Now Streaming: 3 Mini Steppenwolf Works Via Pulitzer Prize-winning Ensemble Member Tracy Letts

Tracy Letts Plays Like You’ve Never Seen Them Before

As a bridge to live performances, Steppenwolf produces three new virtual works 

by Pulitzer Prize-winning ensemble member Tracy Letts 

Now Streaming Through October 24, 2021 

Pictured L to R: Rainn Wilson in "Night Safari", Tracy Letts in "The Stretch" and the puppet character Ted in "The Old Country" (voiced by William Petersen).

In the lead-up to ensemble member Tracy Letts’ extraordinary BUG this November in the Downstairs Theater, Steppenwolf Theatre Company is proud to bring audiences a sampler of the playwright’s singular voice in their homes with a trio of new virtual plays by Letts. The three gripping pieces, each produced for the first-time in a digital format, create the opening landscape of the 2021/22 Comeback Season and mark a bridge to the return of live performances and the highly anticipated opening of the new Arts and Education Center this fall. Steppenwolf’s virtual stage—which has streamed in all 50 states and over 20 countries since its inception last fall—is a celebration of the profound connection that theatre, in whatever form it finds itself, offers us all.

Ensemble member Tracy Letts shares, “These plays share at least one thread: a world off-kilter. But since I wrote these pieces, the actual world has undergone some hair-raising transformations, which have cast mysterious new light on these plays. They feel very much like stories for 2021.”

Ticket Info

Single tickets are now available and grant access to all three virtual plays for $20 at steppenwolf.org/TracyLettsvirtual or by calling Audience Services at 312-335-1650. Students, teachers, artists & essential workers get access for $10. The three plays stream from September 29 through October 24, 2021. 

Access to the virtual works is FREE with a Steppenwolf 2021/22 Classic Membership. To purchase a Membership or for more information, visit steppenwolf.org/memberships or call 312-335-1650.

About the Plays

NIGHT SAFARI 

A monologue filmed in a studio location 

Written by ensemble member Tracy Letts 

Directed by Patrick Zakem 

Featuring Rainn Wilson 

Run time: 14 minutes

The nocturnal habits of the Panamanian Night Monkey, the life cycle of the Paradoxical Frog, and the mating rituals of middle-aged male homo sapiens. This wry monologue poses the question: are we so distant from the whims of our biology? Enjoy your tour, and please remember—do not feed the animals.

THE OLD COUNTRY 

A filmed vignette, inhabited by puppets 

Written by ensemble member Tracy Letts 

Directed by Patrick Zakem 

Puppet and production design by Grace Needlman 

Featuring ensemble members William Petersen and Karen Rodriguez with Mike Nussbaum 

Run time: 10 minutes 

Two men in a diner drain the last drops of their coffees and think about ordering dessert. In the denouement of their (physical, intellectual, and sexual) lives, they wax nostalgic and try to communicate across a wide divide. 

THE STRETCH 

A monologue filmed in a studio location 

Written by ensemble member Tracy Letts 

Directed by ensemble member Anna D. Shapiro 

Featuring ensemble member Tracy Letts 

Run time: 8 minutes 

And they’re off, for the 108th running of the El Dorado Stakes! But this race is long-distance… and maybe not what it first seems…

This past spring Steppenwolf announced plans to also produce two additional original virtual works by ensemble members Tina Landau and Tarell Alvin McCraney following Tracy Letts’s trio of virtual plays as part of the 2021/22 Comeback Season. Due to scheduling conflicts and production limitations, in consultation with the artists involved, Steppenwolf has decided to not produce Landau and McCraney’s virtual pieces at this time, and will explore future incarnations of the works. Letts’s trio of plays, which are already in production and nearly complete, offer audiences highly original works. From on-location filming with Rainn Wilson to handmade 3D puppets brought to life, and entirely new teams of film and video creatives employed in the creation of each work, Steppenwolf looks forward to sharing these three pieces in the lead-up to live performances of BUG this November. Learn more about the 2021/22 Comeback Season at steppenwolf.org.

