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Welcome to Constellations
Contents Welcome to Constellations 3
Letter from Artistic Director Anna D. Shapiro
8 Bios Under the Umbrella of Science: 14 A conversation about Constellations
With Director Jonathan Berry and Audience Engagement Creative Producer Greta Honold
In “A Director Prepares,” one of the seminal directing texts I include in the first-year MFA Directing seminar I teach at Northwestern, Anne Bogart discusses the violence of articulation. She compares beginning work on a play to a visual artist approaching a blank canvas. You have to make a beginning, decisive mark and, once that dangerous act of violence has occurred, you then spend the rest of the process attempting to fix or improve that original gesture. Before that first action, the possibilities are limitless. But until that first mark, there is nothing to be in response to, nothing to be in communication with—it’s all simply possibility without forward momentum. When I officially started as Artistic Director in September, our 40th season had already been determined by our cherished outgoing Artistic Director, Martha Lavey. This exciting and challenging season of plays charted a clear course for not just our audiences, but the new artistic team. As we embarked on our own journey, her vision served as both touchstone and safety-net, that first, original gesture. But she also left this 6th play unannounced: a bit of white canvas for the incoming artistic office to make its own mark. While the team explored a multitude of possibilities, the process revealing and interrogating our individual proclivities, there was much discussion around how whatever we chose, along with the selection of the upcoming season, would define us. We fretted, a bit, about what the choice would mean. Ironically, Constellations kept coming to the forefront of the conversation. Playwright Nick Payne has written a beautiful, elliptical and elegant exploration of all that is possible when two people meet. It deals, simultaneously, with the beauty and mystery found in the unknowable vastness of the universe and the ways in which we attempt to define ourselves in a desperate fight to stave off entropy. It is, at its most pure, a wondering.
Editor
Contributors
Design
Jacqueline Rosas
Jonathan Berry Anna Brenner Greta Honold Madeline Long Joel Moorman Anna D. Shapiro
Donovan Foote
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Our choice to produce it provides us the opportunity to welcome ensemble member Jon Michael Hill back to our stage—last appearing in Head of Passes in 2013. It’s a chance to see him in a very different kind of role—a leading man—and an opportunity for him to stretch some very different acting muscles. Similarly, it’s an opportunity for our artistic producer Jonathan Berry to bring the work he’s been doing so consistently on the off-loop scene to our stage. For both of these guys, I feel a sense of pride in the artists they’ve grown into. I cast Jon H in his first Steppenwolf show and have worked with Jon B for 18 years, starting as a Steppenwolf intern. For both, this feels like a natural progression and the next exciting step in their work, but more to the point it asks of them to continue to reach for what is new in them, for what is to be discovered, and in many ways to do so in conversation with their own original “mark.” It’s one of the things I try to impart to my students, who are invariably anxious about making the right career decisions—the ones that will send them to the top of some imagined ladder of success. I try to tell them to instead focus on building the life that they want—what city to live in, what people to surround themselves with, whether or not they want a family, how they want to live. I try to tell them that if they are happy in that, then the right opportunities for them will naturally follow. As a team, we on the artistic staff are naturally, organically engaged in these questions and share the belief that the answers reside, at times, in the stories we tell. That the mark we make, this first mark, is only one in a continuum of searching, no, reaching, for meaning, not unlike the characters in Constellations. Running a theater company, I’m finding, is not so much a new thing, it’s simply the next. We may know, after 40 years, who we are. We now look into the uncertain future and are thrilled at the exciting prospects of defining ourselves by who we want to be. Anna D. Shapiro, Artistic Director
2 Constellations
steppenwolf 3
Anna D. Shapiro† Artistic Director
David Schmitz Managing Director
Steppenwolf Theatre Company presents
Constellations
By Nick
Payne
Directed by Jonathan
Berry
Featuring Jessie Fisher* Jon Michael Hill†*
Steppenwolf Salutes the Sponsors of Constellations Corporate Production Sponsor
Individual Production Sponsors Nora Daley and Sean Conroy
Production Joe Schermoly Scenic Design Izumi Inaba Costume Design Heather Gilbert+ Lighting Design Christopher Kriz+ Sound Design and Original Music Hallie Gordon Artistic Producer Polly Hubbard Dramaturg Tam Dickson Casting Christine D. Freeburg* Stage Manager Kathleen Barrett Assistant Stage Manager
ComEd is the 2015/16 Season Lighting Sponsor
Originally produced on Broadway by the Manhattan Theatre Club, Lynne Meadow, Artistic Director, Barry Grove, Executive Producer, and The Royal Court Theatre by special arrangement with Ambassador Theatre Group and Dodgers on December 16, 2014. Constellations is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York. Steppenwolf Theatre Company is a constituent of Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for nonprofit professional theater. † member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company ensemble. * member of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers. + member of United Scenic Artists, Local 829 of the IATSE.
