Tony Winner Anna D. Shapiro to Take Over as Steppenwolf Artistic Director

Tony Award winner Anna D. Shapiro will succeed Martha Lavey as artistic director of Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre, the organization announced at a press conference on October 2. Lavey steps down at the end of the 2014-15 season after two decades.

In her tenure at Steppenwolf, Lavey shepherded works by the likes of Tracy Letts, Bruce Norris, Tarrell Alvin McCraney, and Lisa D'Amour to the stage, and led the company to seven Broadway productions and three Tony Awards (for August: Osage County, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest).

Shapiro won a Tony for her direction of Letts' August: Osage County, and in the past year, she has directed Broadway productions of Kenneth Lonergan's This Is Our Youth (the current Broadway production premiered at Steppenwolf) and John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. She helms Larry David's Fish in the Dark on Broadway in 2015.

Additionally, the organization revealed that general manager David Schmitz will take over for David Hawkanson as executive director. Hawkanson and Lavey will remain with the company.