PHOTOGRAPHY BY SAVERIO TRUGLIA
2014/15 SEASON
THIS IS MODERN ART (BAS ED ON TRU E EVE NTS )
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A comic, modern look at the young queen of France— and a society that might be entertaining itself to death.
CONTENTS
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“I’m a queen, I cannot simply forfeit my luxuries.”
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DAVI D ADJ M I DIRECTED BY ROB E RT O’HARA BY
Welcome to This Is Modern Art
Letter from Steppenwolf for Young Adults Artistic and Educational Director Hallie Gordon
Bios Coverage of Incident at Art Institute: Modern Art. Made You Look. Profile of a Graffiti Writer: Miguel ‘Kane One’ Aguilar
Profiled by Associate Education Director Megan Shuchman
The Evolution of Graffiti in the United States
By Steppenwolf For Young Adults Apprentice Jared Bellot
E D I TO R
C O N T R I B U TO R S
DESIGN
COVE R
N E E L McN E I LL
JAR E D B E LLOT
S H I LLA S HAKOOR I
Cast Member
HALLI E GOR DON EVAN HATFI E LD JOE L MOOR MAN MAD E LI N E LONG
J E R RY MACKI N NON Photographer SAVE R IO TR UG LIA
MEGAN SHUCHMAN LAU R E N S IVAK Major Foundation Support
TO A D V E R T I S E Contact: smARTMagazines/smARTSponsorships Bryan Dowling 773-360-1767 or bryan@media8midwest.com
Corporate Production Sponsor
February 5 – May 10, 2015 Tickets start at just $20.
This program is printed on FSC® certified paper with the use of soy-based inks.
steppenwolf.o rg | 312-335-1650 CONTENTS 3
Martha Lavey†* Artistic Director
David Schmitz Managing Director
Hallie Gordon Artistic and Educational Director of SYA
S T E P P E N W O L F F O R Y O U N G A D U LT S P R E S E N T S
Leading Corporate Season Production Sponsor of Steppenwolf for Young Adults
THIS IS MODERN ART (BAS ED ON TRU E EVE NTS )
BY KEVIN COVAL AND IDRIS GOODWIN DIRECTED BY LISA PORTES Major foundation support for Steppenwolf for Young Adults is provided by F E AT U R I N G
Steppenwolf’s Auxiliary Council, a community of dynamic young professionals, dedicates their support to Steppenwolf for Young Adults. Steppenwolf for Young Adults is a citywide partner of the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) School Partner Program.
B R ITTAN I AR LAN D I S G R E E N, J E R RY MACKI N NON, J. SALOMÉ MARTI N E Z J R*, KE LLY O’SU LLIVAN*, J E SS I E D. PR E Z, CH R I S R ICKETT PRODUCTION B R IAN S I D N EY B E M B R I DG E + Scenic Design E LSA H I LTN E R Costume Design J.R. LE D E R LE Lighting Design THOMAS D IXON Sound Design LIVI U PASAR E Projection Design E R ICA DAN I E LS° Casting Director
Major corporate supporter of Steppenwolf’s career readiness and Professional Leadership Program
JONATHAN NOOK* Stage Manager
This play was commissioned by Steppenwolf Theatre and first presented as a rehearsed reading in May 2014 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, as a part of New Visions/New Voices 2014.
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. ° member of the Casting Society of America.
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CONTENTS 5
WELCOME TO
THIS IS MODERN ART I have always had a deep curiosity about things I don’t understand—things that are rich in meaning for some, but for which I can’t muster much in the way of coherent thought. One such arena for me is visual art, most particularly when it is abstract. Expressionist art, pop art, modern art—the appreciation of these has always proved elusive and difficult for me. I remember at a very young age going to MOCA in Los Angeles and seeing an exhibition of Andy Warhol’s art, peering at a piece, thinking “What? Why? It’s just a picture of a product. Campbell’s Soup. Why is that in a museum?” It was troubling to me. It made me feel like I wasn’t seeing properly. When I was about six years old, I stared for what seemed like hours at a Jackson Pollock painting, trying to figure how this was different than my doodles. Over time and through my own (largely self-directed) education about visual art, I have learned new ways of looking at art, and appreciating it. Now I really enjoy the process of seeing it “live” or “for real.” I look at the details of a piece—its colors and form—and I can imagine the challenges in making a particular piece. I’ve learned to understand (or perhaps create) the meaning for me in a piece of artwork. In working on This Is Modern Art, I have gained the same level of appreciation for graffiti art. Before I commissioned this play I never gave graffiti art much thought—it was part of the urban landscape, an intermittent dash of color that functioned mostly as a backdrop, a craft and a visual language I did not fully see. But, I have come to appreciate that graffiti art is nested within the context of a larger cultural movement, one that encompasses hip-hop culture and includes music, dance and poetry. Just like other 6 WELCOME
artistic movements, graffiti art reflects and responds to the times in which it takes place— it is in dialogue with its cultural moment. What’s interesting about This Is Modern Art is that it uses graffiti to help us think and talk about art. Where does it belong? To whom does it belong? Who has access to it? How are our big cultural institutions making art accessible for young people and what do we even mean by ‘accessibility’? We don’t prioritize the arts in this country. At all. A capitalist society is tremendously adept at understanding commodities—moving them, trading them, valuing them. Our capitalist system is ill-equipped and largely ill at ease in assessing and appreciating art as other than a commodity. Capitalism attempts to wedge the arts into the same kind of commodity treatment as anything else, and can succeed in elevating certain art and artists to becoming economic powerhouses. There will always be people compelled to create—makers who labor in pursuit of currency, one rooted in expression, connection and authenticity. So there will always be artists functioning at the margins. There is a growing minority of educators, peacemakers, storytellers, activists, environmentalists and, yes, even politicians (though far too few) who understand the importance of the arts and the effect they have on body and soul. Look at the characters in this play: what do they desire as young people? And how can we provide a wider, more inviting canvas for young people like them and youth more generally?
Hallie Gordon Artistic and Educational Director, Steppenwolf for Young Adults
CAST AND CONTRIBUTORS C A S T (in alphabetical order) B R ITTAN I AR LAN D I S G R E E N Rhonda, News Anchor, Student, Responder, Police Rep, PR
† 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.
