James Ijames (Playwright) is a playwright, director and educator. James is the recipient of the F. Otto Haas Award for an Emerging Artist, two Barrymore Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Play, two Barrymore Awards for Outstanding Direction of a Play, a Pew Fellowship for Playwriting, the Terrance McNally New Play Award, Kesselring Honorable Mention Prize, the Whiting Award, a 2019 Kesselring Prize for Kill Move Paradise, a 2020 Steinberg Prize and the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Drama. He received a B.A. from Morehouse College and an MFA from Temple University. James is an Associate Professor of Theatre at Villanova University and a Co-Artistic Director of the Wilma Theater. He resides in South Philadelphia.

Whitney White (Director) is an Obie Award and Lily Award-winning director, writer, and performer originally from Chicago. She is a believer of alternative forms of performance, multi-disciplinary work, and collaborative processes. Recently, Whitney wrote and performed in her original piece Macbeth in Stride at the American Repertory Theater (Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Musical Performance by an Actress). Prior to that, Whitney was a staff writer on the Boots Riley series I’m A Virgo for Amazon. Recent directing: Soft (MCC Theatre, NYT Critic’s Pick), On Sugarland (New York Theatre Workshop, Lucille Lortel and Drama Desk nominations for Outstanding Direction), Semblance (New York Theatre Workshop), The Amen Corner (Shakespeare Theatre Company), Our Dear Dead Drug Lord (WP Theatre and Second Stage, NYT Critic’s Pick), What to Send Up When it Goes Down (The Movement Theatre Company, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, American Repertory Theatre, The Public Theater, NYT Critic’s Pick), An Iliad (Long Wharf), Canyon (LA Times Critic’s Choice and recipient of the CTG Block Party Grant, IAMA), Jump by Charly Evon Simpson (National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere, PlayMakers Rep). Digital projects: What’s Left Burns by James Ijames (Steppenwolf Theatre Company), Finish the Fight by Ming Peiffer (The New York Times, 39K+ viewers), The Cube by Adam Rapp (Audible). Her five-part cycle deconstructing Shakespeare’s women and ambition is currently in development with American Repertory Theater (Boston, MA). Whitney is a recipient of the Susan Stroman Directing Award, is part of the Rolex Protegé and Mentorship Arts Initiative, is an Associate Director at Shakespeare Theater Company and an Associate Artist at The Roundabout. Past residencies and fellowships: Sundance Theatre Lab, the Jerome Fellowship, The Drama League, Roundabout Theatre Company, and the 2050 Fellowship at the New York Theatre Workshop. MFA Acting: Brown University/Trinity Rep, BA: Northwestern University.

Clint Ramos (Scenic Design) Steppenwolf Theatre Company: Downstate, The Doppelgänger (an international farce) (Costumes), Marie Antoinette (Scenic). Broadway: Slave Play, Grand Horizons, The Rose Tattoo, Burn This, Torch Song, Once On This Island, Violet, The Elephant Man (also West End), Eclipsed, In Transit, Sunday in the Park With George, Six Degrees of Separation. Film: Respect (Costumes - MGM/Universal). Selected Awards: Tony Award, Obie Award for Sustained Excellence, three Lucille Lortel Awards, two ATW Henry Hewes Awards, the TDF Irene Sharaff Award. Ramos’s work includes over 200 Off-Broadway, national and international credits. Recently, he designed the Oasis at the Josie Robertson Plaza at Lincoln Center transforming the environment into a multi-purpose gathering venue for dance and social contact. Ramos is the Producing Creative Director at NYCC Encores!

Izumi Inaba (Costume Design) Steppenwolf Theatre Company: Constellations, A Doll’s House, Part 2, Animal Farm, The Crucible, We Are Proud… Recent Chicago: The Chinese Lady (Timeline Theatre Company); Dear Jack Dear Louise (Northlight Theatre). Regional: Fahrenheit 451 (Indiana Repertory Theatre); The Royale (Kansas City Repertory Theatre); An American Dream (Kentucky Opera.) Upcoming: Wife of a Salesman (Milwaukee Repertory Theatre); Bull (Paramount Theatre). Education: M.F.A. in Stage Design, Northwestern University.

Amith Chandrashaker (Lighting Design) The Public, Second Stage, TFANA, Playwrights Horizons, Signature Theater, Williamstown, Ars Nova, Soho Rep, Berkeley Rep, The Atlantic, Houston Grand Opera, Opera Omaha, Opera Colorado, The Atlanta Opera. Dance works by Alexander Ekman, Liz Gerring, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, Rennie Harris, Recipient of the Drama Desk and Henry Hewes awards. Assistant Professor of Lighting at The University of Maryland.

