Steppenwolf Announces Virtual and In-Person 2021-22 Theater Season

Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre has announced its 2021-22 season, which includes multiple virtual and in-person theater productions.

The fall 2021 virtual lineup includes two filmed plays: a new work written by Tarell Alvin McCraney, directed by Amy Morton (October 2021), and The Light Remains, written and directed by Tina Landau (November 2021). Rounding out the virtual events is an evening of three short works by Tracy Letts, streaming in September 2021: the animated short The Old Country, directed by Patrick Zaken and starring William Petersen, Karen Rodriguez, and Mike Nussbaum; the monologue Night Safari, directed by Zakem and starring Rainn Wilson; and the monologue The Stretch, directed by Anna D. Shapiro.

Steppenwolf will reopen in-person theater with the return of Letts's Bug, featuring Carrie Coon, Namir Smallwood, Randall Arney, Jennifer Engstrom, and Steve Key. The production was shut down two weeks before closing, and the return engagement, November 11-December 12, will round out its run.

Next year will see the world premiere of Rajiv Joseph's King James, featuring Glenn Davis and Chris Perfetti, with Shapiro directing (February 24-April 3, 2022). Yansen Peyankov's adaptation of Chekhov's Seagull will run April 28-June 12 in Steppenwolf's new Round Theater, with a cast including Ian Barford, Cliff Chamberlain, Francis Guinan, Tim Hopper, Sandra Marquez, James Vincent Meredith, Caroline Neff, Karen Rodriguez, and Namir Smallwood. Kent Gash will direct McCraney's Tony nominated Choir Boy, featuring James Vincent Meredith and Daniel Kyri, June 16-July 24.

The new season will see the opening of a transformed Steppenwolf campus, complete with the new 400-seat Round Theater, new bars for community and socializing, and a new education center. The expanded, 50,000-square-foot campus was designed by architect Gordon Gill of Adrian Smith – Gordon Gill Architecture, with theater design and acoustics by Charcoalblue.