Sarah Paulson to be Honored at Women In The Arts; Tracy Letts Joins Conversation

On Monday, January 22, 2018, Steppenwolf Theatre Company proudly hosts Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning actor Sarah Paulson as the 2018 Honoree at the annual Steppenwolf Women in the Arts fundraising luncheon. The 9th annual luncheon takes place at 12noon at the Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel (221 N Columbus Dr). VIP Reception begins at 11:30am. Ms. Paulson joins Steppenwolf ensemble member, longtime friend and collaborator Tracy Letts and Artistic Director Anna D. Shapiro for an exciting conversation about her career both on-stage and on-screen and her impact as a leader in her industry. Individual tickets are available by contacting Steppenwolf's Special Events Department at 312-654-5632 or specialevents@steppenwolf.org.

Sarah Paulson is acknowledged as one of today's most critically acclaimed actresses of the screen and stage. She was first introduced to Steppenwolf through her work in ensemble member Tracy Letts's Killer Joe, and the two appear in Stephen Spielberg's film The Post. Paulson's impressive film career includes features with ensemble members Lois Smith (Griffin & Phoenix), Austin Pendleton (The Notorious Bettie Page) and John Malkovich, whom she joins in the upcoming Netflix film Bird Box. On stage, she has appeared in a wide-range of productions including the title role in Lanford Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Talley's Folly, Cherry Orchard with Alfred Molina and Annette Bening and Broadway's The Glass Menagerie alongside Jessica Lange.

On television, Sarah Paulson's inspired performances have captured the attention of audiences and critics alike. Her portrayal of attorney Marcia Clark in American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson earned her numerous awards including a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award and Emmy Award. Sarah also received four consecutive Emmy nominations for her character portrayals in Ryan Murphy's award-winning television series, American Horror Story. Her upcoming projects include American Crime Story: Katrina, Gary Ross's Ocean's 8, the female-driven spinoff of Ocean's Eleven, M. Night Shyamalan's Glass, and the Netflix series Ratched, based on the character Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, for which she is set to produce and star in the title role.

The ninth annual Women in the Arts luncheon brings together nearly 400 leaders from Chicago's business and civic communities to honor Ms. Paulson for her indelible contribution to the field. The event raises funds for Steppenwolf's professional development programs, including the nationally recognized education program Steppenwolf for Young Adults, the School at Steppenwolf, as well as the Professional Leadership Programs, providing apprenticeships, fellowships and internships for the next generation of arts managers and producers.

Ticket Info

Individual tickets start at $250. VIP tickets that include pre-lunch reception begin at $500. Table sponsorships for Women in the Arts are currently available at $5,000, $10,000 and $25,000. To purchase tickets or learn about table sponsorship opportunities, contact Steppenwolf's Special Events Department at 312-654-5632 or specialevents@steppenwolf.org.

Lead sponsor of the 2018 Women in the Arts luncheon is Helen Zell. United Airlines is the Official and Exclusive Airline Partner of Steppenwolf Theatre Company.

Previous honorees for Steppenwolf Salutes Women in the Arts include ensemble members Joan Allen, Laurie Metcalf and Martha Plimpton, along with Claire Danes, Juliette Lewis, Julianna Margulies, Margo Martindale, Julianne Nicholson, Mary-Louise Parker and Phylicia Rashad.

About the Honoree

Award winning actress Sarah Paulson has built an impressive list of credits in film, television and on stage.

Paulson's Emmy win for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie was earned for her portrayal of attorney Marcia Clark in the critically acclaimed mini-series, The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story on FX. Also for this role, Paulson received a Golden Globe Award in the category of "Best Actress in a Miniseries or Television Film," a Screen Actors Guild award in the category of "Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie," a Critics Choice Award in the category of "Best Actress in A Movie Made For Television Or Limited Series" as well as a Television Critics Association award in the category of Individual Achievement in Drama.

Upcoming, Paulson will be seen in Stephen Spielberg's film, The Post, which is inspired by The Washington Post's role in publishing the infamous study about America's role in the Vietnam War. Paulson will star opposite Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, Bob Odenkirk, Alison Brie, Carrie Coon, David Cross, Bruce Greenwood, Tracy Letts, Jesse Plemons, Matthew Rhys, Michael Stuhlbarg, Bradley Whitford, and Zach Woods in this ensemble drama which will see a limited release on December 22, 2017 and a wide release on January 12, 2018.

Next year, Paulson has Gary Ross's Ocean's 8. The female-driven spinoff of Ocean's Eleven will also star Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Rihanna, Helena Bonham Carter, Mindy Kaling and Awkwafina. Warner Brothers will release the film June 8, 2018.

Paulson is now in production on M. Night Shyamalan's thriller Glass, opposite James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy, Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson. The film is a sequel to the writer-director's 2000 thriller Unbreakable, which centered on a man (Willis) who learns something extraordinary about himself after a devastating accident. Universal is slated to release this on January 18, 2019. After that she will begin lensing Liz Garbus's narrative-film, Lost Girls. The film was adapted by Michael Werwie from Robert Kolker's 2013 non-fiction book of the same name. The story focuses on a Long Island mother (Paulson) who, while searching for her missing daughter, discovers the bodies of four murdered girls. She was also recently cast in the Netflix film Bird Box where she will star opposite Sandra Bullock, John Malkovich, Trevante Rhodes, Jacki Weaver, and Danielle Macdonald. The story follows a woman and a pair of children who are blindfolded, and make their way through a post-apocalyptic setting.