4 Constellations
steppenwolf 5
Cast and Contributors Cast (in alphabetical order)
Additional Staff
Jessie Fisher* Marianne Jon Michael Hill†* Roland
Foss Baldwin Assistant Director Rachel Levy Assistant Lighting Designer Karen Thompson Light Board Operator Andrew Rovner Sound Board Operator Sarah Diefenbach Wardrobe Crew AJ Burkart, Ryan Lowe and Mark Vinson Additional Carpentry Ravenswood Scenic Set Construction Rachel Flesher Fight Choreographer Peter Wujcik American Sign Language Coach Elise Kauzlaric Dialect Coach Leean Torske and Derek Matson Audience Engagement Associates
Understudies (in alphabetical order) Maurice Demus Roland Christine Vrem-Ydstie Marianne
Setting London, Present Day
This performance will be presented without an intermission.
There will be a post-show discussion immediately following the performance.
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† member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company ensemble. * member of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers.
SE
ASON
YOUNGER STAGES
LATER STAGES
INSPIRING THE CHILD IN ALL OF US A Light In The Dark: The Story Of Helen Keller And Anne Sullivan
Moon Shot: A Race To Space BY THEATER UNSPEAKABLE
BY THODOS DANCE CHICAGO
NOV 1 - 20 Ideal for ages 10 & up
Another Snowy Day With Beatrix Potter
The Year I Didn’t Go To School: A Homemade Circus
OCT 12 - 23 Ages 6 & up
DEVISED BY WILL BISHOP
NOV 1 - 20 Ideal for ages 2 - 6
BY LOOKINGGLASS ARTISTIC DIRECTOR HEIDI STILLMAN
FEB 28 - MARCH 26 All Ages
The Hundred Dresses BY RALPH COVERT & G. RILEY MILLS
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Brown Bear, Brown Bear & Other Treasured Stories BY MERMAID THEATRE OF NOVA SCOTIA
MAY 2 - 28 Ideal for ages 1 - 5
WORLD PREMIERE
R E S E R V E D S E AT I N G , N O T I C K E T I N G F E E S A N D M O R E ! 6 Constellations
16 17
872.222.9555 | ChicagoChildrensTheatre.org
Jessie Fisher (Marianne)
joyfully returns to Steppenwolf Theatre Company where she was last seen in the Steppenwolf for Young Adults production Of Mice and Men. She recently returned to Chicago after performing in Once on Broadway. Chicago credits include Othello, The Heir Apparent, SS! Taming of the Shrew (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); The Pride, Abraham Lincoln was a F*gg*t (About Face Theatre); 33 Variations (TimeLine Theatre Company); Cabaret, Frankenstein (The Hypocrites); The Original Grease (American Theatre Company); and The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane (Chicago Children’s Theatre). Television credits include Boss and Chicago P.D. She attended the School at Steppenwolf and teaches at Black Box Acting Studio.
Jon Michael Hill (Roland)
Nick Payne (Playwright) Theatre credits include If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet (Bush Theatre and Roundabout Theatre Company); Wanderlust (Royal Court Theatre); Sophocles’ Electra (Gate Theatre); One Day When We Were Young (Paines Plough/Sheffield Theatres and Shoreditch Town Hall); Lay Down Your Cross (Hampstead Theatre); Constellations (Royal Court Theatre and Duke of York’s); The Same Deep Water As Me (Donmar Warehouse, nominated for 2014 Olivier Award for Best New Comedy); Blurred Lines (The Shed, National Theatre); Incognito (Bush Theatre); and The Art of Dying (Royal Court Theatre). Film credits include The Sense of an Ending (adaptation of Julian Barnes’ Man Booker Prize winning novel for BBC Films/ Origin Pictures). Television credits include The Secrets (Working Title TV for BBC One). Nick has been recognized with the 2009 George Devine Award for Most Promising Playwright, 2012 Harold Pinter Playwright’s Award and the 2012 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Play for Constellations.
