Steppenwolf Announces LookOut Series Winter Lineup with Karen Finley & More

Steppenwolf Theatre Company announces the 2016/17 winter lineup for LookOut, the company's multi-genre performance series featuring a diverse array of work from both emerging and established artists. LookOut programming takes place in Steppenwolf's 1700 Theatre, an 80-seat cabaret-style space connected to Steppenwolf's own Front Bar: Coffee and Drinks at 1700 N Halsted St. Guests can take drinks into the theater. Every Friday a different DJ spins in Front Bar before the performance.

Since the LookOut Series kicked off in June 2015, the multi-genre performance series has welcomed more than 320 artists presenting 34 unique engagements attracting nearly 3,900 audience members to Steppenwolf's 1700 Theatre.

Tickets to LookOut programming in November are currently on sale. Tickets to December, January and February programming go on sale this Friday, November 4 at 11am. To purchase tickets or for more info, visit steppenwolf.org or 312-335-1650. Steppenwolf Red and Black Card Members may use credits towards any LookOut programming. Prices vary for each show. LookOut is presented year-round and announced on an ongoing basis. For information, visit steppenwolf.org/lookout.

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LookOut Winter Lineup in the 1700 Theatre:

1700 N Halsted St

Listed in date order. All artists, dates and prices subject to change.

*Doors open 30 minutes before performance time

An Evening with Eighth Blackbird

Tuesday, November 29

Wednesday, November 30

7pm

$35

The four-time Grammy-winning super group Eighth Blackbird has been described as "one of the smartest, most dynamic contemporary classical ensembles on the planet" (Chicago Tribune) and "a brand-name...defined by adventure, vibrancy and quality....known for performing from memory, employing choreography and collaborations with theater artists, lighting designers and even puppetry artists" (Detroit Free Press). In this intimate hometown show, the group turns to ambient sounds and a relaxed vibe as they present concerts featuring the work of Richard Reed Parry (Arcade Fire).

What's Right Now: Pitchmafia Productions

Curated by Josephine Lee (Pitchmafia & Chicago Children's Choir)

Featuring Phillip Armstrong, Brandon Lampkin & Yadda Yadda

Wednesday, December 7

6:30pm & 8:30pm

$10

Pitchmafia is a collective of singers, songwriters and friends born and bred in Chicago. Join these breakout artists and special guests for a night of new songs, revived classics and fierce harmonies.

Stay Lit by Ike Holter

Friday, December 9

Saturday, December 10

10pm

$15

Stay Lit is a short play mash up of new work by Ike Holter focusing on a group of people who will do whatever they can to stay focused, driven, on the edge and slipping into spiral. Songs, monologues and scenes with a dynamite cast and music by John Cicora.

2nd Story

Sunday, December 18

8pm

$20

2nd Story is a collective of story-makers and story-lovers working together to build and expand community through the power of storytelling. We host events in and around Chicago that elevate the storyteller's words to deliver a unique, live, literary/theatrical experience unlike any other in the city.? A typical show or events consists of several stories dispersed throughout the evening like courses of a meal. The stories range from the earnest and serious to the frivolous and humorous, and can simultaneously provoke and entertain.

Jaret Landon Presents: Celebrating the Holidays With Friends featuring The Christians Choir

Monday, December 19

7pm

$20

Come celebrate the holidays with Jaret Landon, composer/arranger for various films, musicals, and recorded albums. This evening of music will feature cast members of The Christians by Lucas Hnath, currently running in the Downstairs Theatre.

You're Being Ridiculous: Family

Saturday, January 7

Saturday, January 14

Saturday, January 21

8pm

$20

At You're Being Ridiculous, created and hosted by Jeremy Owens, real people tell true stories about their lives. Storytellers are linked by a theme, and by the desire to make you laugh-and, once in a while, cry. Our motto: Good stories are better than good times. We laugh at ourselves, and laugh with each other. Everyone has a story to tell. What's yours?

Definition Theatre Company presents a staged reading of The River Jordan

By Mercedes White, directed by Steppenwolf ensemble member Alana Arenas

Monday, January 9

7pm

$10

The River Jordan is a story about a man who, despite his best efforts, continues to disappoint the women in his family and ultimately becomes homeless. This new play investigates what it means to be homeless and sheds light on the fact that every single person on the street, or in a shelter, under a bridge, or in a box, whom we pass and deem as "less than", comes from somewhere. They belong to someone. Steppenwolf ensemble member Alana Arenas directs this staged reading.

An Evening with The Walters

Friday, January 13

8pm

$18

The Walters is a band from Chicago and a Minor League Baseball Team.

