Dream come true: Steppenwolf Theatre premieres Barrington writer’s new play
Playwright Stephanie Alison Walker never imagined she’d end up back in suburban Chicago.
Not after living all over the world: London, Buenos Aires, San Juan Island in the Pacific Northwest and Los Angeles, where she spent 15 years.
In 2020, the desire to be closer to family and lower her cost of living led the mother of two back to her native Barrington.
A couple of years later, after a friend told her about some folks angling to remove certain books from a school library, she attended her first school board meeting.
“It was a world I’d never seen before,” she said.
Determined to stand against censorship, Walker kept going to the meetings.
Before long, Walker, winner of the American Theatre Critics Association’s 2019 Francesca Primus Prize for “The Madres,” realized she had the makings of a play.
“Adirondack Chair Circle,” about a group of suburban moms “armed with pickleball paddles and hard kombucha” who attempt to ban controversial books from a school library, begins previews on Thursday, Oct. 22, at Steppenwolf Theatre. Tony Award winner Pam MacKinnon helms the production, whose cast includes Steppenwolf ensemble member Caroline Neff and Broadway veteran Katrina Lenk, a Tony winner for “The Band’s Visit.”
“For me, it was all about the why,” Walker said of her inspiration. “Why does somebody feel it’s OK to ban books when I feel strongly that it’s not?”
The idea percolated for a few years while Walker examined different viewpoints.
“It’s not interesting to me to write my perspective. I already know my perspective,” said Walker, who describes herself as liberal-leaning.
People want to make a difference, she said, that’s the common denominator. Still, the question remains how people with opposing views coexist. And while Walker considered both sides, she hasn’t changed her position.
“I firmly believe books should remain in libraries and be accessible,” she said.
The Inkwell Theater in Los Angeles and A Red Orchid Theatre in Chicago were instrumental in developing the play. An early draft went to Jonathan L. Green, director of new play development at Steppenwolf, which expressed interest in producing it.
Having one of her plays premiere at Steppenwolf has been a longtime dream for Walker, a playwright for more than 25 years whose works include “American Home,” inaugural winner of American Blues Theatre’s Blue Ink Award; “The Abuelas,” her follow-up to “The Madres”; the Primus finalist “The Art of Disappearing”; and others.
Walker, who has a master’s degree in writing, began writing plays in 2000 while working for Fox Theatricals, the Chicago group that produced Steppenwolf’s acclaimed 2001 Broadway revival of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” After taking a class from playwright Lisa Dillman, herself a recipient of several Steppenwolf commissions, Walker launched her theater career.
It hasn’t been easy.
“Many times I stopped believing in myself,” admitted Walker, who describes Steppenwolf’s production as “an incredible, life-changing moment.”
Working with MacKinnon, the designers and actors has been a dream, Walker said. Laughter has filled rehearsals, much of it courtesy of David Darrow, who plays a character named Crow.
“I’ve written crazy stuff for him to perform,” she said.
She hopes the play makes audiences laugh, consider opinions that differ from their own and perhaps leave with a new perspective.
“I believe a play should be a conversation starter as opposed to a conversation ender,” she said.
She points out that the characters in “Adirondack Chair Circle” manage to converse despite being on opposite sides of the book-banning debate.
“I hope that can be a model for our own lives,” she said.
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“Adirondack Chair Circle”
Showtimes: 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays; 3 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays; and 3 p.m. Sundays, Oct. 22 through Dec. 6
Where: Steppenwolf Ensemble Theater, 1646 N. Halsted St., Chicago, 312-335-1650 or steppenwolf.org
Tickets: $20-$149