has been a Steppenwolf ensemble member since 2007, where he most recently appeared in Head of Passes. Previous Steppenwolf credits include The Hot L Baltimore, The Tempest, Kafka on the Jonathan Berry (Director) Shore, Superior Donuts (also on Broadway; is an Artistic Producer at Outer Critic’s Circle Award; Tony and Steppenwolf and a director and Drama League Award nominations) and The teacher in Chicago. Steppenwolf Unmentionables. Other theater credits include A credits include Gary and Midsummer Night’s Dream (The Public Theatre/ A Separate Peace for Steppenwolf for Young Shakespeare in the Park); In the Red and Brown Adults. Jonathan is an ensemble member at Water (Alliance Theater); and The Cure at Troy Steep Theatre where credits include Posh, If (Seattle Repertory Theater). Jon made his opera There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet, The Knowledge, debut as Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Festen and Moment. He is also an ensemble the Houston Grand Opera. Television and film member at Griffin Theatre where his credits credits include Elementary, Detroit 1-8-7, include Pocatello, Balm in Gilead, Golden Boy, Spring Awakening, Punk Rock, Port and On the Eastbound and Down, Law & Order: Special Shore of the Wide World. Jon was the assistant Victims Unit, Person of Interest and Guiding director for Anna D. Shapiro’s Broadway Light. He received a BFA from the University of productions of Of Mice and Men and This Is Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. Our Youth. Other credits include Dirty, Othello, Suicide, Incorporated (Gift Theatre); The Solid Sand Below, The World of Extreme Happiness for New Stages (Goodman Theatre); Kill Floor (American Theatre Company); Little Shop of
8 Bios
TERMINAL 1 DESIGNED BY JEAN-MARIE MASSAUD
Constellations Bios
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CM
MY
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Bios 9
Horrors, Sideman (American Blues Theater); I am Going to Change the World (Chicago Dramatists); and The Casuals (Jackalope Theatre Company). He pursued his MFA in directing from Northwestern University. He has taught at University of Michigan, Northwestern University, University of Chicago, Columbia College and The School at Steppenwolf.
Joe Schermoly (Scenic Design) is thrilled
to make his Steppenwolf Theatre Company debut with his long-time collaborator Jonathan Berry. As a Griffin Theatre ensemble member his credits include Pocatello, Titanic, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Flare Path, Punk Rock, Port, The Constant Wife and more. Other Chicago credits include Samsara (Victory Gardens Theater); The Watson Intelligence, Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play, Seven Homeless Mammoths Wander New England, Completeness (Theatre Wit); Travesties (Remy Bumppo Theatre Company); American Idiot (The Hypocrites); Stupid Fucking Bird, Idomeneus, The Ugly One (Sideshow Theatre Company); The Seafarer and Lay Me Down Softly (Irish Theatre of Chicago). Joe studied set design at Northwestern University and has received two After Dark Awards and three Jeff Nominations. joeschermoly.com
as well as A Separate Peace, The Infidel, Wolf Lullaby and Pot Mom. Her designs have been seen on many Chicago stages including The Hypocrites, Goodman Theatre, Court Theatre, Steep Theatre, Victory Gardens Theater, Chicago Children’s Theatre, Writers Theatre, About Face Theatre and countless storefronts. Regional credits include: Oregon Shakespeare Festival, American Repertory Theatre, Kansas City Rep, Milwaukee Rep, Huntington Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Alley Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theare and Actors Theatre of Louisville. International credits include the Almeida in London. Heather received the NEA/TCG Career Development Grant and the 3Arts Award. Heather serves as the Head of Lighting Design at Columbia College Chicago, and received her MFA at The Theatre School at DePaul University. She is a member of The Hypocrites community.
Christopher Kriz (Sound Design and
Original Music) previously designed The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter for Steppenwolf for Young Adults. Upcoming and recent credits include The Magic Play, Carlyle (Goodman Theatre); The House That Will Not Stand, Sucker Punch (Victory Gardens Theater); The Life Of Galileo (Remy Bumppo Theatre Company); Gem Of The Ocean (Court Theatre); Sunset Baby Izumi Inaba (Costume Design) is thrilled to (Timeline Theatre Company); Mothers and be working at Steppenwolf Theatre Company Sons (Northlight Theatre); The Grapes Of Wrath once again where she last designed costumes for and Good For Otto (Gift Theatre). For his work George Orwell’s Animal Farm. Other Chicago in theatre, he has been honored with 11 Jeff credits include Adding Machine: A Musical, nominations and two Jeff awards. Recently, Woyzeck (The Hypocrites); The New Sincerity Lifeline Theatre produced his new musical, Soon (Theater Wit); An Issue Of Blood (Victory I Will Be Invincible. He is a proud member of Gardens Theater); Mousetrap, Charm, You Can’t United Scenic Artists 829. To hear more of his Take It With You (Northlight Theatre); The Revel, work, please visit christopherkriz.com. and Season On The Line (The House Theatre of Chicago). Izumi is a company member at Red Christine D. Freeburg (Stage Manager) Tape Theatre and a resident designer at Albany returns to Steppenwolf Theatre Company where Park Theatre Project. She received her MFA in her credits include The Flick, John Steinbeck’s Stage Design from Northwestern University. East of Eden, The Herd, Airline Highway, Tribes, The Motherf**ker with the Hat, Good People, The Heather Gilbert (Lighting Design) returns March, Sex With Strangers, American Buffalo to Steppenwolf Theatre Company where she (also at McCarter Theatre), The Tempest, The designed Buena Vista, Annie Bosh is Missing Seafarer, The Diary of Anne Frank, after the and The Gospel of Franklin for First Look 2013 quake and Cherry Orchard. Other Chicago
TOGETHER AGAIN. “Hugely entertaining and strikingly emotional… not-to-be-missed.” ★★★★/4 —Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune
“It’s hard to imagine a more seamless marriage.” ★★★★★/5 —Kris Vire, Time Out Chicago
#ARTofFALLING @HubbardStreet @TheSecondCity
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Hubbard Street + The Second City’s The Art of Falling returns to the Harris Theater, June 9–19. Save 10% when you use code FUNNY hubbardstreetdance.com/summer 312-850-9744
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SUBSCRIBE NOW at hubbardstreetdance.com/39 to save 25% on tickets to Season 39 at Hubbard Street — four remarkable, diverse programs all exclusively at the Harris Theater FALL SERIES Nov 17–20, 2016 featuring a world premiere commission by Brian Brooks
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SPRING SERIES Mar 16–19, 2017 celebrating global choreographer Nacho Duato
SUMMER SERIES Jun 8–11, 2017 kicking off Hubbard Street’s 40th anniversary season
Performing at
10 Bios
Commissioning Sponsor
Commissioned by the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park, with support from Sandra and Jack Guthman through the Imagine Campaign.
