Carter's Way

Steppenwolf Theatre Company continues its 2007–2008 Season with Carter's Way, written and directed by Oscar-winning ensemble member Eric Simonson, with original jazz music by Darrell Leonard.  The production, featuring ensemble members Robert Breuler, K. Todd Freeman, Ora Jones and James Vincent Meredith, with Anne Adams, Calvin Dutton, Curtis M. Jackson, Keith Kupferer, Danny McCarthy and Michael Pogue, runs February 28 – April 27, 2008 in the Steppenwolf Downstairs Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted.

It’s 1935. In America, it’s the middle of the Great Depression. In Kansas City, it’s the peak of the city’s legendary jazz era. The scene is hopping with recording deals and jam-packed clubs like Planet Mars, where life revolves around Oriole Carter, a brilliant black saxophonist who leads the house band. Oriole is falling head over heels for the white girlfriend of a local mobster just as a brand new invention called radio is threatening to make him a star.

“Carter's Way continues our season-long conversation about what it means to be American,” comments Artistic Director Martha Lavey.  “This is an American story – a story of love, artistry and commerce.  The politics of class, race and gender are inextricably bound up in the personal and interpersonal choices of its characters. Through the lens of 1935, Carter's Way extends our conversation about American identity, measuring how we have changed – and what endures.”

Carter's Way was originally written for production at Kansas City Rep, where it enjoyed a successful run in 2005.  It has been significantly re-written for this Steppenwolf production, with the support of Steppenwolf’s New Plays Initiative.

Ensemble member Eric Simonson was Tony-nominated for his direction of Steppenwolf's The Song of Jacob Zulu with Ladysmith Black Mambazo.  Eric subsequently directed an Oscar-nominated documentary about the acclaimed South African singing group.  He received an Oscar for Best Documentary Short for his film A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin in 2006.  He has directed and adapted Steppenwolf's Slaughterhouse-Five as well as the plays Lombardi/The Only Thing, Work Song: Three Views of Frank Lloyd Wright, Moby Dick and the new opera version of The Grapes of Wrath.

Carter's Way was developed as part of Steppenwolf’s New Plays Initiative.  Steppenwolf is recognized as a national leader in the development and production of new work for the American canon. Through this initiative, the company maintains ongoing relationships with writers of international prominence and rigorously discovers and supports the work of early and mid-career playwrights.

Online ticketing for Carter's Way is available at www.steppenwolf.org