Steppenwolf announces season of ‘Reckoning’
Steppenwolf Theatre Company announced on Wednesday its 2012-2013 season, dubbed “The Reckoning.”
The season includes a revival of Harold Pinter’s chilling “The Birthday Party,” directed by ensemble member Austin Pendleton, and the world premiere of “Head of Passes” by ensemble member Tarell Alvin McCraney, whose “The Brother/Sister Plays” was among Steppenwolf’s 2010 standouts.
Kicking off the season is David Lindsay-Abaire’s “Good People” (Sept. 13-Nov. 11), seen on Broadway last year. Ensemble member K. Todd Freeman directs the play about a woman who loses her job and reaches out to an old boyfriend who’s not so keen to revisit his past.
Next up is Stephen Adly Guirgis’ “The Mother****** with the Hat” (Dec. 27 to March 3, 2013), directed by Anna D. Shapiro, who also directed the 2011 Broadway premiere of this dark comedy about addiction, recovery and vengeance.
Ensemble members Ian Barford, Francis Guinan, Moira Harris and John Mahoney star in Pendleton’s revival of Pinter’s darkly comic “The Birthday Party,” in which the arrival of a couple of mystery men upends the lives of British boardinghouse owners Petey and Met and their longtime tenant Stanley. It runs Jan. 24 to May 19, 2013.
Director Tina Landau re-teams with McCraney for “Head of Passes” (April 4-June 9, 2013). Ensemble members Freeman, Alana Arenas, Jon Michael Hill, Tim Hopper and James Vincent Meredith star in the play set along the Mississippi River in “the distant present” during a surprise, family birthday party that is accompanied by some disturbing revelations about the past.
The season concludes with “Belleville,” Amy Herzog’s drama about a young, hip, recently married couple living in Paris whose relationship isn’t as perfect as it appears. Anne Kauffmann, who directed the play’s premiere last year at Yale Repertory Theatre, helms the new production which runs June 27, to Aug. 25, 2013.
Season subscriptions are on sale at the box office, 1650 N. Halsted St., Chicago, by phone (312) 335-1650 or online at steppenwolf.org.