Steppenwolf Theatre Company is branding its 2020–2021 lineup as its “Reset Season” in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The truncated roster of in-person productions is currently slated to kick off December 13.
Up first at the Chicago venue is Matt Charman’s world premiere stage adaptation of Good Night, and Good Luck, based on the screenplay by George Clooney and Grant Heslov. Steppenwolf Artistic Director Anna D. Shapiro will direct.
Three more productions will play in 2021 (exact dates to come). First, a return of Erika L. Sánchez’s I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter; Karen Rodriguez will reprise her performance in the Sandra Marquez-helmed production, which played this past spring until the health crisis shut theatres down. Donnetta Lavinia Grays’ Last Night and the Night Before (directed by Valerie Curtis-Newton) and Tarell Alvin McCraney’s Tony-nominated Choir Boy (with a cast including Austin Pendleton and James Vincent Meredith) will follow.
Looking ahead the company will launch its 2021 season in the fall with Seagull, adapted from the Chekhov play by director Yasen Peyankov, which will open Steppenwolf’s new in-the-round complex (the title had previously been slated for summer 2021). The season will also include the rescheduled world premiere of Vichet Chum’s Bald Sisters.
Meanwhile, the company joins several other regional houses in bringing their stages to the web by offering a virtual presentation featuring new work by such writers as Grays, Rajiv Joseph, Bruce Norris, Mia Chung, Isaac Gómez, and James Ijames. The stream will be made available to those who purchase a membership through the Steppenwolf NOW platform, which launched last month and has since featured virtual readings, radio plays, and more.
