Ubiquitous director Mark Brokaw, whose handiwork has been seen in New York this year at the Vineyard Theatre (The Dying Gaul ) and Second Stage (This Is Our Youth ), will sojourn in Chicago to stage Tennessee Williams' classic The Glass Menagerie at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Previews begin Dec. 3 for a Dec. 13 opening. The plays runs through Jan. 30, 1999. The job marks Brokaw's Steppenwolf debut.
The cast boasts three Steppenwolf ensemble members: Martha Plimpton as Laura; Tim Hopper as Tom; and Molly Regan as Amanda. David New is the Gentleman Caller.
Plimpton joined the Steppenwolf clan only last summer after appearing in the troupe's productions of Synge's Playboy of the Western World and The Libertine. Her many film roles include Eye of God and Pecker. Hopper has appeared on Broadway in the Frank Langella revival of Present Laughter and Off-Broadway in Craig Lucas' The Dying Gaul , directed by Brokaw. He created the role of Picasso in Picasso at the Lapin Agile. Regan's Steppenwolf credits include Three Sisters , Miss Julie and Another Time. New last appeared at Steppenwolf in Slaughterhouse Five.
Designing Menagerie are Allen Moyers (sets), Mark McCullough (lights), Karin Kopischke (costumes) and Michael Bodeen (sound).
For information, call (312) 335-1888. *
As for the rest of the Steppenwolf schedule, following a Mark Brokaw directed mounting of The Glass Menagerie, will be Three Days of Rain (Feb. 11 Apr. 4, 1999) by Richard Greenberg, the story of a famous architect whose will forces his children to probe their family's dark history. Next will be Morning Star (Apr. 22-June 20, 1999), Sylvia Regan's 1940 drama about a widow and her extended family who find themselves caught up in the horror of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, World War I and the Great Depression; Steppenwolf ensemble member Frank Galati (who staged Livent's Ragtime ) directs the piece (which is not to be confused with the Broadway-targeted musical of the same name).
Lastly, Martin McDonagh's The Beauty Queen of Leenane will begin previews beginning July 8, 1999, for a run through Aug. 29, 1999. Queen received a Best Play Tony nomination for its current Broadway run at the Walter Kerr Theatre.
-- By Robert Simonson