J E R RY MACKI N NON Seven J. SALOMÉ MARTI N E Z J R* JC KE LLY O’SU LLIVAN* Selena J E SS I E D. PR E Z Dose CH R I S R ICKETT Marco, Police Dude, Selena’s Dad, Student, News Anchor, Responder
A D D I T I O N A L S TA F F PAU L D E Z I E L Assistant Projection Design GAB R I E LLE B R U BAKE R Additional Wardrobe CH R I S D E PAOLA Additional Carpentry AI M E E PLANT Additional Properties E M I LY H ITMAR Stage Management Apprentice
U N DE R STU DI ES NATE SANTANA Dose, JC, Cosmo Guy, Marco, Police Dude, Selena’s Dad, Student, News Anchor, Responder MATTH EW S I NG LETON Seven KE LS EY AN N WACKE R Selena, Rhonda, News Anchor, Student, Responder, Police Rep, PR
SPECIAL THAN KS M IG U E L AG U I LAR U N IVE R S ITY OF I LLI NOI S AT CH ICAGO SCHOOL OF ART AN D ART H I STORY TH E G RAFFITI I N STITUTE LOU D E R THAN A BOM B YOU NG CH ICAGO AUTHOR S
SETTING Now and May 2009—July 2010, Chicago
INTERMISSION There will be no intermission. There will be a post-show discussion immediately following the performance.
As a courtesy to the actors and your fellow patrons, please turn off your cell phones before the performance and after the intermission. The taking of photographs and the use of any type of recording device are 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.
The Scene is a special opportunity for high school students to score an affordable ticket to a Steppenwolf production, meet Chicago’s most celebrated artists and connect with other teens who are passionate about theater. Each ticket includes dinner and post-show discussion with the actors. TICKETS ARE $10 (CAN ONLY BE USED DURING THE TEEN EVENT SERIES) All performances take place at 1650 N Halsted St Must present student ID at door Purchase tickets at the door 30 minutes before the show, or in advance by calling Steppenwolf Audience Services at 312-335-1650. Use code 17768. Questions? Please contact Steppenwolf for Young Adults Education and Community Programs Coordinator Lauren Sivak at 312-654-5643 or lsivak@steppenwolf.org. Corporate Sponsor of Steppenwolf’s Career Readiness Programs
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Foundation support is provided by The Siragusa Foundation.
UPCOMING EVENTS THIS IS MODERN ART
SATURDAY, MARCH 7 AT 7:30PM
THIS IS MODERN ART BIOS B R I T TA N I A R L A N D I S GREEN (Rhonda, News Anchor, Student, Responder, Police Rep, PR) feels truly blessed to be featured in her first Steppenwolf for Young Adults’ production! She last worked with Steppenwolf understudying the role of Cookie in Tarell Alvin McCraney’s Head of Passes. Brittani is originally from Baltimore, Maryland and received her BFA in acting from DePaul University. Other Chicago credits include A Streetcar Named Desire (Pulse Theatre Company); Women At War (Rivendell Theatre Ensemble); Breach, The Whole World Was Watching (Dog & Pony Theatre); Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill, A Catered Affair (Porchlight Music Theatre); and A Year With Frog & Toad (Chicago Children’s Theatre). “Shout out to my family, especially all the new members of it! Love you all!”
J E R RY MAC K I N N O N (Seven) is very happy to be a part of this production. Chicago credits include Leveling Up (Steppenwolf Theatre Company); Luce (Next Theatre Company); Exit Strategy (Jackalope Theatre Company); the Boston, Massachusetts run of columbinus (American Theater Company); and The Knowledge (Steep Theatre Company). Television credits include Empire and Chicago Fire. “Thank you to my little nephew, Morgan, for inspiring me with his caring heart for others.”
Cast Members Jessie D. Prez, Kelly O’Sullivan, J. Salomé Martinez Jr, and Jerry MacKinnon
J . S A LO M É MARTINEZ JR (JC) is pleased to return to the Steppenwolf Theatre Company where he was last seen in How Long Will I Cry?. Other theater credits include A Christmas Carol (Goodman Theatre); Cascabel, Big Lake Big City (Lookingglass Theatre Company); After (Profiles Theatre); As You Like It, Man of La Mancha, The Seagull (The Constance Theatre); The War of the Worlds (Hippodrome State Theatre). He has also appeared on several television shows and films such as Sirens, Law & Order, Castle, Chicago Fire, Emmy winning HBO mini-series Generation Kill, NYC Underground, New York, I Love You and Oscar nominated film The Messenger. Salome received his BA in theatre from Barat College and his MFA in acting from the University of Florida. K E L LY O ’ S U L L I V A N (Selena) is thrilled to return to Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Theatre credits include The Internationalist, Honest, Good Boys and True, The Crucible, 100 Saints You Should Know (Steppenwolf Theatre Company); The Humans, columbinus, The Dark at the Top of the Stairs
Cast Members J. Salomé Martinez Jr, Kelly O’Sullivan and Jerry MacKinnon
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(American Theater Company); The Seagull (Goodman Theatre); Hesperia (Writers Theatre); My Wonderful Day (Barrymore Award nomination – Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Play; The Wilma Theatre); The Lieutenant of Inishmore (Northlight Theatre); Jon, Sketchbook 7 (Collaboraction Theatre Company); The Glory of Living (Profiles Theatre); and Mr. Marmalade (Joseph Jefferson nomination – Principal Actress in a Play; Dog & Pony Theatre). She has also performed with the Pacific Playwrights Festival and the Ojai Playwrights Conference. Television credits include The Mob Doctor, Battleground and the character Voodoo on Sirens. Film credits include In Memoriam, Jessica, Offsides, Not Welcome and Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party. Kelly is a graduate of Northwestern University, The School at Steppenwolf and is a recipient of a 2014 Princess Grace Award for Theatre. JESSIE D. PREZ (Dose) returns to Steppenwolf where he was last seen in How Long Will I Cry?. Jessie is a proud artistic associate with Teatro Vista. Other Chicago credits include the Chicago premiere of Oedipus El Rey (Victory Gardens Theater); the Chicago premiere of Momma’s Boyz (Teatro Vista); Chicago premiere of Lydia (National Pastime Theatre). Television credits include Boss and Chicago Fire.
