Steppenwolf to premiere new Tracy Letts play

[AwesomeDanny]

Posted: 3/4/15 at 2:24pm

I realize lately all of my posts have been hijacking this board with the happenings in the Chicago theatre, but I figured this would be of particular interest.


"Mary Page Marlowe” (March 31 – May 29, 2016): The new Letts work is likely to attract international attention when it has its world premiere in 2016. "Mary Page Marlowe" uses a group of actresses, all playing the same character at different stages in her life. The story of the woman, an accountant from Ohio, is not told chronologically.

"Tracy's play came relatively late in the season-planning process," said Steppenwolf artistic director Martha Lavey, in an interview. "He told me had a new play. I said, ‘At least let me read it.’"

He did. And Lavey put in on the Steppenwolf season, the last she will plan before her replacement, Anna D. Shapiro, takes over the helm later this year. The director of the show has not yet been announced, although Lavey said that Letts wants a woman to direct the show, and that it is expected to be an ensemble member. Shapiro, of course, directed "August," a widely acclaimed production that catapulted her career to a different level.


http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/chi-steppenwolf-announces-2015-16-season-story.html

By the time this play opens, it will have been almost eight years since his last play, Superior Donuts, which premiered at Steppenwolf in 2008. The season also includes a new Frank Galati adaptation of East of Eden and The Flick in what I assume is its regional premiere.

[broadwaybelter]

Posted: 3/4/15 at 2:27pm

Very sexy season. I'm there.

[PianoMann]

Posted: 3/4/15 at 3:38pm

I probably won't be able to see this, but I'm very excited Tracy has a new work to debut!

[jbm2]

Posted: 3/5/15 at 2:19am

very exciting. So, we should plan on this play making its New York debut Fall of 2016?

[MusicAndPassion]

Posted: 3/5/15 at 11:22am

I hope this makes its way to New York. I assume it will, too. Sounds like a great project, and sounds like Letts is going less for "donuts" and more for a punch to the creative art of playwriting again. He's my favorite playwright, and every time I see a production of his play in New York, or see him act, I think to myself, "He's brilliant and has more plays in him." Such a talent.

[imeldasturn]

Posted: 3/5/15 at 2:12pm

Exciting news!