Steppenwolf Theatre Company has announced plans to host a one-night-only reading of Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Death, Rebirth, and Hunger for a Faith, excerpted from the stage adaptation by Derek Goldman from the book by Studs Terkel, May 21 at 7pm at Steppenwolf’s Downstairs Theatre. Hallie Gordon will direct. Musical direction will be by Robert Reddrick.
The production, which will feature thirteen actors and three vocalists, will be hosted in conjunction with the Studs Terkel Centenary Committee as part of a citywide celebration of Terkel’s birth. A Pulitzer Prize-winning author and oral historian, Louis “Studs” Terkel was a Chicago television pioneer who, after being blacklisted during the McCarthy hysteria of the 1950s, carved out a career as one of the nation’s preeminent radio interviewers.
The cast will feature Ian Barford (Dr. Gary Slutkin/Bob Gates), Robert Breuler (Dr. John Barrett/Kurt Vonnegut), Ora Jones (Helen Sclair/Mamie Mobley), Martha Lavey (Matta Kelly) and Alan Wilder (Quinn Brisben/Ed Reardon) with Anthony Fleming III (Delbert Lee Tibbs), Justin Hayford (Himself), Rick Kogan (Studs Terkel), L. J. Slavin (Doc Watson), Mary Ann Thebus (Uta Hagen), Guy Van Swearingen (Tom Gates), Andrew White (Marc Levinson/Randy Buescher), and Dennis Zacek (William Herdegen).