Steppenwolf Presents 7th Annual First Look Repertory of New Work

Steppenwolf Theatre Company will present its 7th annual First Look Repertory of New Work - three developmental productions of new plays presented in repertory playing October 26 - November 20, 2011 in The Steppenwolf Garage, 1624 N. Halsted St. The 2011 festival will also include three free readings by emerging playwrights presented November 3 - 5, 2011. Tickets for First Look Repertory of New Work go on sale Friday, August 19, 2011 at 11 am as well as reservations for the free readings.

Steppenwolf also announces the continuation of First Look 101, a unique two-month experience from September 24 - November 13, 2011 that takes enrolled participants on a backstage journey through all aspects of the new play development process - from the first rehearsal to the final performance. The program is open to anyone interested in the process of creating new plays. Tickets for First Look 101 are currently on sale.

First Look 2011 Productions:

Man in Love

A new play by Christina Anderson

Directed by Robert O'Hara

Wednesday, October 26 - November 20, 2011

1936. A metropolis divided by segregation and struck by economic turmoil. Rent parties rage above, while men hungry for work and love roam the streets. In this concrete jungle, a series of black female bodies turn up and a pattern emerges. Reactions vary across the city - hot-tempered ex-con Walker remains oblivious; Darlynn is anxious, but then again, she's always anxious; and her neighbor Paul Pare Jr., a young, charming black man stays cool. Man in Love examines a world of quiet desperation in hard times, where a criminal and his victims can get lost in the crowd.

Christina Anderson's plays include Hollow Roots, pen/man/ship, Sweet Brown Ginger, Glo, BlackTop Sky, Inked Baby and DRIP. Her work has appeared at A.C.T., Penumbra Theater, About Face Theatre, Playwrights' Horizons, Crowded Fire, Ars Nova and others.

Want

A new play by Zayd Dohrn

Directed by Kimberly Senior

Thursday, October 27 - November 20, 2011

A group of former junkies and sex addicts gather in a California beach flophouse to overcome their desires with an aggressive dose of "tough love" group therapy. When a strange young woman shows up on their doorstep, their sobriety, celibacy and faith in each other are all put to the test. The denizens of Zayd Dohrn's Want follow a new age approach which begs the question: cure or cult?

Zayd Dohrn is a playwright and screenwriter. His plays, including Sick, Magic Forest Farm, Reborning and Outside People, have been produced and developed across the country, including Manhattan Theatre Club, Berkshire Theatre Festival, MCC, Marin Theatre Company, The Public (SPF), Naked Angels, South Coast Rep, The Vineyard, Southern Rep, Kitchen Dog, The Lark, New York Theatre Workshop and San Francisco Playhouse.

Oblivion

A new play by Carly Mensch

Directed by Matt Miller

Friday, October 28 - November 20, 2011

Uber-hip Brooklynites Pam and Dixon take great pride in their progressive approach to parenting. But when their 17-year-old daughter, Julie, repeatedly lies about where she spent the weekend, their cool, high-brow façade crashes and burns. Carly Mensch's Oblivion takes a wry look at Nietzsche, famed film critic Pauline Kael and what it means to fight for the things you love.

Carly Mensch is currently a story editor on the Showtime series Weeds. Other plays include Now Circa Then, All Hail Hurricane Gordo and Len, Asleep in Vinyl. She has developed work at The Kennedy Center, Marin Theatre Company, New York Stage & Film, Center Theatre Group and Ars Nova, where she was the 2008 Playwright-in-Residence, as well as a founding member of Play Group.

The production team for First Look 2011 includes Chelsea Warren (sets), Myron Elliott (costumes, Oblivion), David Hyman (costumes, Man in Love) Crystal Jovae Mazur (costumes, Want) J.R. Lederle (lights) and Miles Polaski (sound). Additional credits include: Erica Daniels (casting), Cassie Wolgamott (lead stage manager) and Jonathan Nook & Tess Lauchaire (stage managers).

