Laurie Metcalf, Micah Stock & More to Star in LITTLE BEAR RIDGE ROAD World Premiere at Steppenwolf

Steppenwolf Theatre Company has revealed new details, including full casting, for its now-titled world premiere of Little Bear Ridge Road, a comic, cosmic and intimate drama by MacArthur Fellow Samuel D. Hunter (The Whale, A Bright New Boise), directed by Tony Award winner Joe Mantello (Wicked, Airline Highway).

Tony and Emmy Award-winning ensemble member Laurie Metcalf (Detroit, Three Tall Women –Tony Award) comes home to Steppenwolf, joined by John Drea (Steppenwolf debut), Meighan Gerachis (POTUS, Domesticated) and Micah Stock (Steppenwolf debut, It's Only A Play – Tony Award nomination).

Little Bear Ridge Road will play June 13 – July 21, 2024 in Steppenwolf’s Downstairs Theater, 1650 N. Halsted St. in Chicago. A special Steppenwolf member pre-sale begins Thursday, January 25 at 12 pm. Single tickets beginning at $20 go on sale to the general public on Tuesday, January 30, 2024 at 12 pm at steppenwolf.org or the Box Office at (312) 335-1650. The press opening is Sunday, June 23, 2024 at 6 pm. 

In the outer limits of rural Idaho, the last two members of the Fernsby family tree, an estranged aunt and nephew, reunite to sort the mess left behind after a troubled father's passing. They now face an uncomfortable and universal question: how do we deal with other people? And is connection more trouble than it’s worth? As their relationship begins anew, the two reluctant Fernsby's – separated by age and experience – start to understand the joys and perils of letting someone else into your own story, even if only for a moment. 

The creative team includes Scott Pask (Scenic Design), Jessica Pabst (Costume Design),Heather Gilbert (Lighting Design), Mikhail Fiksel (Sound Design), Patrick Zakem (Creative Producer), Tom Pearl (Producing Director), JC Clementz, CSA (Casting), Laura D. Glenn (Production Stage Manager) and Jaclynn Joslin (Assistant Stage Manager). 

Production Details: 

Title: Little Bear Ridge Road
Playwright: Samuel D. Hunter
Director: Joe Mantello
Cast (in alphabetical order): John Drea (James/Kenny) Meighan Gerachis (Paulette/Vicki) Laurie Metcalf (Sarah) and Micah Stock (Ethan).

Location: Steppenwolf’s Downstairs Theater, 1650 N. Halsted St., Chicago
Dates: Previews: Thursday, June 13 – Saturday, June 22, 2024
Press performance/Opening: Sunday, June 23, 2024 at 6 pm
Regular run: Tuesday, June 25 – Sunday, July 21, 2024
Curtain Times: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursdays and Friday at 7:30 pm; Saturdays at 3 pm & 7:30 pm; and Sundays at 3 pm. Please note: there will not be performances on Tuesday, June 18, Thursday July 4 or Tuesday, July 16; the performance on Tuesday, July 10 begins at 2 pm (there will not be an evening performance).

Tickets: A special Steppenwolf member pre-sale begins Thursday, January 25 at 12 pm. Single tickets ($20 - $14) go on sale to the general public on Tuesday, January 30, 2024 at 12 pm atsteppenwolf.org and the Box Office at (312) 335-1650. 

Steppenwolf Flex Memberships are also currently on sale: Black Card Memberships with six tickets for use any time for any production and RED Card Memberships for theatergoers under 30. 

Accessible Performance Dates:

Audio-described and touch tour: Sunday, July 7 at 3 pm (touch tour at 1:30 pm, curtain at 3 pm)
Open-captioned: Saturday, July 13 at 3 pm and Thursday, July 18 at 7:30 pm
ASL-interpreted: Friday, July 12 at 7:30 pm

Artist Biographies:

Samuel D. Hunter 

(Playwright) grew up in Moscow, Idaho and lives in New York City with his husband and daughter. His plays include The Whale (Drama Desk Award, Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play, GLAAD Media Award, Drama League and Outer Critics Circle nominations for Best Play), A Case for the Existence of God (New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Play, Hull-Warriner Award), A Bright New Boise (Obie Award, Drama Desk nomination for Best Play), Greater Clements (Drama Desk nomination for Best Play, Outer Critics Circle Honoree), Lewiston/Clarkston (Drama Desk nomination for Best Play), The Few, A Great Wilderness, Rest,Pocatello, The Healing and The Harvest, among others. His screenplay adaptation of The Whale, directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Brendan Fraser, was nominated for the 2023 BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and received two Oscars, including Best Actor. He was also a writer and producer on all four seasons of FX’s Baskets. He is the recipient of a 2014 MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellowship, a 2012 Whiting Writers Award and an honorary doctorate from the University of Idaho. He holds degrees in playwriting from NYU, The Iowa Playwrights Workshop and Juilliard.