Cast Members Chris Rickett and Brittani Arlandis Green
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CHRIS RICKETT (Marco, Police Dude, Selena’s Dad, Student, News Anchor, Responder) is thrilled to be working at Steppenwolf Theatre Company for the first time. Chicago credits include A Raisin in the Sun (Timeline Theatre Company); Luck of the Irish (Next Theatre Company); Julius Caesar (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); and Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me (Oak Park Festival Theatre). He was recently seen on ABC’s Mind Games. Chris has also worked as a theatrical violence designer with companies all over the Chicago area including Northlight Theatre, Redtwist Theatre and American Blues Theater. I DR IS G OODWI N (Playwright) is a playwright, spoken word performer and essayist. His plays include How We Got On, Remix 38 (Actors Theater of Louisville); Blackademics (MPAACT). Upcoming productions include And in this corner: Cassius Clay (StageOne Family Theater); Bars and Measures (B Street Theater). His play The REALNESS is featured in the The Ruth Easton Series with Playwright’s Center where he is a Core Writer. He is the recipient of InterAct Theater’s 20/20 Commission Award. Idris has been a writer in residence at Berkeley Rep’s Ground Floor Program, The Kennedy Center and New Harmony Project.
Cast Members Kelly O’Sullivan and Jerry MacKinnon
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K EVI N C OVAL (Playwright) is a poet, author and organizer. Author of Schtick, L-vis Lives!: Racemusic Poems, Everyday People, Slingshots: A Hip-Hop Poetica and More Shit Chief Keef Don’t Like. Kevin is the founder of Louder Than A Bomb: The Chicago Youth Poetry Festival, the world’s largest youth poetry festival, which expanded nationally and internationally to other cities when the documentary film by the same name premiered in film festivals around the world in 2010. Kevin is the Artistic Director of Young Chicago Authors, Louder Than A Bomb’s non-profit home and teaches hip-hop aesthetics at The University of Illinois-Chicago. He is a four time HBO Def Poet and has written for CNN.com, The Chicago Tribune, The Huffington Post, National Public Radio in Chicago, The Spoken Word Revolution: Redux (Source), Handbook of Public Pedagogy (Routledge), 101 Changemakers: Rebels and Radicals Who Changed U.S. History (Haymarket) and It Was Written: Reading Nas’s Illmatic, ed. by Michael Eric Dyson (Basic). He is the recent recipient of a New Voices/New Visions award from the Kennedy Center for This Is Modern Art. His latest projects include writing and editing the anthology, The Breakbeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip Hop, due to release February 2015 on Haymarket Books, hosting a monthly podcast and live talk show on WBEZ called, “What’s Fresh: A New Culture Podcast and Talk Show.” He is also planning the 15-year anniversary of Louder Than A Bomb taking place February 14 - March 21, 2015 in Chicago. For information, follow him @kevincoval.
LISA PORTES (Director) is happy to be working with Steppenwolf for Young Adults. Past Steppenwolf projects include Ski Dubai for First Look 2009 and Spare Change for First Look 2006 as well as Elliot and A Soldiers Fugue for Steppenwolf Garage with Teatro Vista and Rivendell Ensemble. Other Chicago credits include Ghostwritten (Goodman Theatre); Concerning Strange Devices from the Distant West (Timeline Theatre Company); Permanent Collection by Thomas Gibbons (Northlight Theater); Grounded (American Blues Theater); Night Over Erzinga (Silk Road Rising); Highway 47 (Yo Solo Festival); Slingshot, Undone, Seven Spots on the Sun (Ignition, Victory Gardens Theater); The Piano Teacher, In the Blood and Far Away (Next Theatre Company). Lisa heads the MFA Directing program at The Theatre School at DePaul University. BRIAN SIDNEY BEMBRIDGE (Scenic Design) has designed the world premieres of Love Song, Winesburg, Ohio Wendall Greene, Animal Farm, Leveling Up and Jesus Hopped the A Train (Steppenwolf Theatre Company). His extensive design credits in Chicago include work at the Goodman Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Timeline Theatre Company, Lookingglass Theatre Company, The Second City, Court Theatre, Writers’ Theatre, Victory Gardens Theater, Teatro Vista, Northlight Theatre, Drury Lane Theatre, Ravinia Festival, Luna Negra Dance Theater and Civic Ballet. He has worked Off-Broadway at The Public Theatre, Second Stage Theatre, Jean Cocteau Repertory Theatre, Kids With Guns and Theatre at St. Clements. Internationally, Brian has designed at Theatre Royal Stratford East in London, Town Hall Theatre in Galway, Ireland and Illawarra Performing Arts Centre and Platform Hip Hop Festival in Sydney, Australia, among others. Regionally, his work has been seen at the Guthrie Theatre, Children’s Theatre Company, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Madison Repertory Theater, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Arden Theatre Company, Theatre Exile, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Alliance Theatre, Geffen Playhouse, Circle X Theatre, Opera Omaha and Virginia Opera. He has received six Jeff Awards, two LA Drama Critic Circle Awards, LA Weekly Awards, three Garland Awards and an Ovation Award. Brian represented the United States at the
Prague Quadrennial in 2011 with his design of The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity. Film production designs include Marie and Bruce, Holding Out, Stray Dog and Late For Church as well as sets for Muppets From Space. briansidneybembridge.com. E L S A H I LT N E R (Costume Design) is honored to design for This Is Modern Art with Steppenwolf for Young Adults. This year Elsa also designed costumes for Heat Wave (Cold Basement Dramatics; Garage Rep 2015). Favorite Chicago credits include work with Collaboraction Theatre Company, First Folio Theatre, Eclipse Theatre Company, Silk Road Rising, Lifeline Theatre, Walkabout Theater Company, American Blues Theater, Right Brain Project and Signal Ensemble Theatre. Favorite regional credits include work with Balagan Theatre, Book-It Repertory Theatre (Seattle) and Next Act Theatre (Milwaukee). Elsa is an Artistic Associate at First Folio Theatre and a Company Member at Collaboraction and Signal Ensemble Theatre. For more information about her designs, visit elsahiltner.com.
Director Lisa Portes
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J O N AT H A N N O O K * (Stage Manager) is delighted to return to Steppenwolf Theatre Company, where his credits include The Night Alive, Okay, Bye., Leveling Up, Buena Vista, The Drunken City, South of Settling, Want, Closer Than I Appear & No Sugar Tonight (both featuring Jeff Garlin), Animals Out of Paper, The North Plan and Sex with Strangers. Other Chicago credits include The Upstairs Concierge (Goodman Theatre); To Master the Art (Chicago Commercial Collective); Collected Stories, Waiting for Lefty (American Blues Theater); Invisible Man, Orlando, Sizwe Banzi is Dead, The Year of Magical Thinking, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, The Piano Lesson (Court Theatre); Radio Macbeth (SITI Company/Court Theatre); Hair (American Theater Company); The North Plan (Theater Wit); and Freshly Fallen Snow (Chicago Dramatists). Jonathan serves as Production Manager for Remy Bumppo Theatre Company.
