CHICAGO _ Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company will have the world premiere next fall of a new play by Tracy Letts, which will then move to Broadway.
The new, ensemble-driven play "The Minutes" was penned by Letts during the heat of the fall presidential campaign and election. Following its Chicago run (Nov. 9 to Dec. 31), the production then will move directly to Broadway with its Chicago cast intact.
"I think our new president will love it," said Steppenwolf artistic director, Anna D. Shapiro, in an interview Thursday. "I am excited for the tweets."
"The Minutes," which will have a cast of 11 and is expected to feature several Steppenwolf ensemble members, is a one-act, real-time drama set at a contentious city council meeting in a mid-size American town.
"There really is no getting around saying it is political," Letts said, dryly.
This will be the first time that Letts and Shapiro have worked together on Broadway since "August: Osage County," the show that won Tony Awards for them both and a Pulitzer Prize for Letts.
Broadway performances of "The Minutes" are slated to begin in February 2018 at a theater yet to be announced. Scott Rudin, who has collaborated often with Shapiro, is the lead producer on Broadway. The design team will be David Zinn (scenic design), Ann Roth (costumes) and Brian MacDevitt (lighting). Casting has yet to be announced, but Shapiro and Letts said that they anticipate the participation of some storied Steppenwolf ensemble members.
"The state of the world was really crushing me, and then Tracy got the script into my mailbox," Shapiro said. "I called him and said that we are lucky you write plays for us."
