In celebration of its 50 year anniversary, the critically-acclaimed Steppenwolf Theatre Company production of Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? will open on Broadway Saturday, October 13, 2012-exactly 50 years to the date after the play's original Broadway opening on Saturday, October 13, 1962. Directed by Pam MacKinnon, the Broadway production will feature the original Steppenwolf cast: ensemble members Tracy Letts and Amy Morton with Carrie Coon and Madison Dirks and will open at a Shubert Theatre TBA.
This production of Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? originally ran at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company (December 13, 2010 - February 13, 2011) and then transferred to Washington, D.C.'s Arena Stage (February 25 - April 10, 2011).
On the campus of a small New England college, George and Martha invite a new professor and his wife home for a nightcap. As the cocktails flow, the young couple finds themselves caught in the crossfire of a savage marital war where the combatants attack the self-deceptions they forged for their own survival. Steppenwolf ensemble members Tracy Letts and Amy Morton face off as one of theatre's most notoriously dysfunctional couples in Albee's hilarious and harrowing masterpiece.
The Broadway production will feature the original Steppenwolf creative team: Todd Rosenthal (set design), Nan Cibula-Jenkins (costume design), Allen Lee Hughes (light design) and Rob Milburn and Michael Bodeen (sound design).
Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? will be presented on Broadway by Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel, Susan Quint Gallin and Mary Lu Roffe (of Chicago) in association with Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Artistic Director: Martha Lavey and Executive Director, David Hawkanson. Richards and Frankel previously teamed up with Steppenwolf to present ensemble member Tracy Letts' Tony® and Pulitzer Prize-winning production of August: Osage County and Superior Donuts on Broadway. They are also producing Steppenwolf's production of the Pulitzer finalist Detroit by Lisa D'Amour, directed by Steppenwolf ensemble member Austin Pendleton, set to open on Broadway this fall.
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Tracy Letts (George) joined the Steppenwolf ensemble in 2002. Previous Steppenwolf productions include American Buffalo, Betrayal, The Pillowman, Last of the Boys, The Pain and the Itch, The Dresser, Homebody/Kabul, The Dazzle, Glengarry Glen Ross (also Dublin and Toronto), Three Days of Rain, many others. Other productions include: Orson's Shadow (Barrow Street Theatre, NY); Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Alliance Theatre, Atlanta); The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (A Red Orchid Theatre); Conquest of the South Pole (Famous Door); Bouncers (the Next Lab). TV and film: Guinevere, U.S. Marshals, Profiler, Prison Break, Seinfeld, Home Improvement, many others. As a playwright, he is the author of Killer Joe, Bug (also screenplay), Man from Nebraska (Pulitzer finalist), August: Osage County (Pulitzer Prize, Tony® Award for Best Play), Superior Donuts and an adaptation of Chekhov's Three Sisters to be presented during Steppenwolf's 2011/12 Season.
Amy Morton (Martha) is an actor, director and Steppenwolf ensemble member since 1997. Her Steppenwolf acting credits include: August: Osage County (also Broadway, London and Sydney), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (also Broadway), Betrayal, Last of the Boys, The Well-Appointed Room, Berlin Circle, The Royal Family, Homebody/Kabul, Three Days of Rain, The Unmentionables, Cherry Orchard, The Time of Your Life and many others. Directing credits include American Buffalo, Our Country's Good, The Weir, Glengarry Glen Ross, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Dublin Carol, Topdog/Underdog, We All Went Down to Amsterdam, The Pillowman, Love-Lies-Bleeding, The Dresser and Awake and Sing. Before joining Steppenwolf, she was a member of The Remains Theatre Ensemble in Chicago for 15 years. She can be in seen in the films Up in the Air, Rookie of the Year, 8mm, Falling Down and The Dilemma.
