Peter Shaffer (Playwright) Sir Peter Shaffer, in full, Sir Peter Levin Shaffer (1926-2016), was a British playwright of considerable range who moved easily from farce to the portrayal of human anguish. Educated at St. Paul’s and Trinity College, Cambridge, Shaffer first worked for a music publisher and then as a book reviewer. His first play, Five-Finger Exercise (1960), is a tautly constructed domestic drama that almost overnight established his reputation as a playwright. It was followed by The Private Ear, The Public Eye (both 1962), and The Royal Hunt of the Sun (1964), a portrayal of the conflict between the Spanish and the Inca – “hope and hopelessness, faithlessness and faith.” In 1965 Shaffer’s adroit farce Black Comedy was first performed. Equus (1973; filmed 1977), dealing with a mentally disturbed stableboy’s obsession with horses, and Amadeus (1979; filmed 1984), about the rivalry between Mozart and his fellow composer Antonio Salieri, were successes with both critics and the public. Later plays include the biblical epic Yonadab (1985), Lettice and Lovage (1987) and The Gift of the Gorgon (1992). Shaffer was knighted in 2001 and sadly passed away in 2016.

Robert Falls' (Director) theater and opera work over four decades has included groundbreaking new plays, reimagined classics, large-scale musical works, and more. Falls’ major recent projects include his adaptation of The Cherry Orchard; Rebecca Gilman’s Swing State (Minetta Lane/Audible) at the Goodman Theatre; a new production of Don Giovanni (Lyric Opera of Chicago/Dallas Opera); David Cale’s We’re Only Alive for a Short Amount of Time (Goodman/Public Theater NYC); and The Winter’s Tale. Two of Falls’ most highly acclaimed Broadway productions— Death of a Salesman and Long Day’s Journey into Night—first staged at the Goodman, received seven Tony Awards and three Drama Desk Awards. Other noteworthy Broadway productions include Desire under the Elms; The Night of the Iguana; Conor McPherson’s Shining City (Tony Award nomination); Eric Bogosian’s Talk Radio; The Rose Tattoo at Circle in the Square; Horton Foote's Pulitzer Prize-winning The Young Man from Atlanta; and Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida. Off-Broadway productions include Beth Henley’s The Jacksonian; Rebecca Gilman’s Blue Surge; Nicky Silver’s The Food Chain; and Eric Bogosian’s subUrbia at Lincoln Center Theater (Obie Award). For the Goodman, Falls’ extensive credits include King Lear; Uncle Vanya; Measure for Measure; Galileo; The Tempest; Landscape of the Body; Three Sisters; his own adaptation of The Seagull; and the Rodgers and Hart musical Pal Joey for which he wrote a new book. He also directed the American premiere of Alan Ayckbourn’s House and Garden, and the world premiere of Arthur Miller’s final play, Finishing the Picture; and with Seth Bockley, an adaptation for the stage of Roberto Bolaño’s epic novel 2666; and The Iceman Cometh, starring Nathan Lane and Brian Dennehy (Brooklyn Academy of Music).  He is the recipient of multiple Joseph Jefferson Awards, as well as such prestigious honors as the O’Neill Medallion (Eugene O’Neill Society) and the Savva Morozov Diamond Award from the Moscow Art Theatre. In 2015, Falls was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.

Todd Rosenthal (Scenic Design) Steppenwolf Theatre Company: Fool for Love, Noises Off, Purpose, Downstate, The Doppelgänger (an international farce), Mary Page Marlowe and many others. Select Broadway: August Osage County (Tony), The Motherfucker with the Hat (Tony Nom), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Of Mice and Men, This is Our Youth, Straight White Men, Linda Vista. International: August Osage County (London, Australia); Nice Fish, Downstate (London); Madama Butterfly, The Beauty Queen of Leenane (Ireland). Exhibitions: Mythbusters: The Explosive Exhibition; International Exhibition of Sherlock Holmes, Victoria: T-Rex. Rosenthal also designs in Chicago and at many regional theaters. Awards: USITT Distinguished Achievement, Olivier, Helen Hayes, Ovation, Joseph Jefferson, Michael Merritt. Professor, Northwestern. Graduate, Yale Drama.