Fan Zhang (Sound Design).  Regional: Sanctuary City (Berkeley Rep; Arena Stage); The Great Leap (Portland Center Stage), White Noise (Studio Theatre, D.C), Seven Guitars (Yale Rep), Redeem (Cincinnati Ballet), Revolutionist (Pittsburgh City Theatre), Red Maple (Capital Rep).  Off-Broadway: At the Wedding (Lincoln Center Theatre); Snow in Midsummer (Classic Stage); A Kid Like Rishi (Origin Theatre); Paris (Atlantic Theatre), Our Dear Dead Drug Lord (Second Stage & WP), Pumpgirl (Irish Rep), Suicide Forest (Ma-Yi&A.R.T), Behind the Sheet (Ensemble Studio), The Trail of the Catonsville Nine (Transport Group); Three Girls Never Learnt the Way Home (Cherry Lane), Tania In the Gateway Van (The Flea).  Training: MFA, Yale School of Drama. www.fanzhangsound.com

Manna-Symone Middlebrooks (Associate Director) Steppenwolf Theatre Company: The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington. Chicago: All’s Well That Ends Well (Chicago Shakespeare, Assistant Director). Regional: The Amen Corner (Shakespeare Theatre Company, Associate Director); Amadeus, Henry IV, Part I (The Folger Theatre, Assistant Director); BLKS (Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Assistant Director); Indecent, Turn Me Loose (Arena Stage, Assistant Director); The Remains, Translations, The Wolves, Curve of Departure, Skeleton Crew (Studio Theatre, Assistant Director); Broken Glass (Theatre J, Assistant Director). Education: MFA Directing Candidate, Northwestern University; BA Theatre Arts, American University; British American Drama Academy (BADA). @mannasymone

Benjamin Barnes (Magic Consultant) Chicago: The Nutcracker (Chicago Ballet Conservatory); Damn Yankees (Metropolis Performing Arts Centre); The Tempest (Actors Gymnasium); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Loyola University Chicago). Education: BFA, Northern Illinois University. “Benjamin is thrilled to have worked on this production and would like to thank both his friends and family for a lifetime of love and support.”

Silver Fox Wigs (Emily Young, Owner) (Wig Design) Silver Fox Wigs is so excited to be back at Steppenwolf with this amazing show. Steppenwolf credits include Seagull, BUG, The Minutes, True West, Rembrandt, Hir. In addition, our work can be seen on stages such as Drury Lane Theatre, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Broadway in Chicago, and many more as well as TV and movie productions in the city.

Gigi Buffington (Company Voice, Text & Dialect Coach) has worked at Steppenwolf Theatre Company as Company Vocal Coach for five seasons. Steppenwolf: King James, BUG, Dance Nation, Lindiwe, The Great Leap, True West, MS. BLAKK FOR PRESIDENT, The Children, A Doll’s House, Part 2, Familiar, Downstate, The Doppelgänger (an international farce), Guards at the Taj, The Minutes, Hir, The Rembrandt, Pass Over, Linda Vista, Dying City, Mary Page Marlowe, East of Eden. Broadway: The Minutes, Clyde’s, Slave Play, Pass Over, Linda Vista, Straight White Men, King Kong Live on Broadway. Off- Broadway: The Devil Wears Prada, Corsicana, On Sugarland, Prayer For The French Republic; The Thin Place, Heroes of the Fourth Turning, Dying City, Mary Page Marlowe, Noura, Pass Over, Uncle Romeo Vanya Juliet, Coriolanus, The Tempest. International: Downstate (The National), The Merchant of Venice (Venice); A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet (with David Tennant and Patrick Stewart), Love’s Labour’s Lost (Royal Shakespeare Company); The Maids (director), Pericles, Othello, An Illiad, The Seagull, Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet, Richard III (American Players Theatre). Film: Text Consultant for Spike Lee’s Prince of Cats. Buffington is an Arts Professor at Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. AEA, SAG-AFTRA, VASTA.

Christine D. Freeburg (Production Stage Manager) Steppenwolf Theatre Company: Seagull, BUG, Wally World, Animal Farm, MS. BLAKK FOR PRESIDENT, La Ruta, Downstate, The Doppelgänger (an international farce), The Minutes, Linda Vista, Constellations, The Flick, John Steinbeck’s East of Eden, The Herd, Airline Highway, The Motherf**ker with the Hat, American Buffalo (also at McCarter Theatre), The Tempest, The Seafarer, The Diary of Anne Frank, after the quake, Cherry Orchard. Chicago: Northlight Theatre, Court Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre, Apple Tree Theatre. Freeburg is the interim Head of Stage Management at The Theatre School at DePaul University. She is happily married to Thom Cox and the proud mother of Joan Marie. For Malcolm.

Kathleen Barrett (Assistant Stage Manager) Steppenwolf Theatre Company: Seagull, BUG, Dance Nation, The Great Leap, MS. BLAKK FOR PRESIDENT, The Crucible, Pass Over, Constellations, East of Eden, The Herd, Airline Highway. Chicago: Groundhog Day, The Secret of My Success (Paramount Theatre); The Steadfast Tin Soldier, 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas (Lookingglass Theatre Company); additional work for The Hypocrites, Victory Gardens Theater, Porchlight Music Theatre, Broadway in Chicago. Regional: world premieres of Cambodian Rock Band, A Doll’s House Part 2, Office Hour (South Coast Repertory) and productions with Geva Theatre Center, Florida Repertory Theatre, Pasadena Playhouse, Mason Street Warehouse. Kat is a graduate of Kalamazoo College in Michigan.