Carrie Coon (Honey) made her Steppenwolf debut in Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? In Chicago, she has appeared in Magnolia (Goodman Theatre) and Bronte (Remy Bumppo Theatre). Regional credits include: Blackbird and reasons to be pretty (Renaissance Theaterworks); Anna Christie, Our Town, The Diary of Anne Frank (Madison Repertory Theatre); and four seasons with American Players Theatre. A native of Copley, Ohio, Coon received her MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Madison Dirks (Nick) Previous Chicago credits include: The Chosen and Gary (Steppenwolf Theatre); Girl, 20 (Serendipity Theatre-L.A. remount); A Man For All Seasons (TimeLine Theatre); The Last Supper (Infusion Theatre); Hillbilly Antigone (Lookingglass Theatre-U/S). Film/TV credits include: According to Jim, Public Enemies and The Dilemma. Madison is a native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana and a graduate of Louisiana State University.
Edward Albee (Playwright) was born on March 12, 1928 and began writing plays 30 years later. His plays include The Zoo Story (1958), The Death of Bessie Smith (1959), The Sandbox (1959), The American Dream (1960), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1961-62, Tony® Award), Tiny Alice (1964), A Delicate Balance (1966, Pulitzer Prize; 1996, Tony® Award), All Over (1971), Seascape (1974, Pulitzer Prize), Listening (1975), Counting the Ways (1975), The Lady From Dubuque (1977-78), The Man Who Had Three Arms (1981), Finding the Sun (1982), Marriage Play (1986-87), Three Tall Women (1991, Pulitzer Prize), Fragments (1993), The Play About the Baby (1997), The Goat Or, Who is Sylvia? (2000, 2002 Tony® Award), Occupant (2001), At Home at the Zoo: (Act 1, Homelife. Act 2, The Zoo Story) (2004) and Me, Myself, & I (2007). He is a member of the Dramatists Guild Council, and President of The Edward F. Albee Foundation. Mr. Albee was awarded the Gold Medal in Drama from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in 1980. In 1996 he received the Kennedy Center Honors and the National Medal of Arts. In 2005, he was awarded a special Tony® Award for Lifetime Achievement.
Pam MacKinnon (Director) is an Obie Award winning New York-based director. Recent productions include premieres of Bruce Norris' Pulitzer Prize-winning Clybourne Park (Playwrights Horizons, OBIE award and Lortel nominations); Rachel Axler's Smudge (Women's Project); and Cusi Cram's A Lifetime Burning (Primary Stages); as well as Shakespeare's Othello (Shakespeare Santa Cruz); and Gina Gionfriddo's Becky Shaw (South Coast Rep). She is a longtime interpreter of the plays of Edward Albee, having directed A Delicate Balance (Arena Stage); The Goat or, Who's Sylvia? (Alley Theatre and Vienna's English Theatre); and The Play About the Baby (Philadelphia Theatre and Goodman Theatre); as well as premieres of At Home at the Zoo (formerly called Peter and Jerry at Hartford Stage and Second Stage); and Occupant (Signature Theatre). Additional recent work includes premieres of Roberto Aguire Sacasa's Good Boys and True (Steppenwolf Theatre); Itamar Moses' The Four of Us (Manhattan Theatre Club and Old Globe); Richard Greenberg's Our Mother's Brief Affair (South Coast Rep); Jason Grote's Maria/Stuart (Woolly Mammoth); Itamar Moses' Bach at Leipzig (NYTW and Milwaukee Rep); Sheri Wilner's Father Joy (Contemporary American Theatre Festival and Summer Play Festival); as well as productions of Bruce Norris' The Unmentionables (Woolly Mammoth); Richard Dresser's Below the Belt (ACT-Seattle); and David Mamet's Romance (Goodman Theatre). She is a Drama League and Lincoln Center Directors' Lab alumna and an Affiliated Artist with the New York downtown company Clubbed Thumb.
Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Chicago, IL. (Martha Lavey, Artistic Director; David Hawkanson, Executive Director) is one of the nation's leading ensemble theatres, producing up to 16 productions each year in its three Chicago theater spaces - including programming dedicated to the development of new plays and theatre for young adults. Steppenwolf's productions have enjoyed success both nationally and internationally, including off-Broadway, Broadway, London, Sydney and Dublin. Formed in 1976 by a collective of actors, Steppenwolf has grown into an ensemble of 43 actors, writers and directors. For additional information, visit www.steppenwolf.org, www.facebook.com/SteppenwolfTheatre and www.twitter.com/SteppenwolfThtr.
Photo Credit: Michael Brosilow