Sponsor Info

Night Safari is generously supported in part by Northern Trust. United Airlines is the Official and Exclusive Airline of Steppenwolf. 

Steppenwolf is also grateful for the significant season support from Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Illinois Arts Council Agency, Ralla Klepak Foundation for Education in the Performing Arts and The Shubert Foundation.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company is a Chicago theater that is home to America’s ensemble. The company began performing in the mid-1970s in the basement of a Highland Park, IL church—today Steppenwolf is the nation’s premier ensemble theater with 49 members who are among the top actors, playwrights and directors in the field. Deeply rooted in its ensemble ethos, the company is committed to equity, diversity, inclusion and making the Steppenwolf experience accessible to all. Productions that premiered at Steppenwolf including August: Osage County and Pass Over—and accolades that include the National Medal of Arts and 12 Tony® Awards— have made the theatre legendary. Artistic programming includes a main stage season; a Steppenwolf for Young Adults season; LookOut, a multi-genre performance series; and the Steppenwolf NOW virtual stage. 2021 marks the opening of the company 50,000 sq. ft. Arts and Education Center—featuring a 400-seat Round Theater, dedicated education floor and new spaces for engagement. The nationally recognized work of Steppenwolf Education engages more than 30,000 participants annually in Chicagoland communities. While firmly grounded in the Chicago community, more than 40 original Steppenwolf productions have enjoyed success nationally and internationally, including Broadway, Off-Broadway, London, Sydney, Galway and Dublin. Anna D. Shapiro is the Artistic Director and E. Brooke Flanagan is the Executive Director. Eric Lefkofsky is Chair of Steppenwolf’s Board of Trustees.

Steppenwolf's mission

Steppenwolf strives to create thrilling, courageous and provocative art in a thoughtful and inclusive environment. We succeed when we disrupt your routine with experiences that spark curiosity, empathy and joy. We invite you to join our ensemble as we navigate, together, our complex world.

OPENING: World Premiere of The Doppelgänger (an international farce) at Steppenwolf April 5 – May 27, 2018

Chi, IL LIVE Shows On Our Radar:

Rehearsals Have Begun for Steppenwolf’s World Premiere of

The Doppelgänger (an international farce) 

By Matthew-Lee Erlbach 

Directed by Ensemble Member Tina Landau

April 5 – May 27, 2018

Ensemble Member Celeste M. Cooper Joins the 11-Person Cast Featuring Actor and Comedian Rainn Wilson from NBC’s The Office

A Side-Splitting Farce about First-World Greed and Backroom Deals

Rehearsals kicked off today for Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s highly anticipated world premiere comedy, The Doppelgänger (an international farce) written by Chicagoland native Matthew-Lee Erlbach (Showtime’s Masters of Sex, Off-Broadway’s Handbook for an American Revolutionary). Directed by ensemble member Tina Landau (SpongeBob Squarepants: The Broadway Musical), this hilarious farce features an 11-member cast led by actor and comedian Rainn Wilson, well-known for his role as “Dwight Schrute” on NBC’s award-winning comedy The Office, in the role of Thomas Irdley/Jimmy Peterson. Steppenwolf’s newest ensemble member Celeste M. Cooper joins the cast of fellow ensemble members—Audrey Francis, Ora Jones, Sandra Marquez and James Vincent Meredith—alongside acclaimed actors Michael Accardo, Whit K. Lee, Andy Nagraj and Karen Rodriguez. Previously announced ensemble member Alana Arenas is no longer in the cast due to an unforeseen scheduling conflict.

In the dangerous back channels of international resource politics, a wealthy British businessman suffers an untimely accident just before a critical African copper deal is signed. So when his unwitting (and witless) American doppelgänger is thrust into negotiations to avert intercontinental disaster, chaos erupts, leaving us wondering: whose side are we supposed to be on...and who will save Africa?? The Doppelgänger (an international farce) is a hilarious, irreverent and timely look at the back-room deals that shape our world and the unlikely cast of characters who make them.