Amanda Gladu (Costume Design) Steppenwolf Theatre Company: Debut. Chicago: Kiss, Dos Lados, How You Feel?, Empty Orchestra, Walk, Stay a Little Longer, Gentle, into that Good Night, So Soon My Love (PARA.MAR Dance Theatre); On a Lark (South Chicago Dance Theatre). Regional: Macbeth (Boston Lyric Opera); Scales on the Wings of a Butterfly (BalletX); These Five (Jacob’s Pillow); The Chinese Lady (Geva Theatre Center); Dance Nation (The Wilma Theater). Off Broadway: Lunch Dances (Monica Bill Barnes & Company); Silent Light (National Sawdust); Peerless (59E59); 3. Catorce Dieciseís (Ballet Hispánico). Education: MFA, Northwestern University. amandagladu.com

Eric Southern (Lighting Design) Steppenwolf debut. Chicago: Swing State (Goodman Theater); Pipeline (Victory Gardens); As You Like It (Writer’s Theater). Off-Broadway: The Harvest, After the Blast, Ghost Light, Bull in a China Shop (Lincoln Center); Pocatello, Indian Summer (Playwrights Horizons). Tosca, Susannah, Galileo, Galileo, Don Pasquale, Die Fledermaus (Opera Theater St. Louis). Obie award for The Correspondent (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater). MFA and BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and Associate Professor at Northwestern University. Ericsouthern.com

Connor Wang (Sound Design) Steppenwolf Theatre Company: Leroy and Lucy. Chicago: Gorgeous (Raven Theatre) America V. 2.1 (Definition Theatre); Our Town (Redtwist Theatre). Regional: HUZZAH! (The Old Globe); RUTKA (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park); Once, The Ripple, The Wave That Carried Me Home (KC Rep); Gun & Powder (Paper Mill Playhouse); Evita (A.R.T. & STC); The Hot Wing King (Alliance Theatre); Kim’s Convenience (TheaterSquared). Broadway: How to Dance in Ohio (The Belasco Theatre). Off Broadway: Laura Benanti: Nobody Cares, Jason Gotay: Where You’ll Find Me, An Evening with Ali Stroker (Audible/Minetta Lane Theatre). Touring: Daniel Tiger LIVE. International: Disney+ UAE Launch (Dubai Opera). Education: BFA, DePaul University. connorwangdesigns.com

Mikhail Fiksel (Original Music) is excited to return to Steppenwolf having previously worked on Fools For Love, Little Bear Ridge Road, No Man’s Land, 1919, Dance Nation. Other collaborations include Mexodus (Audible Theatre, Berkeley Rep), Uncle Vanya (Lincoln Center Theatre), I Love You So Much I Could Die, How To Defend Yourself (New York Theater Workshop). Audio production work includes various projects with Audible Originals and Make-Believe Association, including their recent Tribeca Festival featured binaural adaptation of Hamlet and the sci-fi series “Lake Song” (2023 Signal Award for Original Music). Other awards include the 2024 Michael Merritt Award, 2022 Tony Award for Sound Design, and multiple Lucille Lortel and Jeff Awards. He is a proud member of USA and TSDCA, and is on the faculty at Columbia College Chicago.

Kristina Fluty (Intimacy Consultant) Steppenwolf Theatre Company: Noises Off, Another Marriage, Describe the Night, The Children. Chicago: Cardboard Piano (TimeLine); Spring Awakening (Porchlight); The Sound of Music (Marriott); Dhaba on Devon Avenue (Writer’s), Wish You Were Here, Frankenstein, Top Girls (Remy Bumppo); Mies Julie, Indecent (Victory Gardens). Regional: Linda Vista (Center Theatre Group – Los Angeles). Kristina's main creative home since 2003 is Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak, a modern dance company based in Chicago. MA in Dance/Movement Therapy and Counseling, Laban Movement Analyst, Movement Pattern Analyst. Associate Professor of Movement - The Theatre School at DePaul University.

