Steppenwolf Announces Summer 2018 LookOut Series Lineup

Steppenwolf's LookOut Series is pleased to announce their exciting Summer 2018 lineup, which includes offerings from more than 20 different artists and groups ranging from standup to theatre to live music to a live podcast episode and more! LookOut's Summer 2018 lineup provides audiences with a variety of reasons to step out of the heat, grab a cool drink from Front Bar and head into Steppenwolf's 1700 Theatre to experience diverse artists and genres.

LookOut Summer 2018 highlights include Asian American comedy troupe Stir Friday Night; Grammy Award winner Matthew Duvall and beyond this point with guest composer Matthew Burtner; A Red Orchid Theatre ensemble member Mierka Girten's One-Woman Show With or Without Wings; Big Dipper live in concert; Broken Nose Theatre's Bechdel Fest 6: Revolution; Race Bait LIVE podcast; You're Being Ridiculous: PRIDE; SHADE: An Actually Diverse Comedy Show: Pride Month Comedy Showcase; and an evening of first-time performances hosted by Steppenwolf ensemble member Cliff Chamberlain and the return of LookOut favorites and new acts. Full lineup below.

Tickets to Summer LookOut programming go on sale Friday, May 18 at 11am through Audiences Services (1650 N Halsted), 312-335-1650 and steppenwolf.org. Steppenwolf Red and Black Card Members may use credits towards shows in the 1700 Theatre. For information, visit steppenwolf.org/lookout.

LookOut performances take place in Steppenwolf's 1700 Theatre, an 80-seat cabaret-style space connected to Steppenwolf's own Front Bar: Coffee and Drinks. Located at 1700 N Halsted St., Front Bar is an inviting space to grab a drink, have a bite, or meet up with friends and collaborators, day or night. Guests can take drinks into the theater.

LookOut Summer 2018 Lineup

Listed in date order. All artists, dates and prices subject to change.

*Doors open 30 minutes before performance time

The MoonSharks Present: An Improvised Play

Directed by David Montgomery

Friday, June 8 & Saturday, June 9

8pm

$15

This ensemble of nine veteran Chicago performers take to the stage to improvise a full-length play. Using a suggestion from the audience, The MoonSharks create a story with rich characters, complex relationships and powerful themes. Each night is a completely unique performance. Join The MoonSharks and experience some of the best dramatic improv in the city of Chicago.

Beauty School: Pushover Album Release Party

With Special Guest: She Speaks in Tongues

Tuesday, June 12

7pm

$10

Chicago pop-rock band Beauty School returns to Steppenwolf to celebrate the release of their debut LP Pushover. A culmination of material the group has crafted over the past three years, Pushover pays tribute to the bittersweet love song, charting the highs and lows of love amid life's complexities. The album arrives at the threshold of summer, inviting you to submerge yourself in the sounds of the season.

SHADE: An Actually Diverse Comedy Show

Pride Month Comedy Showcase

Friday, June 15 & Saturday, June 16

8pm

$20

Laugh it up with Chicago's best LGBTQIAP comics during Pride Month!

Sketchtopia

A reading of excerpts of the work of the playwrights of the Artist Development Workshop

Sunday, June 17

8pm

$5

Every year for the last 25 years, writers with and without disabilities have gotten together in the fall, winter and spring to develop their craft in the Artist Development Workshop. Each summer, they showcase their work in an eclectic and often irreverent staged reading called Sketchtopia.

Erik and Jessie and Everyone You Know Variety Show: THE RETURN

Hosted by Erik Hellman and Jessie Fisher

Monday, June 18

8pm

$15

Local actor/musicians Erik Hellman and Jessie Fisher present an updated variant of the classic variety hour: Original music, special guests, comedy, magic, improv, and ephemera along with the tightest country, soul band in the land. Fast-paced, fun, funky and fresh.

You're Being Ridiculous: PRIDE

Friday, June 22; Saturday, June 23; Friday, June 29 & Saturday, June 30

8pm

$20

At You're Being Ridiculous, real people tell true stories about their lives. Each performer is linked by our rotating themes, and by the desire to make you laugh-and, once in a while, cry. Our motto: Good stories are better than good times. We laugh at ourselves, and laugh with each other. Everyone has a story to tell. What's yours?

Yes to NO: An Evening of Rock + Resistance

A rock benefit for Chicago youth empowerment charities

Featuring: The Cell Phones, no.no.no.NO and No Men

Friday, July 6

8pm

$12 advance, $15 at the door

What would it sound like if three, femme-fronted rock bands came together one evening to say "NO" to its genre's nihilistic, 'no future,' boys-only legacy and instead, made real, positive, and inclusive change with its music? Powerful and empowering for new artists of the future to generate positive change in our city, our country, and our world.

East'o, West'o!

Book, Music and Lyrics by Michelle J. Rodriguez

Directed by Sivan Battat

Sunday, July 8 at 8pm

Monday, July 9 at 7pm

$20

Writer-director team Michelle J. Rodriguez and Sivan Battat set a classic folktale in a mythic America with the musical East o', West o'! Told with big, rollicking bluegrass numbers, haunting folk melodies, with lullaby, with work song and violin howl, East o', West o'! takes us farther than any woman has ever gone in a quest for home and belonging.

