on Elementary for CBS, Eastbound & Down, Detroit 187, Law and Order: SVU, Person of Interest, 61st Street, Widows and A Man In Full upcoming on Netflix.

The Thanksgiving Play

Larissa FastHorse (Playwright, Sicangu Lakota Nation) is an award winning writer and 2020-2025 MacArthur Fellow. Her 2023 productions are The Thanksgiving Play (Second Stage at the Helen Hayes), Wicoun (Cornerstone Theater Company), Democracy Project (Federal Hall), Fake It Until You Make It (CTG Mark Taper Forum), For the People (Guthrie) and the national tour of Peter Pan (Networks). Selected past productions include What Would Crazy Horse Do? (KCRep), Landless and Cow Pie Bingo (AlterTheater), Average Family (Children's Theater Company of Minneapolis), Urban Rez and Native Nation (Cornerstone Theater Company), as well as numerous productions of The Thanksgiving Play, making it one of the most produced plays in America. HoganHorsestudio.com

Audrey Francis (Cast) currently serves as Artistic Director of Steppenwolf Theatre, alongside Glenn Davis, where she has been an Ensemble member since 2017. She is an actor, director, educator and coach. Recent Steppenwolf performing credits include The Herd, Between Riverside and Crazy, The Fundamentals, Doppelgänger (an International Farce) and Dance Nation. Recent TV credits include Justified: City Primevil, Chicago Med, Chicago Fire and Empire. Recent film credits include Knives and Skin, Later Days, Distant Learners and the upcoming Perpetrator. She has taught acting in New York, LA, Toronto, Sydney, and Melbourne, as well as at The University of Chicago, The Theatre School at DePaul and The School at Steppenwolf. Audrey is a professional acting coach for Showtime, NBC, Fox and Amazon, and is the co-founder of Black Box Acting.

Tim Hopper (Cast) is a member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company ensemble. Recent roles at Steppenwolf include Andy in Downstate, which traveled to The National Theatre in London, and to Playwrights Horizons in New York. He also appeared at The Goodman Theatre in the title role of Uncle Vanya. Television appearances include Chicago Fire, the Amazon series Utopia, Fargo, The Americans, The Exorcist, Empire and Chicago Med. Film appearances include Perpetrator; Knives and Skin, School of Rock and To Die For, among others. Recipient of the 2018 Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship. Broadway: Present Laughter. Off-Broadway: New York Theatre Workshop, Theatre for a New Audience, Vineyard Theatre and the Atlantic Theater. Regionally, at Long Wharf; Williamstown and La Jolla Playhouse. Internationally, the Edinburgh Festival and Antwerp's De Singel Theatre.

UNTITLED (title to be announced)

Samuel D. Hunter (Playwright) is the author of over a dozen produced plays including The Whale (Drama Desk Award, Lucille Lortel Award for Best Play, GLAAD Media Award), A Case for the Existence of God (New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best New Play) and A Bright New Boise (Obie Award). In 2014, he was awarded a MacArthur "Genius Grant" Fellowship. A film version of The Whale, directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Brendan Fraser, received two Academy Awards, including Best Actor. Originally from Idaho, Hunter lives in New York City with his husband and daughter.

Joe Mantello's (Director) Broadway directing credits include Grey House, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Hillary and Clinton, Three Tall Women, The Boys in the Band, Blackbird, The Humans, Airline Highway, The Last Ship, Casa Valentina, I'll Eat You Last, The Other Place, Other Desert Cities, Pal Joey, 9 to 5, Laugh Whore, November, The Ritz, Three Days of Rain, The Odd Couple, Glengarry Glen Ross, Wicked, Assassins (Tony Award), Take Me Out (Tony Award), Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, Love! Valour! Compassion! Off-Broadway he has directed Dogfight, The Pride, A Man of No Importance, The Vagina Monologues, bash, The Mineola Twins, Corpus Christi. As an actor he has appeared in Hollywood (Netflix), The Watcher (Netflix), American Horror Story: NYC (FX) and upcoming FEUD Season 2: Capote's Women (FX). Broadway: The Glass Menagerie, The Normal Heart (Tony nom. and on HBO), Angels in America (Tony nom.) and The Baltimore Waltz. Recipient of Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Helen Hayes, Clarence Derwent, Obie and Joe A. Callaway awards.

