ADAD

Licce.

MANIFESTO®

www.manifestofurniture.com755 N Wells St 3rd Floor Chicago IL 60654 · 312.664.0733

is the result of intention, sincere effort,

intelligent direction and skillful execution;

the wise choice of many alternatives.

Make a wise choice in your home and

real estate investments.

Maintaining excellence is why we make

significant investments in our property

marketing strategies.

Choose excellence.

ArtofLivingLuxury.com | RandK@ArtofLivingLuxury.com | 312.268.0648

Excellence

2 Constellations steppenwolf 3

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.

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

Welcome to Constellations

3 Welcome to Constellations Letter from Artistic Director Anna D. Shapiro

8 Bios

14 Under the Umbrella of Science: A conversation about Constellations With Director Jonathan Berry and Audience Engagement Creative Producer Greta Honold

Contents

EditorJacqueline Rosas

To AdvertiseContact: smARTMagazines/smARTSponsorships Bryan Dowling 773-360-1767 or bryan@media8midwest.com

ContributorsJonathan BerryAnna BrennerGreta HonoldMadeline LongJoel MoormanAnna D. Shapiro

DesignDonovan Foote

4 Constellations steppenwolf 5

Steppenwolf Theatre Company presents

Anna D. Shapiro† Artistic Director David Schmitz Managing Director

FeaturingJessie Fisher*

Jon Michael Hill†*

ProductionJoe Schermoly Scenic DesignIzumi Inaba Costume Design

Heather Gilbert+ Lighting DesignChristopher Kriz+ Sound Design and Original Music

Hallie Gordon Artistic ProducerPolly Hubbard Dramaturg

Tam Dickson CastingChristine D. Freeburg* Stage Manager

Kathleen Barrett Assistant Stage Manager

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.

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.

ConstellationsBy Nick Payne Directed by Jonathan Berry

Steppenwolf Salutes the Sponsors of ConstellationsCorporate Production Sponsor

Individual Production SponsorsNora Daley and Sean Conroy

ComEd is the 2015/16 Season Lighting Sponsor

AD

6 Constellations

Cast (in alphabetical order)

Jessie Fisher* Marianne Jon Michael Hill†* Roland

Understudies (in alphabetical order)

Maurice Demus RolandChristine 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.

Additional StaffFoss Baldwin Assistant Director Rachel Levy Assistant Lighting Designer Karen Thompson Light Board OperatorAndrew Rovner Sound Board OperatorSarah Diefenbach Wardrobe CrewAJ Burkart, Ryan Lowe and Mark Vinson

Additional Carpentry Ravenswood Scenic Set ConstructionRachel Flesher Fight Choreographer Peter Wujcik American Sign Language Coach Elise Kauzlaric Dialect CoachLeean Torske and Derek Matson

Audience Engagement Associates

As a courtesy to the actors and your fellow patrons, please turn off your cell phones before the performance. 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.

† member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company ensemble. * member of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional

actors and stage managers.

Cast and Contributors

BY MERMAID THEATRE OF NOVA SCOTIA

Ideal for ages 1 - 5

Brown Bear, Brown Bear & Other Treasured Stories

MAY 2 - 28

Another Snowy DayWith Beatrix Potter

Ideal for ages 2 - 6NOV 1 - 20DEVISED BY WILL BISHOP

JAN 17 - FEB 12Ideal for ages 6 & up

The Hundred DressesBY RALPH COVERT & G. RILEY MILLS

All Ages

The Year I Didn’tGo To School:A Homemade Circus

FEB 28 - MARCH 26

BY LOOKINGGLASSARTISTIC DIRECTOR HEIDI STILLMAN

Ideal for ages 10 & up

BY THEATER UNSPEAKABLE

Moon Shot:A Race To Space

NOV 1 - 20

A Light In The Dark:The Story Of Helen Keller And Anne Sullivan

Ages 6 & up

BY THODOS DANCE CHICAGO

OCT 12 - 23

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 !8 7 2 . 2 2 2 . 9 5 5 5 | C h i c a g o C h i l d r e n s T h e a t r e . o r g

SUBSCRIBE AND SEE ALL OUR SHOWS FOR AS LOWAS $10/ T ICKET

INSPIRING THE CHILD IN ALL OF US

WORLD PREMIERE

LATE

R ST

AGES

YOUN

GER

STA

GES

SEASON

16

17

8 Bios Bios 9

Constellations BiosJessie 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) 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 Shore, Superior Donuts (also on Broadway; Outer Critic’s Circle Award; Tony and Drama League Award nominations) and The Unmentionables. Other theater credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream (The Public Theatre/Shakespeare in the Park); In the Red and Brown Water (Alliance Theater); and The Cure at Troy (Seattle Repertory Theater). Jon made his opera debut as Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Houston Grand Opera. Television and film credits include Elementary, Detroit 1-8-7, Eastbound and Down, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Person of Interest and Guiding Light. He received a BFA from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.

