From Chicago to NYC: Steppenwolf’s Broadway Boom

Little Bear Ridge Road has made its way to Broadway following a run at Steppenwolf last year. The production just opened at the Booth Theatre.

Many Steppenwolf productions have made the jump to Broadway, with three shows transferring in 2025 alone. In a recent interview with BroadwayWorld, co-Artistic Director Glenn Davis explained the process of their commisioned new works. "In more recent years, we've become more known for new plays and being a launching pad for new work for artists like Tarell Alvin McCraney, Tracy Letts, Bruce Norris, Rajiv Joseph," he said. "I think for us, it's vitally important to be always commissioning new work. We have a slew of playwrights under commission right now that are very specific in that we want playwrights who, like Branden Jacobs Jenkins, have a great ear for actors and actors voices."

As New York ushers in its latest Steppenwolf transfer, we're taking a look back on some of the most recent shows that opened on Broadway or Off-Broadway.

Bug

Following Little Bear Ridge Road, Bug will be the next Steppenwolf transfer to hit the Broadway stage later this year. The production will begin performances on Tuesday, December 16, 2025 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. This production of Bug comes to Broadway following its 2021 run at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre. 

Bug will star three-time Emmy Award nominee and Tony Award nominee Carrie Coon as Agnes White, Namir Smallwood as Peter Evans, Randall Arney as Dr. Sweet, Jennifer Engstrom as R.C., and Steve Key as Jerry Goss.

From Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tracy Letts and Tony Award-winning director David Cromer, Bug follows unexpected and intense romance between a lonely waitress (Carrie Coon) and a mysterious drifter (Namir Smallwood). What begins as a simple connection between two broken people in a seedy Oklahoma motel room twists into something far more dangerous. 

Purpose

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Purpose came to Broadway earlier this year, playing its final Broadway performance at the Hayes Theatre on August 31, following 22 previews and 192 regular performances.

Alana Arenas, Glenn Davis, Jon Michael Hill, and Harry Lennix all reprised their roles from the Steppenwolf production.

For decades, the influential Jasper family has been a pillar of Black American Politics: civil rights leaders, pastors and congressmen. But like all families, there are cracks and secrets just under the surface. When the youngest son Nazareth returns home with an uninvited friend in tow, the family is forced into a reckoning with itself, its faith and the legacies of Black political power and familial duty. Spirited, hilarious and filled with intrigue, PURPOSE is an epic family drama from one of the country’s most celebrated voices.

The production made its world premiere at Steppenwolf in March 2024, and went on to win two Tony Awards,  for Best Play and Best Performance By an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play (Kara Young). Purpose was also nominated for four additional Tony Awards: Best Performance By an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play (LaTanya Richardson Jackson), Best Performance By an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play (Harry Lennix, Jon Michael Hill), Best Performance By an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play (Glenn Davis).

King James 

King James made its New York premiere off-Broadway from Manhattan Theatre Club in 2023. The play was written by Pulitzer Prize finalist Rajiv Joseph and directed by Tony Award winner Kenny Leon. Performances ran from May 16 to June 18, 2023. 

The off-Broadway run starred Glenn Davis and Chris Perfetti, who reprised their roles from the 2022 Steppenwolf premiere.

"King" LeBron James was just the hero that Cleveland needed. One of the greatest NBA players to ever hit the court, his influence on the whole city loomed large for the dozen years of his reign. Pulitzer Prize finalist Rajiv Joseph's funny and moving new play chronicles the unexpected friendship between two men whose intertwined fortunes are tied to those of their idol. 

The production was nominated for the 2024 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play.

King James was co-commissioned and co-produced by Steppenwolf Theatre Company and Center Theatre Group.

Downstate 

Downstate, written by Bruce Norris, made its premiere in 2018. The production came to New York in 2022 at Playwrights Horizons, running from October 28, 2022 to January 7, 2023.

Glenn Davis, K. Todd Freeman, and Francis Guinan reprised their roles from the Steppenwolf premiere.

In downstate Illinois, four men convicted of sex crimes against minors share a group home where they live out their lives in the shadow of the crimes they committed. A man shows up to confront his childhood abuser—but does he want closure or retribution? This gripping and provocative new play by Pulitzer Prize-winning ensemble member Bruce Norris zeroes in on the limits of our compassion as it questions what happens when society deems anyone beyond forgiveness.

In 2023, Downstate won the New York Drama Critics' Circle award for best play. The following year, it won the Obie Award for playwriting. Freeman won the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Performer in a Play. The production also won two Outer Critics Circle Awards, for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play and Freeman for Outstanding Featured Performer in an Off-Broadway Play.

Downstage was co-commissioned by Steppenwolf and The National Theatre.

Pass Over

Pass Over made its premiere at Steppenwolf in 2017, running June 1 - July 9, 2017. A film version was shot during the run, which premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and was then released via Amazon Prime on April 20, 2018. The stage production was directed by Danya Taymor and the film recording of the performance was directed by Spike Lee.

Broadway performances began on August 4th, 2021, at the August Wilson Theatre, which marked the first show to open on Broadway following the COVID-19 shutdown. The production starred Jon Michael Hill, Namir Smallwood, and Gabriel Ebert. Hill reprised his role from the Steppenwolf production.

Moses and Kitch stand around on the corner—talking shit, passing the time and hoping that maybe today will be different. As they dream of their promised land, a stranger wanders into their space with his own agenda and derails their plans. Emotional and lyrical, Pass Over crafts everyday profanities into poetic and humorous riffs, exposing the unquestionable human spirit of young men stuck in a cycle just looking for a way out.

The Minutes

The Minutes is a comedic play written by Tracy Letts, which had its premiere at the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago on November 9, 2017. The production then transferred to Broadway at the James Earl Jones Theatre on February 25, 2020. It was scheduled to open on March 15, 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, production was suspended. The production ultimately opened on April 17, 2022, at Studio 54.

The production was directed by Anna D. Shapiro. The design team and several members of the cast from the Chicago production transferred to Broadway.

The Minutes takes a hard look at the inner workings of a city council meeting and the hypocrisy, greed and ambition that bubble to the surface when a newcomer to the small town of Big Cherry starts to ask the wrong questions. Why is someone on the council mysteriously missing? What happened to all those bicycles? Is there skullduggery afoot with the city's finances? What's the deal with the available parking space? What the F is going on with the Lincoln Smackdown? And why are The Minutes from the last meeting being kept secret? 

In 2018, Letts was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The play was also nominated for the 2022 Tony Award for Best Play.

Linda Vista

Linda Vista, by Tracy Letts, premiered at Steppenwolf in 2017, running March 30 - May 29, 2017. The production then transferred to Broadway in 2019, running September 9 – November 10, 2019 at 2nd Stage’s Hayes Theater.

Directed by Dexter Bullard, Ian Barford, Jim True-Frost, Sally Murphy and Caroline Neff reprised their roles from the Steppenwolf production.

Wheeler is 50. His marriage is over, his job is mundane, and the best years of his life appear to be behind him. A move from the cot in his ex-wife’s garage to his own apartment opens up new possibilities for love and sex—complicated, painful and hilarious. Full of opinions, yet short on self-examination, Wheeler must reconcile the man he has become with the man he wants to be.