Powerful Women

A Cabaret Performed by Anna Palermo

Friday, July 13

8pm

$25

What makes a woman feel powerful? Do we find power through adversity and vulnerability? Find out through stories and songs touching on Tina Turner and Barbra Streisand (just to name a few).

Dark Café Days: Foiled Again Sings Joni Mitchell

Allison Bazarko Kirk, Rob Lindley, and Anne Sheridan Smith with Doug Peck & Gavin Kirk

Saturday, July 14 & Sunday, July 15

8pm

$25

Vocal trio Foiled Again brings their trademark close-knit harmonies to music of Joni Mitchell, with classics like "A Case of You," "Woodstock," and "The Circle Game" as well as some deep cuts from Mitchell's extensive and eclectic catalogue.

Race Bait: LIVE

With Tania Richard and Paul Traynor

Monday, July 16

7pm

$10

A black woman. A white man. They talk about racism... so you don't have to! Raw, awkward, crucial conversations approached with humor and generosity of spirit. LookOut presents a special live recording of this podcast now in its second season. Special guests, music, audience interaction and more!

The Jump

Created and encouraged by Steppenwolf ensemble member Cliff Chamberlain

Wednesday, July 18

8pm

$10

The Jump is a theatrical event that encourages being brave and taking risks in an environment that promises a soft landing. Songs you've never sung, stories you've never told, things you've never done, with people you've never met. We jump, you jump; we all make The Jump together.

Stir Friday Night Presents

We Are Asian. We Do Comedy.

Thursday, July 19 & Friday, July 20

8pm

$12

The 23-year old Asian American comedy troupe presents this show, an amalgamation of music, sketch, and improv, telling the theatrical tale of what it is to be a "model" minority.

Broken Nose Theatre Presents:

Bechdel Fest 6: Revolution

Sunday, July 29 at 7pm

Monday, July 30 at 7pm

Tuesday, July 31 at 8pm

Pay What You Can, Suggested Price $25

Bechdel Fest is an evening of new, female centric short plays featuring an all female-identifying cast talking about things other than men.

A Reading of

With or Without Wings

Written and Performed by A Red Orchid Theatre ensemble member Mierka Girten

Adapted by Michael Thomas

Tuesday, August 7

7:30pm

$20

A one-woman tour-de-force of a young performer's humbling first encounters and shocking diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis. A hilarious and heartbreaking personal account that explores the myths of MS while providing a message of enduring hope.

nature | human: Reflections

Matthew Duvall & beyond this point, with featured composer Matthew Burtner

Friday, August 10 & Saturday, August 11

7:30pm

$25

An interaction (performance, if you insist) featuring six reflections on our relationship with the natural world. Water, wood, sand, air, metal, and skin. Percussion as poetry. Exploring the environment we inhabit. For your consideration.

Big Dipper: Live in Concert!

Thursday, August 16

8pm

$15

Plus-size gay rapper Big Dipper defies homophobes and celebrates sexuality with his unapologetically graphic lyrics, infectious beats and a body-positive image. You'll find the hirsute emcee busting moves on stage in skin-tight outfits at this live show; a mix of original viral hits, stupid parodies, and tons of sweaty jiggling. Leave your inhibitions at home tonight.

Dear Finch: CD Release Party

By Jess Godwin

Friday, August 17 & Saturday, August 18

7:30pm

$20

1 piano. 9 voices. A billion stories. With original music by Jess Godwin and stories inspired by handwritten letters from all over the world, Dear Finch reminds us that we all have a story worth telling.

Walkabout Theatre Presents

The Brink! Or Nobody's Ever Kissed Me Like That...

Directed by Thom Pasculli
Co-created by the Walkabout Ensemble in Collaboration with Fides Krucker

Preview: Thursday, August 23

Regular Run: Friday, August 24 & Saturday, August 25

7:30pm

$15 Preview, $25 General Admission Regular Run, $15 Student / Industry

In a cafe at the edge of the world, a group of wayward performers present The Brink!, an avant garde cabaret about longing and music, growing up and falling apart; about the ground beneath us shifting too quickly, and the world becoming unrecognizable. Drawing from American pop songs and jazz standards, the poetry of Gertrude Stein, and Ann Carson's "The Gender of Sound," the ensemble slides past the edge of reason in this unfettered encounter with the stranger inside.

The LookOut Series is presented year-round and announced on an ongoing basis. John Zinn, Greta Honold and Patrick Zakem are the producers for LookOut. For more information, visit steppenwolf.org/lookout.

LookOut is Steppenwolf's performance series that presents the work of artists and companies across genre and form, emerging artists and performance legends, quintessential Chicago companies and young aspiring ensembles, familiar Steppenwolf faces and new friends. Tickets to all LookOut programming are available through Audience Services (1650 N Halsted), steppenwolf.org or 312-335-1650. Prices vary for each show. Steppenwolf Red Card and Black Card Members may use credits towards any LookOut programming.

Accessibility

The 1700 Theatre features wheelchair-accessible seating, an Induction Hearing Loop, and assistive listening devices. Front Bar features a push-button entrance, all-gender accessible restrooms and accessible counter and table spaces.

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 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. Steppenwolf 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.