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.

Jonathan Berry (Director) is an Artistic Producer at Steppenwolf and a director and teacher in Chicago. Steppenwolf credits include Gary and

A Separate Peace for Steppenwolf for Young Adults. Jonathan is an ensemble member at Steep Theatre where credits include Posh, If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet, The Knowledge, Festen and Moment. He is also an ensemble member at Griffin Theatre where his credits include Pocatello, Balm in Gilead, Golden Boy, Spring Awakening, Punk Rock, Port and On the Shore of the Wide World. Jon was the assistant director for Anna D. Shapiro’s Broadway productions of Of Mice and Men and This Is 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

TERM

INAL

1 D

ESIG

NED

BY

JEAN

-MAR

IE M

ASSA

UD

C

M

Y

CM

MY

CY

CMY

K

16_Steppenwolf_Production.pdf 1 5/6/16 5:35 PM

10 Bios

Hubbard Street + The Second City’s The Art of Falling returns to the Harris Theater, June 9–19.Save 10% when you use code FUNNYhubbardstreetdance.com/summer 312-850-9744Special rates available for groups of ten or more — visit hubbardstreetdance.com/groups or call 312-850-9744 ext. 164.

Performing at

Commissioning Sponsor

Summer Series SponsorsSeason Sponsors

Official Provider of Physical Therapy

Official Health Club Season Radio SponsorSeason Media Sponsor

Commissioned by the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park, with support from Sandra and Jack Guthman through the Imagine Campaign.

Carisa Barreca of The Second City with Hubbard Street Dancer Jeffery Duffy. Photo by Todd Rosenberg. Offer code FUNNY is not valid for ticket purchases in Section 5 seating, in combination with any other offer, or on previously purchased tickets, and is subject to availability.

Diversity Partner

“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

Community Engagement Partner

TOGETHER AGAIN.

@HubbardStreet @TheSecondCity

#ARTofFALLING

HubbardStreetDance TheSecondCity

FALL SERIES Nov 17–20, 2016 featuring a world premiere commission by Brian Brooks

SPRING SERIES Mar 16–19, 2017 celebrating global choreographer Nacho Duato

CHICAGO SERIES May 12 + 13, 2017 spotlighting Chicago’s own world-class dancemakers

SUMMER SERIES Jun 8–11, 2017 kicking off Hubbard Street’s 40th anniversary season

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

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

Izumi Inaba (Costume Design) is thrilled to be working at Steppenwolf Theatre Company once again where she last designed costumes for George Orwell’s Animal Farm. Other Chicago credits include Adding Machine: A Musical, Woyzeck (The Hypocrites); The New Sincerity (Theater Wit); An Issue Of Blood (Victory Gardens Theater); Mousetrap, Charm, You Can’t Take It With You (Northlight Theatre); The Revel, and Season On The Line (The House Theatre of Chicago). Izumi is a company member at Red Tape Theatre and a resident designer at Albany Park Theatre Project. She received her MFA in Stage Design from Northwestern University.

Heather Gilbert (Lighting Design) returns to Steppenwolf Theatre Company where she designed Buena Vista, Annie Bosh is Missing and The Gospel of Franklin for First Look 2013

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 (Timeline Theatre Company); Mothers and Sons (Northlight Theatre); The Grapes Of Wrath and Good For Otto (Gift Theatre). For his work in theatre, he has been honored with 11 Jeff nominations and two Jeff awards. Recently, Lifeline Theatre produced his new musical, Soon I Will Be Invincible. He is a proud member of United Scenic Artists 829. To hear more of his work, please visit christopherkriz.com.

Christine D. Freeburg (Stage Manager) returns to Steppenwolf Theatre Company where her credits include The Flick, John Steinbeck’s East of Eden, The Herd, Airline Highway, Tribes, The Motherf**ker with the Hat, Good People, The March, Sex With Strangers, American Buffalo (also at McCarter Theatre), The Tempest, The Seafarer, The Diary of Anne Frank, after the quake and Cherry Orchard. Other Chicago

AD

12 Bios

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.

Experience an extraordinary moment in an ordinary day.