Performance schedule:

The 7th annual First Look Repertory of New Work plays Wednesdays through Fridays at 8 p.m.; and Saturdays and Sundays at 1:00 p.m. 4:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. Note: three-play marathons are available every Saturday and Sunday during the run. The complete First Look schedule is as follows:

Man in Love Want Oblivion

Wednesday, 10/26 at 8 pm Thursday, 10/27 at 8 pm Friday, 10/28 at 8 pm

Saturday, 10/29 at 4:30 pm Saturday, 10/29 at 8 pm Saturday, 10/29 at 1 pm

Sunday, 10/30 at 8 pm Sunday, 10/30 at 1 pm Sunday 10/30 at 4:30 pm

Friday, 11/4 at 8 pm Wednesday, 11/2 at 8 pm Thursday, 11/3 at 8 pm

Saturday, 11/5 at 1 pm Saturday, 11/5 at 4:30 pm Saturday, 11/5 at 8 pm

Sunday, 11/6 at 4:30 pm Sunday, 11/6 at 8 pm Sunday, 11/6 at 1 pm

Thursday, 11/10 at 8 pm Friday, 11/11 at 8 pm Wednesday, 11/9 at 8 pm

Saturday, 11/12 at 8 pm Saturday, 11/12 at 1 pm Saturday, 11/12 at 4:30 pm

Sunday, 11/13 at 1 pm Sunday, 11/13 at 4:30 pm Sunday, 11/13 at 8 pm

Thursday, 11/17 at 8 pm Friday, 11/18 at 8 pm Wednesday, 11/16 at 8 pm

Saturday, 11/19 at 8 pm Saturday, 11/19 at 1 pm Saturday, 11/19 4:30 pm

Sunday, 11/20 at 1 pm Sunday, 11/20 at 4:30 pm Sunday, 11/20 at 8 pm

Individual tickets to First Look Repertory of New Work go on-sale Friday, August 19, 2011 at 11 am and cost $20 per performance ($15 for students with valid ID). A First Look Pass to all three plays is available for $45. Tickets are available at www.steppenwolf.org or by calling Audience Services at (312) 335-1650. Tickets for First Look 101 are currently on sale. First Look 101 costs $100 ($45 for students with valid ID) and includes access to all First Look 101 events, plus tickets to all three First Look Repertory productions. For enrollment information for First Look 101, call Kendra Miller at (312) 654-5684. Space is limited. To reserve tickets for the First Look free readings, contact Audiences services at (312) 335-1650 beginning Friday, August 19, 2011.
First Look 2011 Free Readings:

fml: or how Carson McCullers saved my life

A new play by Sarah Gubbins

Directed by Joanie Schultz

Thursday, November 3 at 3 pm
Jo's junior year of high school in suburban LaGrange, IL started off just fine-not that it's ever easy being queer at 16. Thankfully, a new English teacher assigns Carson McCullers' famed novel The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter and Jo discovers an unshakable kinship to McCullers' central character John Singer. Like Singer, Jo is forever the listener, definitively the outsider, perpetually misunderstood and filled with unrequited love. Yet when she is a victim of a gay-bashing incident, her world is turned upside down and she must decide whether to seek revenge or redemption. A story about isolation, fitting in and finding oneself, fml: how Carson McCullers saved my life is a play about surviving high school and how literature still has the power to transform how we see the world.

Sarah Gubbins is a Chicago playwright whose play Fair Use was developed and produced as part of Steppenwolf's First Look 2008. Her play, The Kid Thing, was read as part of First Look 2010 and will be co-produced in Chicago this fall by About Face Theatre and Chicago Dramatists. Other plays include In Loco Parentis and The Water Play. fml is also being presented as part of Steppenwolf for Young Adults' 2011/12 season.
Miss Marx; Or the Involuntary Side Effect of Living

A new play by Philip Dawkins

Directed by Jimmy McDermott

Friday, November 4 at 3 pm
Eleanor Marx is sexy, young and very revolutionary. Miss Marx; Or the Involuntary Side Effect of Living examines how fighting gender inequality in Victorian England comes easily to Miss Marx on the soapbox, but is much harder in the bedroom. When her tumultuous common-law marriage to fellow socialist Edward Aveling begins to disintegrate, she turns to loved ones for solace, including family friend Friedrich Engels. You know, because her dad is Karl Marx.
Philip Dawkins' play The Homosexuals recently received its world premiere at Chicago's About Face Theatre. Other playwriting credits include Dead Letter Office, Yes To Everything!, Perfect, Ugly Baby, A Still Life in Color, The Man With a Shattered World and Saguaro.

