Tracy Letts Joins Cast of Steppenwolf's PENELOPE

Steppenwolf Theatre Company has just announced ensemble member Tracy Letts will join the cast of Penelope, by Enda Walsh and directed by ensemble member Amy Morton. Penelope also features ensemble members Ian Barford and Yasen Peyankov with Scott Jaeck and Logan Vaughn. Ensemble member John Mahoney recently left the production, due to an unexpected death in his family.

Penelope plays December 1, 2011 – February 5, 2012 in Steppenwolf’s Downstairs Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted St. Tickets are available through Steppenwolf Audience Services: 1650 N. Halsted St., by calling 312-335-1650 or online at www.steppenwolf.org.

On a sun-scorched island off the coast of Greece, beautiful Penelope awaits the return of her husband from war. Beneath her window, four Speedo-clad men camp in an empty swimming pool, a cock-eyed internment where both provisions and time are running low. Locked in a do-or-die competition to win Penelope’s love, they preen and posture and connive in a last ditch effort to cheat a grisly fate. Penelope, the newest play by powerhouse Irish playwright Enda Walsh, is an eloquent, wildly funny riff on life, love and the war at home.

Tracy Letts joined the Steppenwolf ensemble in 2002. Previous Steppenwolf productions include Middletown, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (also Washington, DC’s Arena Stage, upcoming Broadway 2012), American Buffalo, Betrayal, The Pillowman, Last of the Boys, The Pain and the Itch, The Dresser, Homebody/Kabul, The Dazzle, Glengarry Glen Ross (also Dublin and Toronto), Three Days of Rain, many others. Other productions include: Orson’s Shadow (Barrow Street Theatre, NY); Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (ALLIANCE THEATRE, Atlanta); The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (A Red Orchid Theatre); Conquest of the South Pole (Famous Door); Bouncers (the Next Lab). TV and film: Guinevere, U.S. Marshals, Profiler, Prison Break, Seinfeld, Home Improvement, many others. As a playwright, he is the author of Killer Joe, Bug (also screenplay), Man from Nebraska (Pulitzer finalist), August: Osage County (Pulitzer Prize, Tony® Award for Best Play), Superior Donuts and the upcoming adaptation of Chekhov’s Three Sisters at Steppenwolf.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/WM Photos