Don’t miss a moment—become a member today!steppenwolf.org | 312-335-1650

Visiting EdnaBy David Rabe

Directed by artistic director Anna D. ShapiroFeaturing ensemble members Ian Barford,

K. Todd Freeman, Sally Murphy and Rondi ReedSep 15 – Nov 6, 2016

The FundamentalsBy Erika Sheffer

Directed by ensemble member Yasen PeyankovFeaturing ensemble members Alana Arenas,

Caroline Neff and Alan WilderNov 10 – Dec 23, 2016

The ChristiansBy Lucas Hnath

Directed by ensemble member K. Todd FreemanFeaturing ensemble member Robert Breuler

Dec 1, 2016 – Jan 29, 2017

Straight White Men Written and directed by Young Jean Lee

Featuring ensemble members Tim Hopper and Alan Wilder

Feb 2 – Mar 19, 2017

Linda VistaBy ensemble member Tracy Letts

Directed by Dexter BullardFeaturing ensemble members Ian Barford,

Tim Hopper, Sally Murphy and Caroline NeffMar 30 – May 21, 2017

HirBy Taylor Mac

Directed by Hallie Gordon Featuring ensemble members

Francis Guinan and Amy MortonJun 29 – Aug 20, 2017

14 Features Features 15

Greta Honold: Can you tell us a bit about 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

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.

Illus

trat

ions

by

Don

ovan

Foo

te

Under the Umbrella of Science: A conversation about Constellations with director Jonathan Berry

and Audience Engagement Creative Producer Greta Honold.

GH: Can you talk a bit about the form this play takes?

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.

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.

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.

AD

The Steppenwolf Ensemble

Alan Wilder

Anna D. Shapiro

Jeff Perry

Jim True-Frost

Molly Regan

Austin Pendleton

Tarell Alvin McCraney

Ora Jones

Frank Galati

Kate Arrington

Rick Snyder

Rondi Reed

Sally Murphy

John Malkovich

Tim Hopper

Kathryn Erbe

Alana Arenas

Bruce NorrisCaroline Neff

Mariann MayberrySandra Marquez

Tom Irwin

K. Todd Freeman

Randall Arney

Lois Smith

Martha Plimpton

Amy Morton

John Mahoney

Jon Michael Hill

Gary Cole

Kevin Anderson

Martha Lavey

Gary Sinise

Yasen Peyankov

Laurie Metcalf

Tracy Letts

Moira Harris

Robert Breuler

Joan Allen

Tina Landau

Eric Simonson

William Petersen

James Vincent Meredith

Terry Kinney

Francis Guinan

Ian Barford

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.

18 Constellations steppenwolf 19

Steppenwolf Staff Board of Trustees

Executive CommitteeNora Daley, ChairEric Lefkofsky, SecretaryPaul W. Goodrich, TreasurerHenry S Bienen Carole L. BrownDouglas R. BrownElizabeth H. ConnellyKeating CrownRich FeitlerMatthew GrayCaryn HarrisL. Heather MitchellLynn Lockwood MurphyKenneth J. PorrelloDeborah H. QuazzoRandall K. RoweBruce SaganHarry J. SeigleStephanie B. SmithJohn R. WalterHelen Zell

TrusteesSarah BeardsleyMichael W. BenderMarlene Breslow-BlitsteinEbs BurnoughTerri L. CableRobin Tennant ColburnBeth Boosalis DavisAmy EshlemanJuliette FeldD. Cameron FindlayLawrence M. GillAimee GrahamRobert J. Greenebaum, Jr.John HartJon Michael HillDennis D. HowarterGeorge A. JosephDonna La PietraTracy LettsMary LudfordRonald J. Mallicoat, Jr.Holly MaloneyTarell Alvin McCraneyDavid E. MendelsohnVerett MimsChristopher M. MurphyYasen PeyankovDavid C. PisorMerle ReskinRobert SanbornManuel “Manny” SanchezAnna D. ShapiroMatthew ShapiroColette Cachey SmithburgElliot A. Stultz

Emeritus TrusteesJ. Robert BarrLawrence BlockMichael CahanJohn N. Fox, Jr.Gloria Scoby

Past ChairpersonsWilliam L. AtwellLarry D. BradyDouglas R. BrownLaurence EdwardsJohn N. Fox, Jr.Elliott LyonGordon MurphyWilliam H. PlummerBruce SaganGloria ScobyDonna Vos

* Steppenwolf Trustee

ArtisticJonathan Berry Aaron Carter Hallie Gordon Artistic ProducersPolly Hubbard Literary ManagerFrancis Guinan Tracy Letts Amy Morton Yasen Peyankov Associate Artists

Steppenwolf For Young AdultsHallie Gordon Artistic DirectorMegan Shuchman Education Director Jared Bellot Education AssistantEmilio G. Robles Senior Facilitator of Curriculum and InstructionSindy Castro Amanda Dunne-Acevedo Cara Greene Epstein Greg Geffrard Ali Hoefnagel Jeremy Ohringer Thom Pasculli Ashley Roberson Mara Stern Teaching Artists

AdministrationRachel D. Freund Director of Operations and ManagementCourtney Anderson Events Management DirectorScott Macoun IT DirectorJackie Snuttjer Finance DirectorYolanda Davis Human Resources & Professional Leadership Programs CoordinatorJovito Alvarez Finance ManagerBrian Hurst Finance CoordinatorPaul Miller Office ManagerLupe Garcia Quiles Events Management AssociateAdrianna Durantt Executive Administrator