Previews begin April 5 (opening is Sunday, April 15) and runs through May 27, 2018 in Steppenwolf’s Downstairs Theatre, 1650 N Halsted St. Press performances are Sunday, April 15 at 6pm and Tuesday, April 17 at 7:30pm. Single tickets ($20 - $109) are available through Audience Services (1650 N Halsted St), 312-335-1650 or steppenwolf.org.



Rainn Wilson is an Emmy nominated and SAG award-winning actor with Chicagoland roots (he graduated from New Trier High School in Winnetka, Ill.) who has found himself in a variety of comedic and theatrical roles throughout his career. His first breakthrough role came when he played assistant mortician “Arthur Martin” in HBO’s Six Feet Under, winning him and the cast a Screen Actors Guild Award for “Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.” Wilson is best known for playing the inimitable “Dwight Schrute” for nine seasons on NBC’s Emmy award-winning comedy The Office. Among Wilson’s film credits are the Netflix feature Shimmer Lake; Hesher, opposite Natalie Portman and Joseph Gordon-Levett; Super, with Kevin Bacon, Liv Tyler, and Ellen Page; and the acclaimed comedies Juno and Almost Famous, among others. Next up, Wilson co-stars in Warner Bros adventure feature The Meg opposite Jason Statham. Wilson has an MFA from NYU’s Graduate Acting Program at the Tisch School of the Arts, and spent 10 years doing theatre in New York before moving to Los Angeles. He was on Broadway in The Tempest with Patrick Stewart, and the Tony nominated London Assurance. Wilson worked off-Broadway at The Public Theater and Playwrights Horizons, and performed regularly at The Arena Stage, The Guthrie, and with the touring repertory theater The Acting Company. The comedy show he created, The New Bozena, had a successful Off-Broadway run at The Cherry Lane, and later played in Los Angeles at The Hudson Guild and The Tiffany. Most recently, Wilson performed the critically acclaimed one-person monologue Thom Pain (Based on Nothing) at The Geffen. He founded the YouTube channel Soul Pancake, which has 2.5 million subscribers. In 2015 he published his memoir, The Bassoon King: My Life in Art, Faith, and Idiocy.

Casting note: The role of Thomas/Jimmy will be played by Eric Slater, in place of Rainn Wilson, for the following performances: April 22, 7:30pm; April 24, 7:30pm; May 6, 3pm and 7:30pm; May 20, 3pm; May 22, 7:30pm.

Newly announced ensemble member Celeste M. Cooper (Rosie Guerekoyame) joins the cast after her acclaimed performance as “Imani” in Aziza Barnes’s BLKS this past December. The cast also features ensemble member Audrey Francis (Beatrix Geddes-Renwick) is currently on stage in You Got Older (through March 11); ensemble member Ora Jones (Lolade Másarágba) was most recently in Steppenwolf’s The Wheel and Three Sisters, and in last season’s Broadway revival of Les Liasons Dangereuses; ensemble member Sandra Marquez (Theresa Irdley) most recently in Mary Page Marlowe at Steppenwolf and directed Teatro Vista’s production of FADE at Victory Gardens; and ensemble member James Vincent Meredith (Michel Másarágba) most recently performed in Steppenwolf’s The Minutes. Michael Accardo (General Stanley Harcourt) was recently seen onstage in Drury Lane Theatre’s production of Chicago and onscreen in Shameless and Chicago P.D.; Whit K. Lee (Wen Xiaoping) was in Off-Broadway productions of Attack of the Evis Impersonators and Junie B. Jones’ Essential Guide to School and the Netflix series Orange is the New Black; Andy Nagraj (Prince Amir Abdullah) recently played Ed Knight/Isaac Jaggard in the Denver Center for the Performing Arts production of The Book of Will and was recently in Court Theatre’s production of Harvey as Duane Wilson; Dan Plehal (Body) Karen Rodriguez (Marina) was most recently seen on Steppenwolf’s stage in The Rembrandt and in the critically acclaimed one woman show The Way She Spoke at Greenhouse Theater Center.

