Steppenwolf photo
If at a show Friday, expect the marquee lights to go dim about half an hour before curtain time.
Live theater venues across Chicago and suburbs will be honoring Steppenwolf’s Martha Lavey who died April 25 from stroke complications at age 60.
An amazing director and actress, Lavey helmed Steppenwolf’s productions as artistic director from 1995 to 2015 but she also was a great supporter of Chicago’s theater community.
Lavey who studied at Northwestern University first acted at Steppenwolf in 1981 then later joined the ensemble.
Among her many accomplishments was the development and production of Tracy Letts’ award winning ‘August: Osage County.’
On a personal note, I’ve been following Steppenwolf since 1976 when the company performed out of the basement at a church in Highland Park.
Some shows were more successful than others but they were a young, recently out of college group of talented actors. Few of us in the audience knew then that their company would grow to more than 40 actors and become known worldwide.
They were Terry Kinney, Jeff Perry, Gary Sinise, H.E. Baccus, Nancy Evans, Moira Harris, John Malkovich, Laurie Metcalf and Alan Wilder.
The company continues to be made up of exceptional actors who with Lavey’s guidance were unafraid to take on edgy and insightful scripts.
For more Steppenwolf timeline information visit Steppenwolf.