DevelopmentSandy Karuschak Director of DevelopmentEric Evenskaas Associate Director of Development

Kristy Conway Director of Corporate and Foundation RelationsKendra Van Kempen Director of Special EventsLauren Fisher Donor Relations ManagerMax Lando Corporate Relations ManagerSuzanne Miller Annual Fund ManagerJessica Gretch Individual Giving CoordinatorKaryn Todd Development CoordinatorSarah Giovannetti Special Events AssociateChelsea Smith Campaign AssisstantDenise Serna Interim Development Associate

Marketing, Communications & Audience ServicesJohn Zinn Director of Marketing and CommunicationsDonovan Foote Design DirectorMadeline Long Communications DirectorErika Nelson Marketing Director Greta Honold Audience Engagement Creative ProducerJoel Moorman Digital Content ProducerKevin Castillo Digital Marketing ManagerNeel McNeill Marketing ManagerPatrick Zakem Audience Engagement CoordinatorJacqueline Rosas Marketing AssistantDavid Masnato Graphic DesignerCasey VanWormer Audience Services DirectorJimmy Freund Social Media Director and Audience Services SupervisorBillie Rye Bryant Audience Services ManagerStephanie Heller Audience Services Subscription ManagerMike Brunlieb Geehoon Lim Audience Services Supervisors

Molly Layton Group Sales AssociateRoseann Bishop Subscriptions and Audience Services AssistantBenjamin 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 OutreachTiffany Rae Wilson Audience Outreach ManagerBenjamin Adams Interim Audience Outreach SupervisorAdrian Azevedo Joshua Cashman Charles Frydenberg Rukmini Girish Marilyn Hillary N.J. Phillips Isaiah Polstein Michael Russell Maggie Shrere Kelly Wren Audience Outreach Associates

OperationsCory Jeanes Facilities DirectorPeter Van Kempen Facilities ManagerAdrian Castro Operations CoordinatorDavid Albert Harold Jaffe Facilities StaffVictor David Padam Dhungel Tul Ghaley Madan Gurung Noor Alam Islam Ababe Mekonen Aminata Talawally Bhagirath Timsina Custodial Staff

Audience ExperienceEvan Hatfield Director of Audience ExperienceDanielle Shindler Food & Beverage Director, Front Bar General ManagerDonald Coulson Parking Manager

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 AssociatesMorgan 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 StaffAngel Aguilar Mustafa Chaudhry Parking StaffJack Meyer and Lauren Louer, The Saints Volunteer Usher Coordination

ProductionTom Pearl Production ManagerBrianna Parry Assistant Production ManagerErin Cook Company ManagerMike Donohue Interim Technical DirectorChristopher Kristant Shop ForemanKyle Land Russell Scott Jon Woelfer Scenic CarpentersZoe Shiffrin Scenic Charge ArtistJenny DiLuciano Properties MasterEmily Guthrie Jay Tollefsen Assistant Properties Masters

Charles Moser Master Properties ArtisanAJ Littlefield Staff WardrobeCaryn Weglarz Klein Costume DirectorMae Haskins Assistant Costume DesignerLaurel Clayson Head DraperLynae Vandermeulen Work Room Supervisor and DraperDaisy Lindas Assistant Costume DirectorStaci Weigum Costume Shop AssistantJ. R. Lederle Lighting SupervisorErnesto Gomez Master ElectricianRick Haefele House CarpenterDawn Przybylski Stage CarpenterMartha Wegener Audio EngineerGregor Mortis Assistant Audio EngineerMatthew Chapman 1700 Tech CoordinatorCassie Calderone Malcolm Ewen Christine D. Freeburg Laura D. Glenn Jonathan Nook Brian Maschka Stage Managers

Professional Leadership ProgramZhanna 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

Terry Kinney, Jeff Perry and Gary Sinise Executive Artistic Board

Anna D. Shapiro Artistic Director

David Schmitz Managing Director

Steppenwolf Customer Service TipsDriving 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.

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.

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, age-appropriateness 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.

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.

Accessibility at SteppenwolfCommitted 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.

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

Corporate Presenting Sponsor

By Stephen Adly GuirgisDirected by ensemble member Yasen Peyankov

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

From the wildly original author of The Motherf**ker

with the Hat.

A Division of Health Care Service Corporation, a Mutual Legal Reserve Company, an Independent Licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association

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.

F o r o u r f u t u r e ,

g u i d a n c e s e t s t h e t o n e .

BCBSIL_GEN_0428_02416_2016PrintProduction_6x8.5_4c_Guitar.indd 1 5/4/16 11:45 AM