Season Sponsors
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credits include Stones in His Pockets (Northlight Theatre); The Vanishing Twin, In The Eye of The Beholder, Arabian Nights (Lookingglass Theatre Company); Hamlet, Fraulein Else, Scapin (Court Theatre); Once on This Island, Madame Butterfly, Old Wicked Songs, Violet and many more (Apple Tree Theater). Christine is an adjunct faculty member at The Theatre School at DePaul University and spent nine summers stage managing at Weston Playhouse. She is happily married to Thom Cox and the proud mother of Joan Marie.
Kathleen Barrett (Assistant Stage Manager) is happy to return to Steppenwolf Theatre Company following her 2014/15 stage management apprenticeship. Steppenwolf credits include Airline Highway, The Herd and crew on John Steinbeck’s East of Eden. Recent credits include Gotta Dance (Broadway in Chicago); Far from Heaven (Porchlight Music Theatre); Office Hour, The Tempest, The Stinky Cheese Man & Other Fairly Stupid Tales, Five Mile Lake, Light in the Piazza, Ivy + Bean: The Musical (South Coast Repertory); Steam Heat and Game Show (Mason Street Warehouse). She has also stage managed for South Coast Repertory’s youth conservatory program. Kat holds a BA from Kalamazoo College in Michigan. Anna D. Shapiro (Artistic Director) began
working with Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 1995 as the original director of the New Plays Lab and joined the ensemble in 2005. She has directed dozens of notable Steppenwolf productions, including the world-renowned production of Tracy Letts’s August: Osage County, for which she received 2008 Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards. In 2011 she was nominated for a Tony Award for Stephen Adly Guirgis’s The Motherf**ker with the Hat, which she also directed at Steppenwolf to critical acclaim. Additional Steppenwolf directing credits include A Parallelogram, Up,
The Unmentionables, The Pain and the Itch (also at Playwrights Horizons), Man from Nebraska, (named by TIME as one of the Year’s Top Ten in 2003), The Drawer Boy and Three Days of Rain, among others. Broadway credits include the sold-out run of Larry David’s Fish in the Dark, the revival of Steppenwolf’s This Is Our Youth and the revival of Of Mice and Men, which National Theatre Live selected as the first American production to be broadcast to over 700 cinemas. Anna is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama and Columbia College and the recipient of a 1996 Princess Grace Award, as well as the 2010 Princess Grace Statue Award. She is a professor in Northwestern’s Department of Theatre and served as the Director of the Graduate MFA Directing Program from 2002 – 2014.
David Schmitz (Managing Director) has worked at Steppenwolf Theatre Company for 10 years, serving in the role of Director of Finance and Administration, General Manager and currently as Managing Director. Prior to working at Steppenwolf, David was the General Manager at Lookingglass Theatre Company, Associate Artistic Director of Stage Left Theatre and Business Manager at the entertainment agency Adair Performance. Currently, he serves as Vice President of the Board for The House Theatre of Chicago, is a proud board member of the League of Chicago Theaters and Arts Alliance Illinois and is a former board member for the Lincoln Park Chamber of Commerce. David has worked as a strategic planning, business practices, finance and hiring consultant for numerous Chicago organizations, including The House Theatre of Chicago, The Hypocrites and Stage Left Theatre, among others. He holds a BA in theatre from the University of Northern Colorado, an MFA from the Theatre Conservatory at the Chicago College of Performing Arts, Roosevelt University and a Certificate in Non Profit Management from Roosevelt University.