Cast Member J. Salomé Martinez Jr
Cast Member Jessie D. Prez
J.R. LEDERLE (Lighting Design) also designed Animal Farm, Leveling Up, Lord of the Flies, The Book Thief, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Samuel J and K, To Kill A Mockingbird, The House on Mango Street, The Bluest Eye (also at New Victory in New York), Harriet Jacobs, The Water Engine (also at Theater on the Lake), A Tale of Two Cities, Winesburg, Ohio, Division Street and Whispering City for Steppenwolf for Young Adults. His work has also been seen at Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Piven Theatre Workshop, Lookingglass Theatre Company, Victory Gardens Theater, About Face Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Remy Bumppo Theatre Company, Writers’ Theatre, Drury Lane Theatre, Walkabout Theater Company, Itinerant Theatre Guild, Indiana Repertory Theatre and elsewhere at Steppenwolf, including Sex with Strangers. J.R. also designed lighting for seven years for the Steppenwolf Traffic series and for five Steppenwolf performances in Chicago’s Millennium Park. He has served as head Lighting Supervisor at Steppenwolf Theatre Company since 1995.
he has designed A Small Fire, Luther, The Receptionist, Pornography, A Brief History of Helen of Troy, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot and their upcoming productions of Martyr and Brilliant Adventures. Other recent credits include Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake), Exit Strategy (Jackalope Theatre Company); Rest, The Whale (Victory Gardens Theater); Red Bud (Signal Ensemble Theatre); Northanger Abbey (Remy Bumppo Theatre); and Collected Stories (American Blues Theater).
THOMAS DIXON (Sound Design) is happy to return to Steppenwolf Theatre Company, where he previously designed fml: how Carson McCullers saved my life. He is a proud Artistic Associate of Steep Theatre Company, where
L I V I U PA S A R E (Projection Design) has a Chicago-based practice creating visual experiences using new media and technology. He works as a video designer, cinematographer, editor and animator, and has produced, directed and performed for live events. He has worked on projects such as inSite, Luminous Field (Luftwerk); Winter Pageant 2014, The Elephant and The Whale (Redmoon Theater); This Is Not a Cure for Cancer, Crime Scene: A Chicago Anthology (Collaboraction Theatre Company); Spark (Adventure Stage); and Mementos Mori (Manual Cinema); among many others. He is currently pursuing an MFA degree in Art and Technology at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago and is advancing an academic approach to Video for Performance as faculty at DePaul University.
MARTHA LAVEY (Artistic Director) has been a Steppenwolf ensemble member since 1993 and artistic director since 1995. Under her leadership, Steppenwolf has doubled the size of its ensemble and diversified its base of artists, become a national leader in producing new plays and commissioning playwrights, added two new performance spaces, created Steppenwolf for Young Adults, expanded and deepened its partnerships in public schools and the community and instituted a platform for engaging audiences after every performance. She has overseen the production of hundreds of plays and transferred dozens of Steppenwolf productions to Broadway and abroad, gaining national and international recognition for the company and Chicago as a vital theater destination. During her tenure, Steppenwolf was awarded the National Medal of the Arts, the only theater to ever receive the honor, as well as the Illinois Arts Legend Award, Equity Special Award and nine of the company’s 12 Tony Awards. As an actor, Martha has performed in more than 30 Steppenwolf productions as well as at the Goodman Theatre, Victory Gardens Theater and the Women’s Project and Productions in New York, among others. She has served on grants panels for the National Endowment for the Arts, The Theatre Communications Group, Three Arts Club, USA Artists and the City Arts panel of Chicago. Martha holds a doctorate in Performance Studies from Northwestern University and is a member of the National Advisory Council for the School of Communication at Northwestern
University. She is a recipient of the Sarah Siddons Award, an Alumni Merit Award and an Honorary Doctorate from Northwestern University. DAVI D S C H M ITZ (Managing Director) has worked at Steppenwolf for nearly 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 and is a former board member for the Lincoln Park Chamber of Commerce. He 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.
Cast Member Jerry MacKinnon
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Coverage of Incident at Art Institute:
We reprint the following story from Chicagoist.com, by Laura M. Browning, which came out one week after the incident. Read on and think about how you view what happened: act of vandalism or important artistic commentary?
MODERN ART. MADE YOU LOOK.
If you walked by the Art Institute’s Modern Wing earlier this week, you might have wondered if they were promoting a new exhibit on street art. Bright graffiti stretched for 50 feet along a light stone wall, bookended by the words “Modern Art” and “made you look.” While Chicagoist in no way condones illegal activity of any sort, we have to admit that this
This play is based on a true event, in which the Art Institute was graffiti bombed by a group of artists in February 2010. For these artists, their canvas is Chicago’s urban landscape: the trains of the CTA, the bricks of an underpass, and the walls of buildings, public and private. To them, their art form is worthy of the likes of Michelangelo, Caravaggio and Escher, but to the city, it is defined as “the criminal defacement of property with paint.” The consequences are severe: $750 to $1,500 in fines, felony charges and possibly prison time for the offenders. And it can mean a big bill for the city: Chicago spends approximately $5 million dollars in graffiti removal each year. Although the protagonist of our story, Seven, is motivated by a desire to gain recognition for his art and an evolution of what the public views as ‘high art, fine art, art worthy of being in a museum’ the Art Institute bombing comes at a cost. Not only to the Institute, which had to remove the paint, but also for the artists who committed the crime and, who, nearly five years later, still face felony charges if their identities are revealed.
graffiti raises some interesting questions about the accessibility of art. It’s unlikely the tagging was gang-related, and it seems to be a premeditated, self-referential joke about art. Though somebody should have told the graffers that the Art Institute is free for a few more days, it’s normally $18 a pop, which, for many, is prohibitively expensive for more than the occasional visit. And most of the art is, of course, inside a building, itself a barrier to the arguably more high-brow artistic undertakings within. Though the smooth lines of architect Renzo Piano’s Modern Wing are perhaps less
intimidating than the original building’s lionguarded doors overlooking Michigan Avenue, the graffiti certainly gives a new spin on the building’s tagline, “circa now.” It pokes fun at the high esteem we hold museum architecture in (see: just about any Gehry building and the surrounding hype), and it suggests that we can have a meaningful artistic experience just about anywhere. And, more importantly, it questions what we consider to be art. Is graffiti “circa now”? Does an object become art just because it’s inside museum walls? Would the museum have felt differently if the tagger had been Banksy, whose easily recognizable, humorous, and often incisive style has placed him on the strange pedestal of anonymous international art superstar? The graffers took less than half an hour to complete their work along the Modern Wing, and the entire affair was caught on the museum’s security cameras. This comes just a week after a similar tagging along a brick wall on a Gold Coast coach house in the 900 block of N. Clark Street, which, like the Art Institute’s graffiti, was also apparently not gang-related. The museum, at least, has a sense of humor about the tagging. Even as it was being sandblasted off the wall, Public Affairs Director Erin Hogan told NBC5 that the 50-foot-long graffito showed “a good use of color.” And to the graffers: point taken (and, yes, we also like your use of color). You made us look, and you made us think. But next time you crack a joke, you should think about the actual cost. The architects and museum didn’t include your design in their plan, and we’d hate for your work - and the subsequent sandblasting - to be responsible for the next Art Institute fare hike. What do you think? Irresponsible vandals, or thought-provoking jokesters?