About the Playwright
Matthew-Lee Erlbach is an actor/playwright from Chicago and NYC whose plays include his critically acclaimed solo play, Handbook for an American Revolutionary (Gym at Judson) and Eager to Lose, a Burlesque Farce in Rhyming Verse (Ars Nova). Other plays include Kevin Lamb, King George III, Revelations, A Neighbor in the Area, and Electronic Persons, which have been developed with The New Group, Vineyard, Ars Nova, MCC, Williamstown, NYTW, SPACE on Ryder Farm and the Orchard Project, among others. A recipient of the 2016 Humanitas Prize New Voices Award, Puffin Foundation Grant, and member of Ars Nova’s 2014/15 Play Group, he has written for Showtime's Masters of Sex as well as for Nickelodeon, MTV, WWE, and The Huffington Post. He is a graduate of the public school system from K-College, a team leader for Habitat for Humanity Global Villages program, and runs a writing program for The Midnight Mission.

About the Director
Tina Landau is a writer, director, and teacher whose work includes directing/conceiving SpongeBob Squarepants: The Broadway Musical (currently on Broadway), Tarell McCraney’s Head of Passes (Steppenwolf, The Public and the Mark Taper Forum), WIG OUT! (Vineyard Theatre), and In the Red and Brown Water (The Public), Bill Irwin/David Shiner’s Old Hats and Chuck Mee’s Big Love and Iphigenia 2.0 (all Signature Theatre), Paula Vogel’s A Civil War Christmas (New York Theatre Workshop), and her musical Floyd Collins (also bookwriter/additional lyrics, Playwrights Horizons.) On Broadway, Landau has also directed Tracy Letts’s Superior Donuts and the revival of Bells Are Ringing. At Steppenwolf, where she is an ensemble member, directing credits include The Wheel, Hot L Baltimore, The Brother/Sister Plays, The Tempest, The Time of Your Life (also Seattle Rep, ACT), The Diary of Anne Frank, The Cherry Orchard, The Ballad of Little Jo, Berlin Circle, and her own play Space (also Mark Taper Forum, the Public.) Landau has co-authored The Viewpoints Book with Anne Bogart and has taught regularly at such schools as Yale, Columbia, Harvard, and Northwestern. Upcoming projects include a follow-up book with Bogart, Viewpoints on Viewpoints, and the premiere of the new musical Dave this spring at Arena Stage.

The Doppelgänger production team includes Todd Rosenthal (scenic design), Clint Ramos (costume design), Scott Zielinski (lighting design), Rob Milburn and Michael Bodeen (sound design). Additional credits include Malcolm Ewen (stage manager), Christine D. Freeburg (assistant stage manager), JC Clementz (casting director), Gigi Buffington (company vocal coach) and Jonathan Berry (artistic producer).

Tickets & Membership Info
Single tickets ($20-$109) are available through Audience Services (1650 N Halsted St), 312-335-1650, steppenwolf.org. Black Card Memberships are still available for the remainder of the 17/18 season. They are designed for audiences interested in extreme flexibility with six tickets for use any time for any production. Perks include easy and free exchanges, access to seats before the general public, savings on single ticket prices and bar and restaurant discounts for pre- and post-show socializing. Red Card memberships are available for theatergoers under 30.  To purchase a Flex Card Membership, visit Audience Services at 1650 N Halsted St, call 312-335-1650 or visit steppenwolf.org/memberships.