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Straight White Men
By David Rabe Directed by artistic director Anna D. Shapiro Featuring ensemble members Ian Barford, K. Todd Freeman, Sally Murphy and Rondi Reed Sep 15 – Nov 6, 2016
Written and directed by Young Jean Lee Featuring ensemble members Tim Hopper and Alan Wilder Feb 2 – Mar 19, 2017
By Erika Sheffer Directed by ensemble member Yasen Peyankov Featuring ensemble members Alana Arenas, Caroline Neff and Alan Wilder Nov 10 – Dec 23, 2016
By ensemble member Tracy Letts Directed by Dexter Bullard Featuring ensemble members Ian Barford, Tim Hopper, Sally Murphy and Caroline Neff Mar 30 – May 21, 2017
By Lucas Hnath Directed by ensemble member K. Todd Freeman Featuring ensemble member Robert Breuler Dec 1, 2016 – Jan 29, 2017
By Taylor Mac Directed by Hallie Gordon Featuring ensemble members Francis Guinan and Amy Morton Jun 29 – Aug 20, 2017
The Fundamentals
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GH: Can you talk a bit about the form this play takes?
Under the Umbrella of Science:
A conversation about Constellations with director Jonathan Berry and Audience Engagement Creative Producer Greta Honold.
Nick Payne and the idea for this play?
Jonathan Berry: Nick starts with an idea, a
point of interest for him, and then he does a lot of detailed research into that particular industry. In the case of Constellations he was initially excited about the idea of colony collapse so he studied the bee world and got really deep into it before realizing that writing a play about bees was going to be very hard. Just when he was mentally turning that page over he saw the documentary The Elegant Universe which talks about the possible solutions to the problematic relationship between Einstein’s theory of relativity and quantum mechanics, and then that became the new jumping off point.
GH: Can you give us a short science lesson? JB: Oh boy. Nick does such a good job of that in the play but… I’ll give it a shot. Einstein’s theory of relativity is all about gravitational pull. Quantum mechanics is about the way the interior of an atom
14 Features
behaves. Both are universal principles that explain everything except each other. So you can explain the perceptible universe through the theory of relativity and yet relativity has absolutely no bearing on what happens within the nucleus of an atom. The nucleus of an atom has a completely different set of rules, explained by quantum mechanics. Scientists are eager to come up with a theory that allows these two competing theories to exist in the same world because currently we have a universe that requires two different sets of rules that shouldn’t exist together. Nick’s written a really extraordinary relationship play under the umbrella of these big universal scientific ideas. In the end, he wrote this play about two people— a beekeeper, Roland, and a cosmologist, Marianne, whose particular point of expertise is the multiverse, which is one way of explaining how relativity and quantum mechanics might coexist. What Nick Payne did was write about how hard it can be for two people to come together in the world.
GH: It seems as if this human exercise of imagining all the different ways your life might go is a very natural one and one a lot of plays and movies and books have explored over the years.
Illustrations by Donovan Foote
Greta Honold: Can you tell us a bit about
JB: There are seven different points of time where we see Roland and Marianne. We see their initial meeting, what could potentially be one of their last conversations and then five different points in between. At each of these points in time we see five to seven different variations on how that scene could go. Sometimes Nick changes two words, sometimes ten sentences, sometimes it’s the same starting point and he takes it off in a totally different direction. The point being that he is creating these multiple universes. So the challenge and excitement for the actors is you really get to recreate, in every iteration, new variations on the characters.
JB: If you are a person who has a conversation and walks away and thinks of all the different ways you could have had that conversation… I mean it is very human to reflect on your life and then imagine it differently. For me, the question the play is wrestling with is, in that moment, why do we make the choices we do? One of the problems of the multiverse is—if there are multiple versions of you making every possible decision, eventually, what’s the point of making any decision? What is the point of getting up in the morning and doing anything? I think Nick’s answer to that is that the ability to choose makes us human. And that specific choice, that decision to engage, makes the difference in who we are and how we live. We are
choosing the story that we’re telling. They don’t actually talk about constellations in the play. For me the through line of that—the idea of the play—is that at some point thousands of years ago someone looked up and saw an infinitesimal number of stars and to make sense of that they started drawing lines and making recognizable shapes as a way of helping us feel connected to something bigger to help us understand something that’s impossible to understand. Which is both the universe and relationships. GH: You can look at it from a really optimistic perspective, like that notion can be very freeing, or it can be really terrifying and constricting, the sense that my actions have no real consequence. JB: Yes—either your actions matter too much or not at all! Where is the middle ground? For me it comes down to your relationship with responsibility. Either we recognize that the place where we’re at is because of the choices that we’ve made or we wait for something to happen TO us to maintain, somehow, plausible deniability. And on any given day, I am capable of either of those behaviors. Some people see this story as an epic romance, that “these two people are fated to come together despite all these odds.” I prefer to think that we always have the ability to choose to be together and for all different reasons we sometimes f**k that up. It’s not dependent on fate, it’s on us to be brave and risk it. You get to have a say in the story of your life and that choice to open up and be vulnerable to another person is, ultimately, the thing that makes us human.
