Steppenwolf Theatre announces staff cuts in the wake of falling revenue, drop in attendance

Posted August 31, 2023 1:00 am

Chicago Sun-Times

Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre is laying off 12% of its staff, effective immediately, in the wake of falling revenue streams, the end of federal COVID relief funding and diminishing subscribers.

The announcement was made Thursday morning.

The cutbacks include 13 full-time employees as well as the elimination of seven open positions.

"Unfortunately, like many nonprofit theaters across the country, Steppenwolf Theatre Company has been negatively impacted by a protracted post-pandemic economic recovery for our sector and the rising cost of inflation. To be sustainable well into the future has required some very difficult decisions," the company's executive director, Brooke Flanagan, said in the official announcement.

• For the full story, visit chicago.suntimes.com.

Steppenwolf Theatre co-founder Jeff Perry, left, stars opposite Mark Ulrich in the theater's revival of Harold Pinter's "No Man's Land." Steppenwolf's single-ticket sales revenue has dropped by 31%. Courtesy of Michael Brosilow

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