P H OTO BY K EVI N COVAL
FEATURES 17
For further information about Kane One as well as additional resources about the play, please explore the Steppenwolf for Young Adults’ study guide. Study guides are available for all teachers attending the production and accessible for all for free on our website at steppenwolf.org/sya.
M IG U E L’S JOU R N EY TO
A RTWO R K BY K A N E ON E
G RAF F ITI W R ITI NG
PROFILE OF A GRAFFITI WRITER:
MIGUEL ‘KANE ONE’ AGUILAR BY ASSOCIATE EDUCATION DIRECTOR MEGAN SHUCHMAN
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Artist, educator and researcher, Miguel ‘Kane One’ Aguilar has been painting graffiti in Chicago since 1989. He founded the Graffiti Institute in 2012. Miguel holds BFA and MAT degrees from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is a recipient of the 3Arts Teaching Artist award. He currently teaches a History of Graffiti in the Art History department at SAIC and is the Design Apprenticeship Program Manager at Arts Incubator, University of Chicago. I sat down with Miguel to learn about his path to becoming a famed Chicago graffiti writer, how he has seen the world of graffiti writing change in his years as a working artist, and asked him to break down some graffiti terminology for the novices among us. Here is what I learned.
The graffiti scene in Chicago gained traction in the early 1980s, about a decade before Miguel started writing. Miguel says he got into graffiti writing “before I even realized what was happening.” While attending a small Catholic elementary school in Pilsen, in 7th and 8th grade, Miguel would doodle in the margins of his notebooks in class, practicing letters in the style of Old English fonts. As his school had no dedicated art classes, this became “my own artistic schooling.” When he was 13, he was part of a neighborhood dance crew, Posse In Effect (PIE). As a way to get his dance crew’s name out in the world, he and friends would tag PIE around the city. By the time he went to Saint Ignatius College Prep, he met graffiti writers who told him to “pick a name and start to write it everywhere. Just practice it, over and over.” As he started writing, he began to notice all the graffiti around him. Says Miguel, “It was as if I didn’t have the eyes to notice it before, and now a hidden world had been awakened. There was this new layer to the world and it was beautiful.” Graffiti writing introduced Miguel to a Chicago he had not known previously. It gave him “a new community to be part of.” He met people outside of his school and neighborhood and got to navigate the entire city. Says Miguel, “before writing, I had no reason to travel outside of my neighborhood. Now I did.” Miguel enjoyed the “immediate reciprocity writing gave me with other teens.” He would go out and paint—from a simple tag to something more elaborate on a roof—“and the word would spread like wild fire. Before social media, this is the way teenagers were being sociable with each other. The next morning, people would already be congratulating me and telling me they saw my tag. It felt good.”
Miguel was arrested several times as a teenager for graffiti writing; however, given the other negative things happening in his neighborhood—violence, gangs, drugs—he couldn’t help but feel that writing was “the best available option” and way to spend his free time even if it was an illegal activity. It seemed unfair to Miguel that he could “be arrested for painting, while others were participating in things far worse.”
TH E TRADITION OF G RAF F ITI W R ITI NG THAT CAM E B E FOR E H I M From what he has been told from writers who came before him, many graffiti artists in Chicago got started after seeing photographs of family members in LA and Philly with graffiti behind them. This early version of the ‘selfie’ allowed Chicago graffiti writers to see what was happening across the country and begin to emulate the tags and bubble letters from these photographs. According to Miguel, in the 60s through the 80s, “the relationship between gang tags or gang insignia and graffiti writing was muddy” and many could not distinguish between the two different types of writing. But, in the 80s, gangs began to limit their graffiti to their territories, only painting in areas they wanted to protect as theirs and using their tagging to draw these boundaries. At the same time, hip hop-based graffiti writers started getting more elaborate with their FEATURES 19
aesthetic, playing with swirls, different colors and experiments with various paint nozzles. As the two aesthetic styles—gang graffiti and hip hop graffiti—became more distinct, a code of conduct was born between the two groups of writers. Nowadays, Miguel says, “there is an unwritten code of conduct between gang taggers and graffiti writers. Hip hop graffiti writers know not to go over gang graffiti writing because that gets interpreted as a sign of disrespect and vice-versa.” Miguel is proud to come from such a rich tradition of graffiti writers and to see so much good graffiti in Chicago all around him. Says Miguel, “My favorite place to view graffiti in Chicago is the Walls of Style on 30th and Kedzie. I have a lot of nostalgia for that wall. I have fond memories of particular graffiti pieces that really influenced me as a writer. If you go up to the wall, there are some sections that are so coated with paint that you can pull chunks off of it, revealing different iterations of graffiti writing that have taken place over many years. It’s like slicing a tree and getting to see all the layers within.”
TH E FUTU R E OF G RAFFITI AS AN ART FOR M Miguel has seen significant changes in the graffiti writing community over the past twentyfive years. Miguel says that now, “there is a strong sense of community between writers. It is more about comradery and less about competition between writers, as was the case in the 90s.” Thanks to the internet, young graffiti writers can advance their skills a lot quicker than used to be the case. Miguel says, “It used to take a writer seven or more years to really advance their skills; now, young writers can develop in just three or four years. They have greater access to materials and they can see things online and practice emulating them.”
