Larissa FastHorse (Playwright, Sicangu Lakota Nation) is an award-winning writer and 2020-2025 MacArthur Fellow. Her 2023 productions are The Thanksgiving Play (Second Stage at the Helen Hayes), Wicoun (Cornerstone Theater Company), Democracy Project (Federal Hall), Fake It Until You Make It (CTG Mark Taper Forum), For the People (Guthrie) and the national tour of Peter Pan (Networks). Selected past productions include What Would Crazy Horse Do? (KCRep), Landless and Cow Pie Bingo (AlterTheater), Average Family (Children’s Theater Company of Minneapolis), Urban Rez and Native Nation (Cornerstone Theater Company), as well as numerous productions of The Thanksgiving Play, making it one of the most produced plays in America. HoganHorsestudio.com
Jess McLeod (Director) is a director and social justice advocate specializing in risky new work about America. Steppenwolf: Venus. Chicago: Resident Director, Hamilton; Wolf Play, Hang Man (The Gift); Earth To Kenzie (Lyric Opera of Chicago); Do You Feel Anger?, Fulfillment Center (A Red Orchid); Landladies (
Andrew Boyce (Scenic Design) At Steppenwolf: No Man’s Land, Bald Sisters. Recent Chicago credits include Layalina (Goodman), All’s Well That Ends Well (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); A Chorus Line (Drury Lane Theater). Regional credits with most major regional theaters across the U.S. Broadway: Dana H. Off-Broadway credits with Lincoln Center Theater, Roundabout Theater, Atlantic Theater Company, New York Theater Workshop, Vineyard, Primary Stages, among others. Opera credits include Lyric Opera of Chicago, Opera Theater of St. Louis, Boston Lyric Opera, Kentucky Opera, Curtis Institute, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Philadelphia Orchestra, among others. Television: Shining Girls (Apple TV); Poker Face (Peacock). MFA: Yale School of Drama. Associate Professor of Design at Northwestern. www.andrewboycedesign.com
Raquel Adorno (Costume Design) Steppenwolf Theatre Company: POTUS, Describe the Night. Chicago: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Antigone, Gospel at Colonus, The Island, The Tragedy Of Othello, The Moor of Venice (Court Theatre); Measure for Measure, I, Banquo (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre); Dial M for Murder, Georgiana and Kitty, Intimate Apparel (Northlight Theatre); The Band’s Visit, Wife of a Salesman (Writers Theatre). Regional: Rent (The MUNY); Choice, The Wolves (McCarter Theatre Center); The Tempest, Intimate Apparel (Utah Shakespeare Festival); A Raisin in the Sun, The Taming of the Shrew, Cymbeline, A Doll’s House, A Doll’s House, Part 2 ( American Players Theatre). Film: Curio, Limerence. Education: Postdoctoral Fellow at Northwestern University. www.raqueladorno.com
Keith Parham (Lighting Design) Steppenwolf Theatre: The Great Leap, Time Stands Still, The Flick, The Herd, The Night Alive, Tribes, The Birthday Party. Chicago: Toni Stone (Goodman Theatre). Broadway: Between Riverside and Crazy (Second Stage); Therese Raquin (Roundabout Theatre Company). Off-Broadway: Man from Nebraska (2econd Stage Theatre); The Purple Lights of Joppa Illinois (Atlantic Theater Company); Tribes, Red Light Winter (Barrow Street Theatre); Stop the Virgens (Karen O at St. Ann's Warehouse/Sydney Opera House); A Minister's Wife (Lincoln Center Theatre); Adding Machine A Musical (Minetta Lane). TUTA Company Member: Hedda Gabler, Radio Culture, The Edge of Our Bodies, Gentle, Music Hall. Awards: Obie, Lortel.
Tosin Olufolabi (Sound Design) [she/her] Regional: Gloria, There’s Always the Hudson, Hi, Are You Single?, Incendiary, The Sensational Sea Mink-ettes (Woolly Mammoth); Ain’t No Mo (Woolly Mammoth/Baltimore Center Stage); Life is a Dream (Baltimore Center Stage); Crying on Television, Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, The Sound Inside, The Chinese Lady, Crumbs from the Table of Joy (Everyman Theater); School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play; it's not a trip it's a journey (Round House Theatre); Moses, Fires in the Mirror (Theater J); The Thanksgiving Play (Olney Theatre Center); A Wind in the Door (Kennedy Center Theater for Young Audiences). Off Broadway: Bite Me (WP Theater).
