After 10+ years living within a mile of this landmark, I finally rectified a huge issue in my life and visited the historic Steppenwolf Theater in Lincoln Park for a performance of Tracy Letts’ The Minutes. I admit, I was first drawn to the play because I saw the commercial for it – starring William Petersen of CSI fame – roughly 5,000 times in the course of a week, but hey! Advertising works! I’m glad I listened.
Upon entering the main doors, I immediately walked in on the concession area. The nice thing is that unlike the downtown theaters and some other venues, things here aren’t crazy overpriced; I paid $2 for a hot tea, and they had a full bar with lots to choose from at an affordable price, along with snacks.
There are three theaters at Steppenwolf, and The Minutes was in the main/largest Downstairs Theater (although, our seats were upstairs in the balcony…that’s not confusing!). Billed as a dark satire about a small-town city council, the play was funny, thought-provoking and at times, disturbing…to avoid any spoilers, I’ll leave it at that. It’s headed to Broadway this spring, and could even become a movie at some point like some of Letts’ other hits (August: Osage County, Killer Joe) – so if you have an opportunity to see it in the future, I highly recommend it.
One of my favorite parts of the evening was that after the show, everyone was invited to come down to the ground floor in a more intimate setting for a discussion and Q&A about the play. One of the playwright’s assistants led the session, and she was able to reveal a bit more background about the Letts’ motivations, how the play evolved from the premiere to the current performance, etc. It was fascinating, and hearing other people’s perspectives definitely helped me better digest and appreciate it myself. I got the sense it’s something they do after every performance, or at least it’s not out of the ordinary.
All in all, I had a great first experience at Steppenwolf and will be actively looking for a reason to return.