Erik and Jessie and Everyone You Know Variety Show

Monday, January 23

Monday, March 6

8pm

$10

Local actor/musicians Erik Hellman and Jessie Fisher present an updated variant of the classic variety hour: Original music, special guests, comedy, magic, improv and ephemera along with the tightest country, soul band in the land. Fast-paced, fun, funky and fresh.

In the Round with Cloudstomper

Thursday, January 26

8pm

$15

The eclectic multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Cloudstomper hosts this iteration of In the Round, LookOut's series which brings together four musicians from a variety of genres to present original songs and explain the stories, processes, emotions and inspirations behind them. Cloudstomper has collaborated with the likes of accomplished Blues pianist Johnny Iguana as well as Angel Moore of ska-punk legends Fishbone. His guests include singer/songwriter Mike Maimone of Mutts, the Chicago genre-bending trio; queer music singer/songwriter extraordinaire Scott Free; and JC Brooks of JC Brooks of the Uptown Sound, acclaimed as "one of the hottest US soul acts" by MOJO Magazine.

Muses by Jess Godwin

Saturday, January 28

8pm

$20

Chicago songwriter/actress Jess Godwin performs selections from her Muses project, a video

series of original music inspired by coffee shop conversations with friends. Vocal soundscapes,

live looping, and storytelling come together in this hybrid of theatre and pop/soul music.

Thornton & Messing

Monday, January 30

Monday, February 6

7pm

$10

Susan Messing and Michael Patrick Thornton are Thornton & Messing, a Chicago improv-duet who have been playing together for five years. With one suggestion from the audience, Thornton & Messing create a world from scratch, rich with characters who are as heartfelt and human as they are hilarious.

Chasing Blue by Bea Cordelia

Saturday, February 4 at 8pm

Sunday, February 5 at 4pm and 8pm

$20

Set six months after Bea Cordelia came out as transgender during the most upheaving era of her life, Chasing Blue takes place in her bathroom in the hour she has to get ready for a fast-approaching date. Intimately autobiographical, tenderly and fiercely told through stories, poetry, music, and spectacle, Bea Cordelia's "life-changing" solo show chronicles her perilous journey toward her transgender identity, all the while asking: When everyone else has left, how can we begin to live with ourselves?

Karen Finley: Written in Sand

A solo spoken word performance

Friday, February 10

Saturday, February 11

8pm

$25

For Visual Aids 25th anniversary (2013), curated by Sur Rodney Sur in New York City, Karen Finley was invited to participate in the exhibit. While looking over and revisiting her art and writing on the subject and era Finley gathered her poetic responses and realized that it became its own narrative, its own body of work. Sections of performance texts, poetry, letters and fragments express the loss and magnitude of personal suffering and compassion within a larger world of homophobia, denial and injustice. Some of these writings are those that were censored and considered indecent, bringing her and three other artists (Fleck, Hughes, Miller) to the Supreme Court.

Karen Finley: Unicorn Gratitude Mystery

Friday, February 17

Saturday, February 18

8pm

$25

Karen Finley brings her rave reviewed solo performance that explores the recent heightened U.S. political presidential landscape that takes on citizenship, gender disparity and abuse of power. The individual price of public relationships at the price of privacy becomes divisive with searing psychosexual dynamics of wit and seething revelation. The performance explores magical beings, aggressive thankfulness and collective intimacy through Shakespearean sudden trauma. This is an experimental nonlinear poetic text that creates a jolt of intuition, analysis and unnatural disaster of the human kind.

Since her first performances in the early 1980's, Karen Finley has become synonymous with performance art. A performer, artist, writer, musician, poet, teacher and lecturer, she is the recipient of two Obies, two Bessies and multiple grants from the NEA and NYSCA. She has toured internationally with pieces including Make Love, George & Martha,The Jackie Look, The American Chestnut, A Certain Level of Denial and The Return of The Chocolate Smeared Woman and Written in the Sand. In 1990, Finley became an unwilling symbol for the NEA when she, along with Tim Miller, Holly Hughes and John Fleck, sued the NEA for withdrawing grants on the grounds of indecency; the controversial case went all the way to the Supreme Court. Among Finley's books include Shock Treatment, Enough Is Enough: Weekly Meditations for Living Dysfunctionally, the Martha Stewart satire Living It Up: Humorous Adventures in Hyperdomesticity, Pooh Unplugged and A Different Kind of Intimacy.