On the small screen, Paulson is in the seventh installment of Ryan's Murphy's award-winning television series, American Horror Story for FX. The season premiered on September 5, 2017. Paulson has received four consecutive Emmy nominations for her roles in the franchise: Sally in AHS: Hotel; Bette and Dot Tattler, conjoined twins, in AHS: Freak Show; Cordelia Foxx in AHS: Coven; and Lana Winters in AHS: Asylum. She has also earned two additional Critics Choice Awards for her roles in the anthology.

Paulson is also set to produce and star in the upcoming series, Ratched, where she will play the title role. The series, set to be distributed by Netflix, centers on the early life of the villainous nurse from the 1962 Ken Kesey novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

In 2016, Paulson was seen in Alex Leherman's Blue Jay, opposite Mark Duplass, who also wrote the screenplay. Distributed by The Orchard, the film follows two former high-school sweethearts who meet by chance when they return to their tiny California hometown. Prior to that, she co-starred in Todd Haynes's critically acclaimed Carol alongside Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara. In 2013, Paulson was seen in Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave, which received an Academy Award for Best Picture. Paulson appears alongside Michael Fassbender, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Lupita Nyong'o as Mistress Epps. That same year, Paulson was also seen alongside Reese Witherspoon and Matthew McConaughey in Jeff Nichols' film Mud. The cast received the Robert Altman Award at the Film Independent Spirit Awards. She previously starred in the critically acclaimed independent feature Martha Marcy May Marlene alongside Elizabeth Olsen.

Paulson received her first Emmy nomination and second Golden Globe nomination for her role as Nicolle Wallace in HBO's critically acclaimed telefilm Game Change. Directed by Jay Roach, the film follows John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign.

Paulson's additional film credits include Danny Strong's Rebel in the Rye, in which she stars opposite Kevin Spacey and Nicholas Hoult; Lionsgate's The Spiri", opposite Samuel L. Jackson, Eva Mendes, and Scarlett Johansson; Marry Harron's The Notorious Bettie Page; Down with Love with Renee Zellweger, Ewan McGregor and David Hyde Pierce; What Women Want opposite Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt; The Other Sister directed by Gary Marshall and starring Diane Keaton and Juliette Lewis; and Diggers alongside Paul Rudd and Ken Marino.

Paulson received her first Golden Globe nomination for her performance in Aaron Sorkin's Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, in which she starred opposite Matthew Perry, Amanda Peet, Bradley Whitford and Steven Weber.

Paulson made her return to the stage in 2013 in the Roundabout Theatre Company's production of Lanford Wilson's Pulitzer Prize winning play Talley's Folly. She previously starred on Broadway in the two-hander Collected Stories opposite Linda Lavin, and as Laura Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie, alongside Jessica Lange. On stage she also appeared opposite Alfred Molina and Annette Bening in Cherry Orchard, as well as in Tracy Letts' critically acclaimed Killer Joe.

Anna D. Shapiro joined the Steppenwolf ensemble in 2005 and was awarded the 2008 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play for August: Osage County (Steppenwolf, Broadway, London). She was nominated in 2011 in the same category for The Motherf**ker with the Hat (Public Theatre, Labyrinth Theater). Other directing credits at Steppenwolf include Tracy Letts's world premiere of The Minutes, Visiting Edna, Mary Page Marlowe, Three Sisters, A Parallelogram, Up, The Crucible, The Unmentionables (also at Yale Repertory Theatre), The Pain and the Itch (also in New York), I Never Sang for My Father, Man from Nebraska, Purple Heart (also in Galway, Ireland), The Drawer Boy, Side Man (also in Ireland, Australia and Vail, Colorado), Three Days of Rain, The Infidel and This is Our Youth (which transferred to Broadway). Other Broadway credits include Of Mice and Men (with James Franco) and Fish in the Dark (with Larry David). Off-Broadway credits include Domesticated (Lincoln Center). Anna is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama and Columbia. She was appointed Steppenwolf's Artistic Director in 2015 and is a professor in Northwestern University's Department of Theatre. She will direct Young Jean Lee's Straight White Men on Broadway this July.

Tracy Letts is a Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright, actor and Steppenwolf ensemble member. He is the author of the plays The Minutes, Linda Vista, Mary Page Marlowe, The Scavenger's Daughter, Superior Donuts, August: Osage County (Pulitzer Prize, Tony Award), Man from Nebraska (Pulitzer Prize finalist), Bug and Killer Joe. Also an actor, he received the 2013 Tony Award for Best Actor in Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. TV and film credits include Stephen Spielberg's film The Post, Lady Bird, The Lovers, Christine, Elvis and Nixon, The Big Short, HBO's "Divorce" and two seasons as Andrew Lockhart on Showtime's "Homeland."

Steppenwolf Theatre Company is the nation's premier ensemble theater. Formed by a collective of actors in 1976, the ensemble of 49 members 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 295-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 15,000 participants annually from Chicago's diverse communities; the esteemed School at Steppenwolf; and Professional Leadership Programs for arts administration training. 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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