Video: First Look at the World Premiere Adaptation of 1919 at Steppenwolf Theatre Company

Steppenwolf Theatre Company is presenting the Steppenwolf for Young Adults' world premiere of 1919, adapted by J. Nicole Brooks from Eve L. Ewing's collection of luminous and searing poems about the killing of Black teenager Eugene Williams in 1919 off the segregated Chicago lakeshore - and how this tragedy reverberates today. 1919 will play October 4 - 29, 2022 - the second-ever production in Steppenwolf's stunning new in-the-round Ensemble Theater in Honor of Helen Zell - the centerpiece of its recently unveiled Liz and Eric Lefkofsky Arts and Education Center.

Get a first look at footage from the production below!

Directed by Gabrielle Randle-Bent and Tasia A. Jones, the production features Sheldon D. Brown, DeMorris Burrows, Max Thomas, Sola Thompson, Jessica Dean Turner and Alexis Ward.

On July 27, 1919, Chicago erupted following the killing of 17-year-old Eugene Williams in treacherous waters off the segregated Lake Michigan shoreline. The days that followed made an indelible mark on the city - its sense of boundaries, of relationships between neighbors, and of the underlying systems of inequity and racism that persist today. Adapted from Ewing's poems, J. Nicole Brooks' play is a bold, hopeful, lyrical exploration of Black Chicagoans' resistance, fortitude and endurance: past, present and future.

Ticket Information

All audiences are invited to experience the world premiere of 1919, through both public performances and student matinees for school groups. Tickets start at $5 for teens through the Teen Arts Pass; $20 for the general public. Single tickets to 1919 are now on sale at steppenwolf.org and 312-335-1650.

Student Matinees

All weekday student matinees for 1919 are currently sold out, however schools are encouraged to register for SYA's spring 2023 adaptation of Mahogany L. Browne's Chlorine Sky.

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