Remaining 2017/18 Season
Currently playing is the Chicago premiere of You Got Older by Clare Barron, directed by Jonathan Berry (January 25 – March 11) and Steppenwolf for Young Adults’ production of The Burn by Philip Dawkins, directed by Devon de Mayo (last performance March 10). Following The Doppelgänger (an international farce) is Guards at the Taj by Rajiv Joseph, a story about the search for beauty in desperate circumstances (May 31 – June 22, 2018) directed by ensemble member Amy Morton who returns to direct the cast from the acclaimed Off-Broadway production; and The Roommate, by Jen Silverman, directed by Tony Award winner Phylicia Rashad (The Cosby Show, A Raisin In The Sun, Tracy Letts’s August: Osage County). In The Roommate, a comically mismatched pair of roommates leads to a surprising and touching friendship (June 21 – August 5, 2018).

Accessibility
Committed to making the Steppenwolf experience accessible to everyone, performances featuring American Sign Language Interpretation, Open Captioning and Audio Description are offered during the run of each play. Assistive listening devices and large-print programs are available for every performance, and the Downstairs and 1700 Theatres are each equipped with an induction hearing loop. All theaters feature wheelchair accessible seating and restrooms, and Front Bar features a push-button entrance, all-gender restrooms and accessible counter and table spaces.

Visitor Information
Steppenwolf is located at 1650 N Halsted St near all forms of public transportation, bike racks and Divvy bike stands. The parking facility ($12 or $14, cash or card) is located just south of our theater at 1624 N Halsted. Valet parking service ($14 cash) is available directly in front of the main entrance at 1650 N Halsted St starting at 5pm on weeknights, 1pm on weekends and at 12 noon before Wednesday matinees. Limited street and lot parking are also available. For last minute questions and concerns, patrons can call the Steppenwolf Parking Hotline at 312.335.1774.

The Doppelgänger is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as United Airlines and PwC. United Airlines is the Exclusive Airline of Steppenwolf and ComEd is the Official Lighting Sponsor for the 17/18 season.

Front Bar: Coffee and Drinks
Connected to the main lobby is Steppenwolf’s own Front Bar: Coffee and Drinks, offering a warm, creative space to grab a drink, have a bite, or meet up with friends and collaborators, day or night. Open Tuesdays – Sundays from 8am to midnight, Front Bar serves artisanal coffee and espresso is provided by La Colombe and food prepared by Goddess and Grocer. The menu focuses on fresh, accessible fare, featuring grab-and-go salads and sandwiches for lunch and adding shareable small plates and desserts for evening and post show service. www.front-bar.com

Steppenwolf Theatre Company is the nation’s premier ensemble theater. Formed by a collective of actors in 1976, the ensemble represents a remarkable cross-section of actors, directors and playwrights. Thrilling and powerful productions from Balm in Gilead to August: Osage County—and accolades that include the National Medal of Arts and 12 Tony Awards—have made the theater legendary. Steppenwolf produces hundreds of performances and events annually in its three spaces: the 515-seat Downstairs Theatre, the 299-seat Upstairs Theatre and the 80-seat 1700 Theatre. Artistic programming includes a seven-play season; a two-play Steppenwolf for Young Adults season; Visiting Company engagements; and LookOut, a multi-genre performances series. Education initiatives include the nationally recognized work of Steppenwolf for Young Adults, which engages 15,000 participants annually from Chicago’s diverse communities; the esteemed School at Steppenwolf; and Professional Leadership Programs for arts administration training. While firmly grounded in the Chicago community, nearly 40 original Steppenwolf productions have enjoyed success both nationally and internationally, including Broadway, Off-Broadway, London, Sydney, Galway and Dublin. Anna D. Shapiro is the Artistic Director and David Schmitz is the Executive Director. Eric Lefkofsky is Chair of Steppenwolf’s Board of Trustees. For additional information, visit steppenwolf.org, facebook.com/steppenwolftheatre, twitter.com/steppenwolfthtr and instagram.com/steppenwolfthtr.