Steppenwolf For Young Adults Announces WE ARE PROUD TO PRESENT A PRESENTATION...

Steppenwolf for Young Adults (SYA) announced today it will produce We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as South West Africa, From the German Südwestafrika, Between the Years 1884-1915 by Jackie Sibblies Drury as the second production in the 2018/19 season. SYA Artistic Director Hallie Gordon co-directs with Gabrielle Randle. SYA's 2018/19 Season explores the question, "When you feel lost, how do you find your way?"

We Are Proud to Present a Presentation...will be produced in place of the previously announced production of Radical, a new play inspired by the book White American Youth by Christian Picciolini. SYA Artistic Director Hallie Gordon shares, "After months of discussions with teachers, Young Adult Council members, artists and designers it became clear that adapting this book for the stage would not be of service to our young adult audiences at this time. I am so grateful to the author, playwright, and our incredible community of educators, teens and artists for sharing their voices, and to the Steppenwolf family for trusting me to know when to push forward and pull back."

"SYA is dedicated to creating work that is both provocative and drives us to think harder and deeper about who we are and the choices we make. We are so excited to be producing We Are Proud to Present a Presentation...a powerful story that explores themes of race, representation, storytelling and the power group-thinking can have on an individual. Our season theme is "When you feel lost, how do you find your way?" - a question that every character in this play must ask themselves. SYA hasn't yet produced a play structured like this one, and we are thrilled that we have the opportunity to share it with our audiences," adds Gordon.

When a group of actors gathers together to give a presentation about a long-forgotten-or possibly never remembered-genocide, they realize that summaries based on history books aren't nearly enough to capture the complexity of human extermination-or human interaction. We Are Proud to Present a Presentation... tells the story of what happens when, in an effort to dig deeper, the nobly intentioned ensemble crashes into their own simmering fears and unconscious prejudices, coming face to face with the potential for brutality in all of us.

Public performances for We Are Proud to Present a Presentation... will take place March 2 (3 & 7:30pm); March 8 (7:30pm); March 9 (3 & 7:30pm); March 15 (7:30pm); March 16 (3 & 7:30pm) in the Upstairs Theatre. Performances Tuesday - Friday at 10am are reserved for school groups only and available by visiting steppenwolf.org/education. This season, more than 15,000 Chicago Public School students, teachers and community will see a Steppenwolf for Young Adults production. Single tickets to public performances ($15-20) go on sale at a later date.

Hallie Gordon (Co-Director) is an Artistic Producer at Steppenwolf and the Artistic Director for Steppenwolf for Young Adults, where she has directed many productions for the program including Monster by Walter Dean Myers; George Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm; The Book Thief; To Kill a Mockingbird; and the world premiere of Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye at Steppenwolf and Off-Broadway. In Steppenwolf's season she has directed The Rembrandt and Taylor Mac's Hir. She is an ensemble member for Rivendell Theatre where she directed the critically acclaimed Dry Land and Eat Your Heart Out.

Gabrielle Randle (Co-Director) is a performance scholar, director, and dramaturg based in Chicago. She has a BA in Drama from Stanford University and an MA in Performance as Public Practice from The University of Texas at Austin. She has worked as a dramaturg, producer, and director across the United States including Off-Broadway and internationally on three continents. In Chicago she has worked with Sideshow Theatre Company (Associate Artist), Chicago Dramatists, Victory Gardens Theater, Wirtz Center for the Performing Arts, and Court Theatre. She is a third year PhD student at Northwestern in The Interdisciplinary PhD in Theatre and Drama.

Working in collaboration with Storycatchers Theatre, Steppenwolf Education will tour its production of We Are Proud to Present a Presentation... to three Juvenile Justice Facilities in Illinois. This will be the third tour collaboration between Steppenwolf and Storycatchers Theatre, an organization that guides young people to transform their traumatic experiences into powerful musical theatre, inspiring them to develop the courage and vision to become leaders and mentors. By creating support for youth within the criminal justice system, Storycatchers prepares them to change their lives and emerge successfully from court involvement. For more info, visit storycatcherstheatre.org.

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