- Michael Brosilow
- Martha Lavey, pictured with John Heard in 2006, is stepping down as Steppenwolf’s artistic director.
Here, in edited form, is part two of a conversation I had with Steppenwolf Theatre artistic director Martha Lavey, apropos of the news that she’ll be stepping down from her post in 2015. Part one deals mainly with why she’s leaving a job she’s had for 20 years. In this bit, we try to get a handle on the term institution.
Yeah. Thank you, yeah.
But the Steppenwolf name—
Yes. I think it was Bruce Sagan—our board member, who was very responsible for getting us into [Steppenwolf’s current] building in 1991—he said to those guys at the time, basically, Be careful what you wish for. And here he was leading the charge to make it happen. But yeah. I remember I was over at the Den [Theatre], and I said, “Cherish this. Love every moment of this.” You know, there’s something so beautiful about that stage in one’s life of making work and making a tribe to make work. It’s just a beautiful, ecstatic thing. But how does one sustain that?
Tell me how you deal with an ensemble of 44 artists. Have you got an approach?
Yeah. If I’m somehow demurring from talking about the institution, what is it you want me to talk about?