20 THIS IS MODERN ART
I asked Miguel whether the act of Made U Look bombing the Art Institute advanced the art form in significant ways. Miguel said that graffiti writers definitely took notice because the media brought so much attention to the incident. Miguel saw the MUL crew making a social commentary, saying, “MUL was telling everyone, ‘the graffiti writing we are putting on the outside of this facility is even more contemporary than the art inside the Modern Wing.’ It was a purposeful act meant to advance the dialogue around graffiti art. I hope people understand that.” Whether it made lasting change outside of the graffiti community seems harder to judge. Miguel recognizes that people remain very fearful of graffiti saying, “They believe that with graffiti comes gang violence, drugs and robberies. Where they see graffiti, they believe there will always be worse crime hiding around the corner. We need to change that thinking about graffiti.” Miguel wishes people better understood the art form without judging it so quickly. “Graffiti writing is hard and rigorous work. People dismiss how much it takes to become good at it, how much of an artistic process is involved and so they don’t assign value to it.” Rather than just viewing graffiti as negative, Miguel wishes it could be celebrated for the advanced art form it is, and the rich tradition it represents. At the end of our interview, Miguel proudly told me, “I met my wife because of graffiti.” When they were teenagers, he and his wife hung out at a famous graffiti writer’s house, along with many writers from southwest Chicago. Miguel is now a well-known artist who teaches graffiti writing and the history of graffiti at SAIC and the University of Chicago. He and his wife have a beautiful family of four children and live in the Pilsen neighborhood, close to where Miguel grew up.
ALL CIT Y: to be prolific over all parts of the city B U R N E R : an accolade for a really great graffiti piece, a compliment to another graffiti writer about his/her work G RAF F E R: slang term that younger generations started to use in place of graffiti writer G RAF F ITI W R ITI NG: one says graffiti writing as opposed to ‘doing graffiti’ or ‘tagging’ because of the process, gesture, intricacy and artistic process (like writing) involved HAN D ST YLE S: an aesthetic approach to tagging K I NG TH E LI N E: to be the most prolific writer on a certain train line M U RALS: a painting executed directly on a wall; murals do not necessarily utilize graffiti, but can OUTLI N E R: (1) describing a spray paint nozzle: a neat cap that gives you a consistent straight line or solid edges; (2) another term for a throw up or bubble letter
P E R M I S S ION WALLS OR P RACTICE WALLS: walls or spaces that have been deemed permissible and legal for writers to paint on
P I ECE: the most complex level of writing, taking considerable time and effort (more intricate than a tag or a throw up) TAG: a signature of a writer’s graffiti nickname TH ROW U P, B U B B LE LET TE R, HOLLOW: a quick installation of a writer’s name done in bubble letters (slightly more intricate than a tag)
W I LD ST YLE: a graffiti piece can be legible, semi-legible or completely complex, complicated and purposefully illegible; wild style refers to this last category STEPPENWOLF 21
BY STEPPENWOLF FOR YOUNG ADULTS APPRENTICE JARED BELLOT
THE EVOLUTION IN THE OF GRAFFITI UNITED STATES Graffiti is an ever-evolving art form, constantly redefining and reimagining itself in order to find relevance in the current moment. Since its early days in the United States, graffiti has relied on bold and innovative artists to continuously push the genre to new heights. These artists are constantly in a process of responding to the events in their communities and building upon the ideas of those who have
come before them. In this way, the history of graffiti is a collage of people and laws that have left their mark on the art form and helped mold it into what it is today. From its acceptance as “true art” to the construction of laws to prevent it, below is a brief history of key moments from the past 50 years that have shaped contemporary graffiti in America.
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1981
1 9 82
1990
1995
2013
Daryl “Cornbread” McCray—infamous for writing his name on an elephant at the Philadelphia Zoo and on the side of the Jackson 5’s private jet—becomes the first documented person to “tag” his name
Hugo Martinez forms the United Graffiti Artists (UGA), an alternative artist collective. Through the UGA, artists are given permission to tag public spaces while being paid for their work
Jean-Michel Basquiat shows work at New York’s Annina Nosei Art Gallery, marking the first time a graffiti writer is featured as a solo artist and thus legitimizing the art form as part of the post-modernist movement
Two social scientists, Wilson and Kelling, publish an article in the Atlantic Monthly, blaming graffiti for a cycle of urban decay that leads to more substantial crimes; this report is used by law officials to crack down on graffiti writers
After adopting a “Zero Tolerance” policy, NYC Mayor Ed Koch becomes a huge proponent of anti-graffiti laws, marking a rise in active policing of graffiti
NYC Mayor Rudolph Giuliani leads the most widespread anti-graffiti campaign in US history, including banning the sale of aerosol paint cans to minors
British graffiti artist Banksy carries out a month long residency on the streets of New York City entitled “Better Out Than In” and creating a new piece of art every day; despite the fact that graffiti is illegal in NYC, the NYPD receives zero complaints and many property owners praise the art work
The New York Times publishes a full length article about 18-year-old TAKI 183, making him the first American graffiti writer to be recognized by mainstream, popular media
1 971
22 FEATURES
Italian art collector Claudio Bruni invites two American graffiti artists to showcase their work in a Roman gallery. Interest quickly spreads throughout Europe and enthusiasts in England, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and Holland begin to take note of the new American art form, causing graffiti’s global profile to rise
1 979
Under Reagan, the country undergoes a War on Crime initiative, in which the funding for policing of inner-city areas doubles from 1982 to 1987, and municipal governments seek new ways to cut back on crime
PBS releases Style Wars, a documentary following the lives of young graffiti artists in New York City. Style Wars is a crossover hit and garners praise for its portrayals of graffiti culture from people across the globe
With The Graffiti Removal program, Chicago becomes the first major U.S. city to pay for the removal of graffiti from private property through city funding
The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles hosts the first major U.S. museum exhibit on graffiti and street art, Art in the Streets. The exhibit traces the global history of graffiti since 1970 in cities like New York, Philadelphia and London, including work from 50 renowned graffiti artists from around the globe
1 9 8 0s
1 9 83
1993
2 0 11
P H OTO BY K EVI N C OVAL
1 9 67
T H E S T E P P E N W O L F E N S E M B L E 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 39 years and the Steppenwolf Theatre Company has become the nation’s premier ensemble theater—redefining the landscape of acting and performance. The ensemble has grown to 44 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.