Joe Mantello 

(Director) recently directed David Ives and Stephen Sondheim’s Here We Are at the Shed. Broadway directing credits include: Grey House, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Hillary and Clinton, Three Tall Women (Tony nom.) The Boys in the Band, Blackbird, The Humans (Tony nom.), 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 (Tony nom.), Wicked, Assassins (Tony Award), Take Me Out (Tony Award), Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, Love! Valour! Compassion!  (Tony nom.) Off-Broadway: Dogfight, The Pride, A Man of No Importance, The Vagina Monologues, bash, Corpus Christi. As an actor he has appeared in American Horror Story: NYC (FX), Hollywood, The Watcher (Netflix), The Normal Heart (HBO, Emmy Nom.)  and upcoming FEUD Season 2: Capote vs. The Swans (FX) Broadway: The Glass Menagerie, The Normal Heart (Tony nom.), Angels in America (Tony nom.) Recipient of Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Clarence Derwent, Obie, Joe A. Callaway and SDCF “Mr. Abbott" awards. Member of the Theatre Hall of Fame.

Laurie Metcalf 

(Sarah) 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 Roseanneand 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.

John Drea 

(James/Kenny) Steppenwolf Theatre Company debut. Chicago: The Sound Inside(Goodman Theatre); Solaris (Griffin Theatre, Jeff Nomination); Chagall in School (Grippo Stage Company, Jeff Nomination); Twelfth Night, Cymbeline (Midsommer Flight); American Psycho(Kokandy Productions); Skunk & Badger, Whose Body? (Lifeline Theatre); A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado About Nothing (Goodly Creatures Theatre); Free Space (Possibilities Theatre). Off-off Broadway: OneIronaut (The Outer Loop). Regional: Deathtrap (Constellation Stage). Television: Ashley Green, The Onion. He is represented by Big Mouth Talent. @johndrea1998

Meighan Gerachis 

(Paulette/Vickie) Steppenwolf Theatre Company: POTUS, Domesticated, Our Town and The House on Mango Street. Chicago: The Malignant Ampersands, Small Mouth Sounds, Solstice (A Red Orchid Theater) Roe, The Wolves, A Christmas Carol, New Stages: BlueSkies Process and Graveyard Shift (Goodman Theatre); Admissions, Seven Homeless Mammoths Wander New England (Theater Wit); MOTHERHOUSE, The Electric Baby, Precious Little, The Walls, Elliot, A Soldier's Fugue, Indulgences at the Louisville Harem, Factory Girls, My Simple City, Wrens (Rivendell Theatre Ensemble); Measure for Measure (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); Cloud Nine (About Face Theatre); Cigarettes and Moby Dick and Che Che Che (Latino Chicago); The Underpants (Noble Fool Theatricals). Regional: Charm (Mixed Blood Theatre); Elliot, A Soldier's Fugue (Stageworks)  Film/TV: Somebody Somewhere, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, At Any Price, Virginia. Chicago P.D., Crisis, Bobby & Iza, Sirens and Battleground.

Micah Stock 

(Ethan) Steppenwolf Theatre Company: Debut. Broadway: The Front Page, It's Only A Play (Tony Nom). Off-Broadway: Moscow x6 (Williamstown Theatre Festival), Hamlet(Waterwell), World Premiere of Terrence McNally's And Away We Go (The Pearl). Film: Maggie Moore(s), Brittany Runs a Marathon, Life Itself, Newly Single, King Kelly (Official Selection: SXSW, PiFan Film Festivals). TV: Kindred, The Right Stuff, Amazing Stories, Compliance, Bonding. Education: BFA, SUNY Purchase Conservatory.

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