Features 15
The Steppenwolf Ensemble first began performing in the mid-1970s in the basement of
a Highland Park church, the ambitious brainchild of three high school and college friends: Jeff Perry, Terry Kinney and Gary Sinise. Fast forward 40 years and Steppenwolf Theatre Company has become the nation’s premier ensemble theater—redefining the landscape of acting and performance. The ensemble has grown to 46 members who represent a remarkable generation of actors, directors and playwrights. Thrilling, powerful, groundbreaking productions from Balm in Gilead and The Grapes of Wrath to August: Osage County—and accolades that include the National Medal of Arts and 12 Tony Awards—have made the theater legendary. Steppenwolf’s artistic force remains rooted in the original vision of its founders: an artist-driven theater, whose vitality is defined by its sharp appetite for groundbreaking, innovative work. That work is represented in production photos displayed throughout the theater.
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Joan Allen
Kevin Anderson
Alana Arenas
Randall Arney
Kate Arrington
Ian Barford
Robert Breuler
Gary Cole
Kathryn Erbe
K. Todd Freeman
Frank Galati
Francis Guinan
Moira Harris
Jon Michael Hill
Tim Hopper
Tom Irwin
Ora Jones
Terry Kinney
Tina Landau
Martha Lavey
Tracy Letts
John Mahoney
John Malkovich
Sandra Marquez
Mariann Mayberry
Tarell Alvin McCraney
James Vincent Meredith
Laurie Metcalf
Amy Morton
Sally Murphy
Caroline Neff
Bruce Norris
Austin Pendleton
Jeff Perry
William Petersen
Yasen Peyankov
Martha Plimpton
Rondi Reed
Molly Regan
Anna D. Shapiro
Eric Simonson
Gary Sinise
Lois Smith
Rick Snyder
Jim True-Frost
Alan Wilder
The Steppenwolf Ensemble
Board of Trustees
Steppenwolf Staff Anna D. Shapiro Artistic Director
Terry Kinney, Jeff Perry and Gary Sinise Executive Artistic Board
Artistic
Kristy Conway Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations Kendra Van Kempen Director of Special Events Lauren Fisher Donor Relations Manager Max Lando Corporate Relations Manager Suzanne Miller Annual Fund Manager Jessica Gretch Individual Giving Coordinator Karyn Todd Development Coordinator Sarah Giovannetti Special Events Associate Chelsea Smith Campaign Assisstant Denise Serna Interim Development Associate
Jonathan Berry Aaron Carter Hallie Gordon Artistic Producers Polly Hubbard Literary Manager Francis Guinan Tracy Letts Amy Morton Yasen Peyankov Associate Artists
Steppenwolf For Young Adults
Hallie Gordon Artistic Director Megan Shuchman Education Director Jared Bellot Education Assistant Emilio G. Robles Senior Facilitator of Curriculum and Instruction Sindy Castro Amanda Dunne-Acevedo Cara Greene Epstein Greg Geffrard Ali Hoefnagel Jeremy Ohringer Thom Pasculli Ashley Roberson Mara Stern Teaching Artists
Administration
Rachel D. Freund Director of Operations and Management Courtney Anderson Events Management Director Scott Macoun IT Director Jackie Snuttjer Finance Director Yolanda Davis Human Resources & Professional Leadership Programs Coordinator Jovito Alvarez Finance Manager Brian Hurst Finance Coordinator Paul Miller Office Manager Lupe Garcia Quiles Events Management Associate Adrianna Durantt Executive Administrator
Development
Sandy Karuschak Director of Development Eric Evenskaas Associate Director of Development
18 Constellations
Marketing, Communications & Audience Services
John Zinn Director of Marketing and Communications Donovan Foote Design Director Madeline Long Communications Director Erika Nelson Marketing Director Greta Honold Audience Engagement Creative Producer Joel Moorman Digital Content Producer Kevin Castillo Digital Marketing Manager Neel McNeill Marketing Manager Patrick Zakem Audience Engagement Coordinator Jacqueline Rosas Marketing Assistant David Masnato Graphic Designer Casey VanWormer Audience Services Director Jimmy Freund Social Media Director and Audience Services Supervisor Billie Rye Bryant Audience Services Manager Stephanie Heller Audience Services Subscription Manager Mike Brunlieb Geehoon Lim Audience Services Supervisors
Molly Layton Group Sales Associate Roseann Bishop Subscriptions and Audience Services Assistant Benjamin Adams Craig Barnes Rebecca Butler Rebekah Camm Sarah Carter Reynaldo Dumas Elizabeth Gottman Kevin Greene Annaliese McSweeney Dana McGarr Jake Allen Miller N.J. Phillips Charles Strater Audience Services Associates Audience Outreach Tiffany Rae Wilson Audience Outreach Manager Benjamin Adams Interim Audience Outreach Supervisor Adrian Azevedo Joshua Cashman Charles Frydenberg Rukmini Girish Marilyn Hillary N.J. Phillips Isaiah Polstein Michael Russell Maggie Shrere Kelly Wren Audience Outreach Associates