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
The Steppenwolf Ensemble Tina Landau
Martha Lavey
Tracy Letts
John Mahoney
John Malkovich
Mariann Mayberry
Tarell Alvin McCraney
James Vincent Meredith
Laurie Metcalf
Amy Morton
Sally Murphy
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
STEPPENWOLF 25
S T E P P E N W O L F S TA F F
B OAR D OF TR USTE ES
MARTHA LAVEY
TERRY KINNEY, JEFF PERRY AND GARY SINISE
DAVID SCHMITZ
Artistic Director
Executive Artistic Board
Managing Director
A rti s ti c
Jovito Alvarez Finance Manager
Neel McNeill Marketing Assistant
Brian Hurst Finance Coordinator
Shilla Shakoori Graphic Designer
Paul G. Miller Executive Assistant
Casey VanWormer Audience Services Director
Lupe Garcia Quiles Events Management Associate
Jimmy Freund Social Media Director and Danielle Shindler Audience Services Supervisor Front of House Manager Billie Rye Bryant Will Allan Audience Services Manager Aaron Aptaker Elana Boulos Stephanie Heller Andrew Burden Swanson Audience Services Autumn Cranor Subscription Manager Colleen Debelius Mike Brunlieb Anna Donnell Sarah Nelson Ali Drumm Audience Services Daniel Dvorkin Supervisors Chelsey Echeverria Molly Layton Leanna Harney Group Sales Associate Seth Klapman Renee LaCroix Roseann Bishop Subscriptions and Audience Katy O’Malley Will Quam Services Assistant Maia Reed-Siragusa Craig Barnes Dan Smeriglio Rebecca Butler Eleni Sauvageau Heather Petersen Chrisler David Seeber Derrik Dickinson Rachael Smith Reynaldo Dumas Brittany Stock Elizabeth Gottmann Toby Walters Lacey Holmes Front of House Staff Michelle Jacobson Mustafa Chaudhry Geehoon Lim Donald Coulson Annaliese McSweeney Mayom Acien Dana McGarr Parking Staff Jake Allen Miller Tyrone Phillips Lauren Louer, The Saints Charles Strater Volunteer Usher Coordination Audience Services Associates
Erica Daniels Associate Artistic Director Aaron Carter Director Of New Play Development Jessamyn Fuller Casting And School Associate Greta Honold Producing Associate
Angela Johnson Office Management Associate & Receptionist
Jenni Page-White Literary Associate
D e v e l op men t
Tracy Letts Amy Morton Yasen Peyankov Anna D. Shapiro Associate Artists
Sandy Karuschak Director of Development Eric Evenskaas Associate Director of Development
Ste p pe n wo l f Fo r You n g A d u l t s
Kristy Conway Director of Foundation and Government Relations
Hallie Gordon Artistic and Educational Director
Emilie De Angelis Director of Campaign Gifts
Megan Shuchman Associate Education Director Lauren Sivak Education and Community Programs Coordinator Larry Grimm Emilio Robles Senior Facilitators of Curriculum and Instruction Sindy Castro Amanda Dunne Acevedo Cara Greene Epstein Ali Hoefnagel Jeremy Ohringer Thom Pasculli Nicole Ripley Ashley Roberson Samuel Roberson Mara Stern Teaching Artists
A d m i n i s tra t i o n Rachel D. Freund Director of Operations and Management Courtney Anderson Events Management Director Scott Macoun It Director Jackie Snuttjer Finance Director Samer Sharba Network Systems Administrator Yolanda Davis Human Resources & Professional Leadership Programs Coordinator
26 THIS IS MODERN ART
Megan A. McGuane Director of Corporate Relations Kendra Van Kempen Director of Special Events Suzanne Miller Annual Fund Manager Anna Brenner Development Coordinator Lauren Fisher Major Gift Coordinator Jessica Gretch Individual Giving Coordinator Karyn Todd Development Associate Sarah Tongren Special Events Associate Eric Van Tassell Corporate and Foundation Associate
A u d ien ce O u treach
Associates
O p eratio n s
Donovan Foote Design Director
Jay Jussaume Facilities Management Director
Madeline Long Communications Director
Peter Van Kempen Operations Manager
Erika Nelson Marketing Director
Adrian Castro Operations Coordinator Harold Jaffe Scott Stratton Facilities Staff
Joel Moorman Digital Content Producer Jamie Alexander Marketing Manager Kevin Castillo Digital Marketing Manager
Jessica Stratton Wardrobe, Hair and Make-Up Supervisor
Evan Hatfield Director of Audience Experience
Caryn Weglarz Klein Costume Director
Product ion
Tom Pearl Tiffany Rae Wilson Production Manager Audience Outreach Manager Brianna Parry Max Lando Assistant Production Audience Outreach Manager Supervisor Erin Cook Charles Frydenberg Company Manager Marilyn Hillary
M a r k e tin g , Nikki Lowry C o m m un ic atio n s & Madalyn Mattsey Au d i e nce Se rvice s Audience Outreach John Zinn Director of Marketing and Communications
Mohammad Ismail Shamshuddin Mohamed Shofi Bhagirath Timsina Custodial Staff
David Barati Victor David Padam Dhungel Tul Ghaley Tika Ram Kafley Ethan Ozaniec
Russell Poole Technical Director
Mike Donohue Assistant Technical Director Christopher Kristant Shop Foreman Kyle Land Russell Scott Jon Woelfer Scenic Carpenters Melissa Rutherfoord Charge Scenic Artist Jenny DiLuciano Properties Master Andria Smith Assistant Properties Master Charles Moser Master Properties Artisan Emily Guthrie Properties Artisan
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
TR USTE ES
E M E R ITUS TR USTE ES
Sarah Beardsley
J. Robert Barr
Nora Daley Chair
Michael W. Bender
Lawrence Block John N. Fox, Jr.
Mae Haskins Assistant Costume Designer
Eric Lefkofsky Secretary
Marlene Breslow-Blitstein Ebs Burnough
Gloria Scoby
Laurel Clayson Head Draper
Paul W. Goodrich Treasurer
Kevin Peterson Shop Foreman
AJ Littlefield Staff Wardrobe
Lynae Vandermeulen Staff Draper Daisy Lindas Project Coordinator 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 Cassie Calderone Malcolm Ewen Christine D. Freeburg Laura D. Glenn Michelle Medvin Jonathan Nook Deb Styer Stage Managers
Prof essional Lea dership Program Rebecca Adelsheim Kathleen Barrett Jared Bellot Gabrielle Brubaker Caitlin Dalton Geneva Galloway Alex Goldberg Tiffany Goarcke Julian Gonzalez Julia Grigg Emily Hitmar Malia Hu Hillary Luong Brandon Reed Jacqueline Rosas Zachary Schmitt Leela Singh Tyler Welden Lauren Yarbrough 2014/15 Apprentices and Fellows
Terri L. Cable Robin Tennant Colburn
PA S T C H A I R P E R S O N S
Henry S. Bienen
Keating Crown
William L. Atwell
Carole L. Brown
Beth Boosalis Davis
Larry D. Brady
Douglas R. Brown
Amy Eshleman
Douglas R. Brown
Michael Cahan
D. Cameron Findlay
Laurence Edwards
Elizabeth H. Connelly
Nene Foxhall
John N. Fox, Jr.