R&D Choreography (Violence Design) is Victor Bayona (he/him) and Rick Gilbert (he/him), who are as happy as a turkey on December 1st to be working at Steppenwolf for the first time! R&D was founded in 1997 for the purpose of improving the power and effectiveness of Chicago area theatre through the art of violence design – choreographing better fights for better shows! They have designed violence for over 300 productions and films at dozens of Chicago area theatres, including 16th Street, Akvavit, ATC, Chimera, Factory, Lifeline, Metropolis, Oak Park Festival, Goodman, Lookingglass, The Paramount, Pegasus, Piven, Steep, and Theo Ubique.
Kory Danielson (Music Direction) Kory is a multiple Jeff Award-winning Music Director in the Chicago Area and is thrilled to make his Steppenwolf debut. He works extensively with the Paramount Theatre in Aurora as Music Supervisor, Music Director and Conductor where he has been a part of over 30 productions. Some of his favorite Paramount credits include Next To Normal, Into The Woods, The Sound of Music, Fun Home, and Kinky Boots. Other Chicago credits include The Notebook, Emma, Wizard of Oz, Peter Pan (Chicago Shakespeare); Leather Daddies (About Face Theatre); Assassins, The Full Monty, Loving Repeating, Heathers, Tomorrow Morning, Little Fish (Kokandy); Passion, Smokey Joe’s Cafe (Theo Ubique); How To Succeed... (Porchlight); Hedwig, Wedding Singer (Haven).
Jyreika Guest (Intimacy Consultant) is an actor, dancer, and intimacy director based in Chicago. Intimacy direction credits include Groundhog Day, Rock of Ages (Paramount Theatre); Fire Shut Up In My Bones (Lyric Opera); Sheepdog (Shattered Globe); Intimate Apparel, Fireflies (Northlight Theatre); The Tasters (Rivendell Theater Ensemble); The Light (Coalescence Theatre); The Children of Edgar and Nina (The Neighborhood Theatre); The Last Pair of Earlies, Hoodoo Love- Asst. (Raven Theatre); First Deep Breath - Asst. (Victory Gardens). Film/TV: Starz Power S1, Rough River Lake, and The Poet Series. She is proudly represented by Shirley Hamilton Talent. IG: @jevelyng
Dillon Chitto (Engagement Curator & Cultural Consultant) is a Mississippi Choctaw, Laguna, and Isleta Pueblo playwright from Santa Fe, New Mexico. There, he learned the importance of art, culture, and traditions from his family, and members of his community. In his playwriting, he connects these ideas using storytelling techniques learned throughout his life. He currently lives in Chicago, Illinois. In the past, Dillon has worked with Native Voices, AlterTheater Ensemble, Yale Indigenous Performing Arts Program, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Arena Stage, Goodman Theatre, Sundance Institute, and was the Literary Manager for BoHo Theatre.
Kate DeVore (Vocal Coach) returns to Steppenwolf Theatre Company where she coached 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, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Lyric Opera of Chicago, A Red Orchid Theatre, Drury Lane, Second City, Piven Theatre Workshop, Theo Ubique, and Chicago Dramatists. Film/TV credits include The Outfit and Ripley. More about her books and coaching services at TotalVoice.net.
Christine D. Freeburg (Production Stage Manager) Steppenwolf Theatre Company: Another Marriage, Describe the Night, Miz Martha, Seagull, BUG, 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 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: a home what howls, POTUS, Another Marriage, Describe the Night, Miz Martha, Seagull, BUG, Dance Nation, The Great Leap, MS. BLAKK FOR PRESIDENT, The Crucible, Pass Over, Constellations, East of Eden, The Herd, Airline Highway. Chicago: The Steadfast Tin Soldier 2018 & 2022, 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas (Lookingglass Theatre Company); Groundhog Day, The Secret of My Success (Paramount Theatre); 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.