Operations
Cory Jeanes Facilities Director Peter Van Kempen Facilities Manager Adrian Castro Operations Coordinator David Albert Harold Jaffe Facilities Staff Victor David Padam Dhungel Tul Ghaley Madan Gurung Noor Alam Islam Ababe Mekonen Aminata Talawally Bhagirath Timsina Custodial Staff
Audience Experience
Evan Hatfield Director of Audience Experience Danielle Shindler Food & Beverage Director, Front Bar General Manager Donald Coulson Parking Manager
David Schmitz Managing Director Rebecca Adelsheim Aaron Aptaker Colleen Debelius Amber Dettmers Anna Donnell Ali Drumm Allison Kupfer Eleni Sauvageau Leah Seisfeld Anthony Silvestri Dan Smeriglio Chelsea Smith Rachael Smith Annabel Steven Brittany Stock Kelly Voke Toby Walters Audience Experience Associates Morgan Burkey Sam Garrott Tim Gould Kate Hawbaker-Krohn Jared Hecht Dani James Teddy Kwasigroch Cory Lipman Juwan Lockett Sarah Lovell Alyson Morrill Colleen O’Neill Rachel Reaves Savannah Reich Susenna Turner Lukas Vlasnik Taleshia Walker Paris Wilson Front Bar Staff Angel Aguilar Mustafa Chaudhry Parking Staff Jack Meyer and Lauren Louer, The Saints Volunteer Usher Coordination
Production
Tom Pearl Production Manager Brianna Parry Assistant Production Manager Erin Cook Company Manager Mike Donohue Interim Technical Director Christopher Kristant Shop Foreman Kyle Land Russell Scott Jon Woelfer Scenic Carpenters Zoe Shiffrin Scenic Charge Artist Jenny DiLuciano Properties Master Emily Guthrie Jay Tollefsen Assistant Properties Masters
Charles Moser Master Properties Artisan AJ Littlefield Staff Wardrobe Caryn Weglarz Klein Costume Director Mae Haskins Assistant Costume Designer Laurel Clayson Head Draper Lynae Vandermeulen Work Room Supervisor and Draper Daisy Lindas Assistant Costume Director Staci Weigum Costume Shop Assistant J. R. Lederle Lighting Supervisor Ernesto Gomez Master Electrician Rick Haefele House Carpenter Dawn Przybylski Stage Carpenter Martha Wegener Audio Engineer Gregor Mortis Assistant Audio Engineer Matthew Chapman 1700 Tech Coordinator Cassie Calderone Malcolm Ewen Christine D. Freeburg Laura D. Glenn Jonathan Nook Brian Maschka Stage Managers
Executive Committee
Nora Daley, Chair Eric Lefkofsky, Secretary Paul W. Goodrich, Treasurer Henry S Bienen Carole L. Brown Douglas R. Brown Elizabeth H. Connelly Keating Crown Rich Feitler Matthew Gray Caryn Harris L. Heather Mitchell Lynn Lockwood Murphy Kenneth J. Porrello Deborah H. Quazzo Randall K. Rowe Bruce Sagan Harry J. Seigle Stephanie B. Smith John R. Walter Helen Zell
Professional Leadership Program
Zhanna Albertini Izik Alequin Brian Balcom Katie Creeggan Tam Dickson Kenya Hall Jaclynn Joslin Janette Martinez Alison McLeod Joshua McCammon Denise Serna Hilary Shields Selby Souza Lydia Strini Valerie Tu Claire Weibel Catharine Young
* Steppenwolf Trustee
Trustees
Sarah Beardsley Michael W. Bender Marlene Breslow-Blitstein Ebs Burnough Terri L. Cable Robin Tennant Colburn Beth Boosalis Davis Amy Eshleman Juliette Feld D. Cameron Findlay Lawrence M. Gill Aimee Graham Robert J. Greenebaum, Jr. John Hart Jon Michael Hill Dennis D. Howarter George A. Joseph Donna La Pietra Tracy Letts Mary Ludford Ronald J. Mallicoat, Jr. Holly Maloney Tarell Alvin McCraney David E. Mendelsohn Verett Mims Christopher M. Murphy Yasen Peyankov David C. Pisor Merle Reskin Robert Sanborn Manuel “Manny” Sanchez Anna D. Shapiro Matthew Shapiro Colette Cachey Smithburg Elliot A. Stultz
Emeritus Trustees J. Robert Barr Lawrence Block Michael Cahan John N. Fox, Jr. Gloria Scoby
Past Chairpersons William L. Atwell Larry D. Brady Douglas R. Brown Laurence Edwards John N. Fox, Jr. Elliott Lyon Gordon Murphy William H. Plummer Bruce Sagan Gloria Scoby Donna Vos
steppenwolf 19
Accessibility at Steppenwolf Committed to providing services and programming that enhance the experience of guests with disabilities, Steppenwolf is proud to feature: • Assistive listening devices in our Downstairs and Upstairs theaters. • Audio-described performances, artistic conversations and touch tours of the stage for patrons who are blind or have low vision. • Sign language-interpreted and open-captioned performances for guests who are deaf or hard of hearing.