Kate DeVore (Dialect & Voice Coach) returns to Steppenwolf Theatre Company where she coached Mr. Wolf, You Will Get Sick,The Book of Grace, Fool for Love, Noises Off, The Thanksgiving Play, Purpose, a home what howls (or the house what was ravine), POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive, Sanctuary City, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, and fml: how Carson McCullers saved my life. Kate also happily taught Voice at The School at Steppenwolf for 11 years. She has served as voice and/or dialect coach at Goodman Theatre (most recently Betrayal), Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Lyric Opera of Chicago, A Red Orchid Theatre, Drury Lane, Second City, Piven Theatre Workshop, Writers Theatre, Theo Ubique, and Chicago Dramatists. Film/TV credits include The Outfit, Ripley, and Caddo Lake. More about her books and coaching services at TotalVoice.net. 

Diane Machin (Assistant Director) is a queer director/theatre artist who works across the artistic mediums in theatre and opera. Some favorite credits include her adaptation of The Importance of Being Earnest complete with her additional scripting of the character Oscar Wilde, a Christmas themed Gianni Schicchi, and directing, and creating virtual sets for the world premiere of the opera A Storm We Call Progress, a new work about environmental sustainability. Her piece Young Gods that she wrote and directed, premiered at the Performing Garage home of the Wooster Group in November 2019, and her script received a Story Summit Founder’s Award. Since Summer 2022 she has acted as Resident Assistant Director at Opera Theatre of St. Louis where she has assisted on eight productions including the world premiere of Harvey Milk. This winter Diane will return to Music on Site, Inc. to direct Hänsel und Gretel. www.dianemachin.com

Laura D. Glenn (Production Stage Manager through December 14) Steppenwolf Theatre Company: 100 + productions over the past 37 years, most recently You Will Get Sick, Fool For Love and Noises Off. Chicago: 22 productions between 2002-2016 (Northlight Theatre). Galway International Arts Festival: True West, Orange Flower Water, Purple Heart (Steppenwolf), Better Late (Northlight Theatre).  BITE Festival Barbican Center London: The Man Who Came to Dinner (Steppenwolf). Broadway: Buried Child (Steppenwolf). Laura has proudly worked with all 55 Steppenwolf Theatre Ensemble members, has been a member of Actors Equity Association for 35 years and received the inaugural Joseph Jefferson Impresario Award in Stage Management. 

Jaclynn Joslin (Assistant Stage Manager) Steppenwolf Theatre Company: The Book of Grace, Leroy and Lucy, Little Bear Ridge Road, Purpose, No Man's Land, Last Night and the Night Before, Bald Sisters, King James, Bug, True West, Familiar, Guards at the Taj, BLKS, The Crucible, Between Riverside and Crazy, The Flick, East of Eden. Chicago: Big White Fog, A Raisin in the Sun, Big White Fog, East Texas Hot Links, The Lion in Winter, Arsenic and Old Lace, Two Trains Running, Othello, Oedipus Rex, The Adventures of Augie March, For Colored Girls, Photograph 51, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, All My Sons, Harvey, The Hard Problem, Blues for an Alabama Sky (Court Theatre); Continuity, The King of Hell’s Palace (Goodman Theatre); Hard Times (Lookingglass Theatre); Roz and Ray (Victory Gardens). Regional: Linda Vista (Center Theatre Group); The Outgoing Tide, Oceanside, 13 Things About Ed Carpolotti, Year Zero (Merrimack Repertory Theatre). Touring: Oklahoma!

Michelle Medvin (Stage Management Cover) Steppenwolf Theatre Company: Favorites over the past 24 years include Mr. Wolf, Leroy and Lucy, Sanctuary City, 1919, Choir Boy, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter (stage and audio-play versions), The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, two versions of The Crucible, August: Osage County, Clybourne Park, Purple Heart (also at Ireland’s Galway Arts Festival), The Pillowman, and many others. Chicago: Northlight Theatre, Drury Lane, Victory Gardens, Chicago Children's Theatre. Regional: Hartford Stage, Dallas Theater Center, Portland Center Stage. Education: Smith College. Michelle has taught stage management at Columbia College Chicago and Governors State University. She is proud to be a member of Actors’ Equity, wife to Mary, and mama to Elliott, Lena, and Sam.