Steppenwolf Theatre Campus (Photo: James Steinkamp Photography)
The Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s 50th Anniversary Season arrives with a 20th century classic, plus a world premiere and a new-to-Chicago work by leading contemporary playwrights.
Cofounded in 1974 by a group of young North Shore classmates that included Gary Sinise, Steppenwolf has come to be recognized as one of the US’s leading theaters, receiving multiple Tony awards and the National Medal of Arts. Employing an ensemble model, the company’s membership extends to actors, playwrights, and directors, including Gary Cole, Carrie Coon, Tracy Letts, John Malkovich, and Martha Plimpton.
Opening the season is Mr. Wolf, a 2015 story of an uneasy reunion following a kidnapping written by ensemble member Rajiv Joseph. In 2022, Steppenwolf gave the world premiere of Joseph’s play King James.
Amadeus runs from early November to early January. The Peter Shaffer play mythologizes the rivalry and relationship between Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri in 18th-century Vienna. The Tony and Drama Desk award-winning play was the basis for the 1984 Best Picture winning film of the same name.
From late January to late March, the company mounts Topdog/Underdog, a Pulitzer-winning work that that the New York Times named the best American play since Angels in America.
Windfall, by the ensemble member Tarell Alvin McCraney, has its world premiere in April. Running through late May, the play confronts grief and justice through the lens of a mourning parent. McCraney won an Academy Award for co-writing 2016’s Moonlight.
In June and July, the season closes with the Chicago premiere of Mia Chung’s Catch as Catch Can, a “kitchen sink drama” starring three actors — all in the Steppenwolf ensemble — each in dual roles.
For more information, visit steppenwolf.org.