From the wildly original author of The Motherf**ker with the Hat.
Induction hearing loops in the Downstairs and 1700 Theatres If you use a hearing aid or cochlear implant that has a T-Coil, feel free to turn it on for the performance! The new 1700 Theatre and both levels of the Downstairs Theatre are equipped with an induction hearing loop, installed with the help and expertise of Assistive Hearing Systems Ltd. Individual portable neck loops are available in our Upstairs Theatre—just ask any member of the staff if you’d like to use one. Steppenwolf’s induction loop was made possible in part by a generous gift from John Hart and Carol Prins. Would you like to utilize or learn more about these services? Audience Services 312-335-1650 | TTY 312-335-3830 | E-mail access@steppenwolf.org
Steppenwolf Customer Service Tips Driving to the theater? Rather than arriving to discover that our garage has reached capacity (which can happen during busy performances), please enter the Steppenwolf Parking Hotline (312-335-1774) into your cell phone and call us when you’re a few minutes away from the theater—we’ll tell you if there’s still space available in our facility, or suggest the most convenient alternative. Spending your intermission in line at the bar? Enjoy the entire break by ordering and paying for your intermission refreshments before the show. When you exit the theater at the end of the first act, your drinks will be waiting for you. Need restaurant information or the score of the ballgame? Please visit our book shop and information desk at the south end of the main floor lobby.
Stephen Adly Guirgis Directed by ensemble member Yasen Peyankov By
Featuring ensemble members Tim Hopper | and James Vincent Meredith with Victor Almanzar | Elena Flores | Audrey Francis | Lily Mojekwu | and Eamonn Walker
June 23 – August 21, 2016 | Tickets start at just $20 steppenwolf.org | 312-335-1650 Corporate Presenting Sponsor
Hailing a cab after the play? This is typically an easy affair—Halsted is a busy street and sees a fair amount of taxi traffic. If you’d like assistance hailing a cab or calling a company, though, just ask a member of the house staff; we’re happy to help.
Lost or Found? On-site? Please check in with a member of the house staff. Already left? Call the Front of House office at 312-932-2445. Want to provide feedback? Your input is always valuable to us. Have an opinion about the play or artistic content? Stick around for the post-show discussion featured after every performance, fill out the 60-Second Survey inserted in this program or join the conversation at facebook.com/steppenwolftheatre. Have a comment about your overall experience at the theater ? Please ask us for a customer service form to fill out, or e-mail us at customerservice@steppenwolf.org. Need to contact a patron during a performance? If you need to contact a patron during a performance in our Downstairs or Upstairs Theaters, please call our Concierge Desk at 312-932-2476. Hours: one hour prior to curtain until 15 minutes after curtain call.
Latecomers will be seated at the discretion of the House Manager. The theater reserves the right to limit admission of children younger than the age of six. The taking of photographs and the use of any type of recording device is not allowed in the theater during performances and is a violation of state and federal copyright laws. Digital media will be deleted, and tape or film will be confiscated. Photo/Video Disclaimer: During your visit, you or members of your family may be filmed, videotaped, and/ or photographed by a Steppenwolf employee, contract photographer or the media. Your attendance at Steppenwolf events serves as permission for the use of your image, or the image of your family members, by Steppenwolf.
Content Disclaimer: Steppenwolf does not offer advisories about subject matter, as sensitivities vary from person to person. If you have any questions about content, ageappropriateness or stage effects (such as strobe lights or theatrical fog) that might have a bearing on patron comfort, please contact the box office at 312-335-1650.
For our future, guidance sets the tone.
The most important lessons are the ones worth sharing. That’s why Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois supports the arts and education, and implements outreach wellness programs throughout our communities. It’s inspiration today that leads to a more sound tomorrow.
A Division of Health Care Service Corporation, a Mutual Legal Reserve Company, an Independent Licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association