Laurie Metcalf (Cast) received Tony Awards for her performances in Three Tall Women and A Doll's House, Part 2. Tony nominations include November, The Other Place, Misery, and Hillary and Clinton. Metcalf received three Emmy Awards for her work on the television series Roseanne and also for her role on Hacks. Other Emmy nominations were for Third Rock from the Sun, Monk, Desperate Housewives, The Big Bang Theory, Horace and Pete and Getting On. Films include Lady Bird (National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress, Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actress), Somewhere in Queens, Desperately Seeking Susan, Leaving Las Vegas, Uncle Buck, JFK, Internal Affairs and the Toy Story series. She is an original member of Steppenwolf Theater Company in Chicago.

a home what howls (or the house what was ravine)

Matthew Paul Olmos (Playwright) is Mexican-American playwright whose work focuses on creating space for marginalized communities; aims to reach across sociopolitical boundaries and illuminate hope for future generations. Three-time Sundance Institute Fellows/Resident, Drama League nominee, EST Lifetime Member/Sloan Grantee, New Dramatists Resident, Playwrights Center Core Writer, inaugural Primary Stages Creative Development Grantee, two-time Venturous Fellowship nominee. Awards: Arizona Theatre Company's National Latine, Princess Grace, Repertorio Español Nuestra Voces. Residencies/Labs: Baryshnikov Arts Center, Center Theatre Group, Geffen Playhouse, Echo Theatre, two-time INTAR H.P.R.L., Nashville Rep, New York Theatre Workshop, two-time Ojai Playwrights Conference, Oregon Shakespeare Festival BLACK SWAN. Spent two years at Mabou Mines/SUITE (mentored by Ruth Maleczech); selected and mentored by Sam Shepard as La MaMa's Ellen Stewart Emerging Playwright and Taylor Mac for Cherry Lane's Mentor Project.

Laura Alcalá Baker (Director) is a Chicago-based director and new work developer specializing in unearthing the missing canon and reimagining the existing one. She lives in the intersection of a mixed child, one and both - Mexican American. Chicago directing credits include The Leopard Play, or sad songs for lost boys (Steep Theatre); The Way She Spoke (DCASE, Greenhouse Theater Center); Nancy García Loza's BRAVA (Make-Believe Association); The Secretaries (First Floor Theatre), BULL: a love story (Paramount Theatre); and The Pillowman (The Gift Theatre). Regional directing credits include Equivocation, The Giver, 11:11 and Collapse (B Street Theater). New play workshops and readings include work with Steep Theatre, The New Colony, Paramount Theatre and The Goodman Theatre New Stages Festival. She is a Steep Theatre ensemble member and a proud former member of the Alliance of Latinx Theatre Artists. She was nominated for "Best Casting Director" and "Best Director: Brava" at the ALTA Awards. labdirecting.com

ADDITIONAL 2023/24 SEASON INFORMATION

Accessibility

As a commitment to make the Steppenwolf experience accessible to everyone, performances featuring American Sign Language Interpretation, Open Captioning and Audio Description are offered during the run of each STC production. Assistive listening devices and large-print programs are available for every performance and all our spaces are equipped with an induction hearing loop. Our building features wheelchair accessible seating and restrooms, push-button entrances, a courtesy wheelchair and all-gender restrooms, with accessible counter and table spaces at our bars. For additional information regarding accessibility, visit steppenwolf.org/plan-your-visit/accessibility/ or e-mail access@steppenwolf.org.

COVID Precautions

As the Chicago theatre community continues to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, Steppenwolf Theatre remains committed to the safety of its patrons and staff. For the most up-to-date information on our venue's COVID precautions, please visit steppenwolf.org/welcomeback.

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 membership series; 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 marked the opening of Steppenwolf's landmark 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. Keating Crown is Chair of Steppenwolf's Board of Trustees.

Photo credit: James Steinkamp Photography