Mud Blue Sky

A new play by Marisa Wegrzyn

Directed by Edward Sobel

Saturday, November 5 at 11 am
One long night in a grungy chain hotel room near O'Hare Airport is enough to make anyone question their aspirations in life, but for middle-aged flight attendants Beth and Sam, it's just part of a never-ending layover that goes with the job. When Beth's 18-year-old pot purveyor shows up in full prom gear in the parking lot offering a new perspective, she begins to doubt her twilight existence between time zones. Mud Blue Sky reminds us how the small kindnesses we afford each other at 4 am can inspire us to grab onto life before it flies by.

Marisa Wegrzyn's The Butcher of Baraboo was produced as part of Steppenwolf's First Look 2006 and premiered Off Broadway at Second Stage in 2007. It will also be presented at Chicago's A Red Orchid Theatre next spring. Her other plays include Hickorydickory, Killing Women, Psalms of a Questionable Nature, Ten Cent Night and Diversey Harbor.
Note: all readings will take place in Steppenwolf's Upstairs Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted St.
First Look Repertory of New Work is produced in The Garage at Steppenwolf. The Garage is dedicated to new plays, new artists and new audiences. As part of Steppenwolf's commitment to a multigenerational conversation with our audiences, The Garage offers programming featuring new voices for the American theater - directors, writers, designers and actors.
The mission of First Look Repertory of New Work is to develop plays for future production at Steppenwolf and other theaters across the country. Since its inception, eleven of the 18 plays presented during First Look's first six seasons have enjoyed subsequent world premieres at other theaters, including: Sarah Gubbins' Fair Use produced at Actors' Express in Atlanta; Jason Wells' Perfect Mendacity produced at Asolo Repertory Theatre in Florida; Wells' Men of Tortuga also produced at Asolo, followed by a second production at Profiles Theater in Chicago; Butcher of Baraboo by Marisa Wegrzyn produced by 2econd Stage Theatre in New York and scheduled for A Red Orchid Theatre in Chicago in spring 2012; 100 Saints You Should Know by Kate Fodor produced by Playwrights Horizons in New York; Spare Change by Mia McCullough produced by Stage Left Theatre in Chicago; Gary by Melinda Lopez produced by Boston Playwrights' Theatre in Massachusetts; When The Messenger is Hot by Laura Eason produced by 59E59 Theaters in New York; Eason's Sex with Strangers produced as part of Steppenwolf's 2010/11 subscription season; Pursued by Happiness by Keith Huff produced by Road Theater Company in Los Angeles; and The North Plan by Jason Wells produced by Portland Center Stage.

Special thanks to The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust for supporting new American plays at Steppenwolf Theatre Company and for their sponsorship of the First Look Repertory of New Work.

Steppenwolf is located near all forms of public transportation and is wheelchair accessible. Street and lot parking are available. Assistive listening devices and large print programs are available for every performance.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Chicago, IL (Martha Lavey, Artistic Director; David Hawkanson, Executive Director) is where great acting meets big ideas. Our passion is to tell stories about how we live now. Our mission is to engage audiences in an exchange of ideas that makes us think harder, laugh longer, feel more. The company was formed in 1976 by a collective of actors and is dedicated to an ethic of mutual respect and the development of artists through ongoing group work. Steppenwolf has grown into an internationally renowned ensemble of 43 artists who represent a remarkable generation of actors, directors and playwrights. For additional information, visit www.steppenwolf.org, www.facebook.com/SteppenwolfTheatre and www.twitter.com/SteppenwolfThtr.