Rich Feitler
Lawrence M. Gill
Elliott Lyon
Matthew Gray
Aimee Graham
Gordon Murphy
Caryn Harris
Robert J. Greenebaum, Jr.
William H. Plummer
Lynn Lockwood Murphy
John H. Hart
Bruce Sagan
Kenneth J. Porrello
Dennis D. Howarter
Gloria Scoby
Deborah H. Quazzo
George A. Joseph
Donna Vos
Randall K. Rowe
Donna La Pietra
Bruce Sagan
Martha Lavey
Harry J. Seigle
Mary Ludford
Stephanie B. Smith
Ronald J. Mallicoat, Jr.
John R. Walter
Janet Melk
Helen Zell
David E. Mendelsohn Verett Mims L. Heather Mitchell Christopher M. Murphy David C. Pisor Merle Reskin Michael R. Salem Robert Sanborn Manuel “Manny” Sanchez Anna D. Shapiro Matthew Shapiro Colette Cachey Smithburg
Of C ounsel David Hawkanson
STEPPENWOLF 27
WE GRATEFULLY ACKNOWLEDGE THOSE WHO PROVIDE SIGNIFICANT SUPPORT FOR STEPPENWOLF FOR YOUNG ADULTS DURING THE 2014/15 SEASON.
B E N E FA C TO R S $50,000 – 99,999
Jon Michael Hill Illinois Tool Works Foundation
Mara and Andy Gloor
Allstate Insurance Company
Paul and Mariana Ingersoll
Valerie and Paul Goodrich
Alphawood Foundation
George A. Joseph and Carolyn Bateman
Richard and Catherine Gottfred
The Crown Family‡ J.P.Morgan
Tarell Alvin McCraney
Adnaan Hamid and Elissa Efroymson
Polk Bros. Foundation‡
Diana and Bruce Rauner
Carrie and Greg Hart
The Steppenwolf Auxiliary Council*
Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Foundation
Pam and Dennis D. Howarter
Theatre Communications Group‡
Matthew Shapiro
PRODUCERS $25,000 – 49,999 Paul M. Angell Foundation
Siragusa Foundation Nina B. Winston Karen Zelden and Ralph Senst
Chicago Community Trust Michael and Jacky Ferro David Herro and Jay Franke Lynn Lockwood Murphy and Barrett B. Murphy‡ Sun-Times Foundation, A Fund of The Chicago Community Foundation
PAT R O N S $ 10 , 0 0 0 – 2 4 , 9 9 9 Helen Brach Foundation
A S S O C I AT E S $2,500 – 4,999 Mike Bolton
Kathleen and Terry Jenkins John and Carol Walter Khushboo and Neil Joshi Peter and Amy Kaden Ronald J. Mallicoat Jr. Lyn McKeaney Mr. and Ms. David E. Mendelsohn Mr. and Mrs. James Meyer Cynthia and Eric Mogentale Pradip Patiath and Shalini Sharma
Carol and Douglas Cohen
Frank and Mary Phillips
Amy Eshleman and Lori Lightfoot
Sarah and Cody Phipps
David R. Hawkanson
David and Hilary Pisor
Martha Lavey
Douglas P. Regan and Kathy Brock
Cynthia Luse-McKeen and Douglas McKeen
CNA Financial Corporation
Louis and Nellie Sieg Fund Stephanie B. Smith and Gerald Smith
Lloyd A. Fry Foundation
Sue and Timothy Sullivan
Northern Trust Charitable Trust Dr. Scholl Foundation
Bob and Amy Greenebaum‡
Cindy and Michael Bonds
The Field Foundation of Illinois
Penny Pritzker and Bryan Traubert
Diane Riley Gavin
Lynne Remington and Geoff Goldberg Randy and Betsy Rochman Guyneth and William H. Sharp Jeffrey Singer and Patricia Carman Nick Trakas and Marc Cerone Frances E. Tuite
G U A R A N TO R S $1,000 – 2,499
John & Carol Walter
Mike and Karen Atwood
Tara K. Marsh and Greg Winsor
S U S TA I N E R S $5,000 – 9,999
Douglas R. Brown
Anonymous
Jennifer and Kevin Convery
Robert and Isabelle Bass Foundation, Inc.
Deborah and Bruce Crown
Jim Welch
Kevin Boehm and Courtney Moon
Michael Bender and Sheridan Prior
Kent and Liz Dauten
Mary Dempsey Philip H.Corboy Foundation
Michael DiMedio Charles B. Edelstein
Nene Foxhall
Rich and Margery Feitler
John H. Hart and Carol Prins
‡ Multi Year Pledge * Steppenwolf’s Auxiliary Council is a community of more than 100 dynamic young professionals who strive to make a difference for the next generation of theater-enthusiasts. All proceeds raised by the Auxiliary Council benefit Steppenwolf for Young Adults.
STEPPENWOLF 29 PHOTOG RAPH E R M ICHAE L LITCH FI E LD
ACCESSIBILITY AT STEPPENWOLF Committed to providing services and programming that enhance the experience of guests with disabilities, Steppenwolf is proud to feature: • Audio-described performances, artistic conversations and touch tours of the stage for patrons who are blind or have low vision. • Volunteers dedicated to assisting patrons during audio-described performances. • Complimentary playbills in Braille, large-print and audio formats. • Sign language-interpreted and open-captioned performances for guests who are deaf or hard of hearing. • Volunteers who use sign language to greet the audience at sign language-interpreted performances. • Assistive listening devices in our Downstairs and Upstairs theaters. • Wheelchair accessible seats and restrooms in all of our theaters. 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. 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.
2014/15 SEASON
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.
YOUNG ADULT COUNCIL
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.
The Young Adult Council
is a unique program for passionate and motivated high school students who wish to learn the inner-workings of professional theater from the most celebrated artists in the city. In addition to face time with these leading professionals, Council members attend the best plays in Chicago, learn how to analyze and speak about these plays and lead events for their peers around Steppenwolf productions in hopes of inspiring a new generation of theatre enthusiasts and practitioners.
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.
Applications are available on March 1, 2015. Corporate Sponsor of Steppenwolf’s Career Readiness Programs
Like the Steppenwolf Young Adult Council on Facebook! Or visit steppenwolf.org/youngadultcouncil for more information. Foundation support is provided by The Siragusa Foundation.
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