Steppenwolf Theatre Company, a multi award-winning Chicago ensemble theater, announced today, that ensemble members Glenn Davis and Audrey Francis will be co-artistic directors when Artistic Director Anna D. Shapiro steps down in August.
Actor/producer Glenn Davis a Chicago native with strong ties to Los Angeles, performed in Steppenwolf ensemble member Rajiv Joseph’s Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo at L.A.’s Kirk Douglas Theatre, and transferred with the production to Broadway, where he starred alongside Robin Williams.
Upon joining the ensemble in 2017, Davis appeared in several productions including Downstate by ensemble member Bruce Norris in Chicago and at the National Theatre in London.
Davis is a partner at Cast Iron Entertainment, a collective of artists currently in residence at L.A.’s Geffen Playhouse that incubates new theater projects.
He is also an artistic associate at The Young Vic Theatre in London and at The Vineyard Theatre in New York.
A graduate of DePaul University’s Theatre School, Davis is also the first African-American to graduate from the Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre at the Stratford Festival in Ontario, Canada.
Actor/director/teaching coach, Audrey Francis is the co-founder of Black Box Acting. The Black Box Method she created is based on the Meisner and Viewpoints techniques. Although she and her partner sold it after a decade, Black Box continues in Chicago, today. However, she continues to as a professional acting coach for Showtime, NBC, Fox, and Amazon.
Francis, who attended The School at Steppenwolf in 2004 and has acted with several Chicago area companies, joined the Steppenwolf ensemble in 2017. Audiences have seen her in The Doppelgänger ), Dance Nation, The Fundamentals, Between Riverside and Crazy and The Herd.
She has also performed in such independent films as Knives and Skin, Later Days, Signature Move and the web series Distant Learners. Recent directing credits include Plano with First Floor Theatre that debuted in the 1700 space at Steppenwolf, The Invisible Hand at Steep Theatre, and the audio play of I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter in Steppenwolf’s most recent virtual Steppenwolf NOW season.
“Steppenwolf was founded by extraordinary actors who had a vision of building an ensemble of artists who would support each other while producing honest, bold, and thought-provoking theatre,” said Shapiro.
“This approach changed American theater. Now with a nearly 50-member ensemble, we are on the verge of our next great act—the opening of a remarkable new theater-in-the-round and an education wing, two decades in the making, that promises to be a cultural nexus for our City. Glenn and Audrey, together, are the right mix to build on our company’s legacy and open our doors wider than ever before.”
An information release on the appointment noted that Davis and Francis are the first co artistic directors appointed by the ensemble in its nearly five-decade history and the first time the company has elected an artistic director of color.
Jodie Jacobs