Tumbao: The Misadventures of la Familia Pilón

By Jo Cattell, Lorena Diaz and Wendy Mateo

Saturday, February 13

Saturday, February 27

7pm

$15

Steppenwolf's 1700 Theatre is transformed into Tumbao, the familia Pilon's bar and the best place for a salsa night, baptism, séance or wedding reception. Unbeknownst to the familia Pilón, the community of stray cats has decided to make the family the stars of a radionovela, broadcast from the bar itself. By transmitting to the rest of the world what happens within Tumbao's walls they hope to share the infectious energy of the family to keep the community thriving through its desperate fight against gentrification. Be warned, Tumbao is not myth or legend, but real, and therefore unscripted. Improvised live on Monday nights, a special show for you performed by an unsuspecting crew.

black as eye wanna be by Po' Chop

Wednesday, February 24

8pm

$20
black as eye wanna be is an evening length piece of burlesque/performance art that explores oppression and victory through the language of burlesque. Pulling sound from black musicians throughout American history, black as eye wanna be is both irreverent and playful.

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LookOut programming is presented year-round and announced on an ongoing basis. John Zinn, Greta Honold and Patrick Zakem are the producers for LookOut. For more information, visit steppenwolf.org/lookout.

An 80-seat cabaret-style theater, the 1700 Theatre is a casual and intimate venue presenting a wide variety of genres and shows, from live music to dance to spoken word and beyond at 1700 N Halsted St. The diverse programming provides current and new audience members with a variety of multidisciplinary cultural experiences with the added Steppenwolf stamp of approval.

Located in front of the 1700 Theatre is Steppenwolf's café & bar, Front Bar: Coffee and Drinks. Open daily from 7am to midnight, Front Bar is a creative space to grab a drink, have a bite, or meet up with friends and collaborators, day or night. A morning and evening menu is curated by Chef Chris Pandel, and artisanal coffee and expresso is provided by La Colombe. Functioning as a stand-alone entity, the café & bar also connects to Steppenwolf's existing main building creating an expanded lobby space. Front Bar was developed with consultation from Steppenwolf's friends and neighbors, Boka Restaurant Group (BRG), along with interior designers Karen Herold and Kayce Carter of Studio K and the marketing and design firm Grip. More info at front-bar.com.

With the larger and more diverse selection of programming this season, Steppenwolf has increased the ways in which audiences can access the offerings. The new Steppenwolf Black Card offers extreme flexibility with six ticket credits that can be used any time for any production at Steppenwolf. The credits are valid for one year, and there is the option to add on additional credits as needed. Additional membership perks include easy and free exchanges, access to seats before the general public, savings on single ticket prices and bar and restaurant discounts for pre- and post-show socializing. The Steppenwolf Black Card is modeled after the popular Steppenwolf Red program, which offers audiences under the age of 30 the option to purchase six ticket credits at a discounted price to use towards any play, anytime. To purchase a 2016/17 Card Membership, visit Audience Services at 1650 N Halsted St, call 312-335-1650 or visit steppenwolf.org.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company is the nation's premier ensemble theater-redefining the landscape of acting and performance. Formed by a collective of actors in 1976, the ensemble has grown to 46 members who represent a remarkable cross-section of actors, directors and playwrights. Thrilling and powerful productions from Balm in Gilead to August: Osage County-and accolades that include the National Medal of Arts and 12 Tony Awards-have made the theater legendary. Steppenwolf produces hundreds of performances and events annually in its three spaces: the 515-seat Downstairs Theatre, the 299-seat Upstairs Theatre and the 80-seat 1700 Theatre. Artistic programing includes a seven-play season; a two-play Steppenwolf for Young Adults season; Visiting Company engagements; and LookOut, a multi-genre performances series.

Education initiatives include the nationally recognized work of Steppenwolf for Young Adults, which engages 14,000 participants annually from Chicago's diverse communities; the esteemed School at Steppenwolf; and Professional Leadership Programs for arts administration training. Steppenwolf's own Front Bar: Coffee and Drinks serves coffee, cocktails and a menu curated in partnership with the Boka Restaurant Group day and night. While firmly grounded in the Chicago community, nearly 40 original Steppenwolf productions have enjoyed success both nationally and internationally, including Broadway, Off-Broadway, London, Sydney, Galway and Dublin. Anna D. Shapiro is the Artistic Director and David Schmitz is the Executive Director. Eric Lefkofsky is Chair of Steppenwolf's Board of Trustees.

For additional information, visit steppenwolf.org, facebook.com/steppenwolftheatre, twitter.com/steppenwolfthtr and instagram.com/steppenwolfthtr.

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