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The fourth play of the Steppenwolf 2013/14 season
is The Way West by Mona Mansour.
((acoustic music))
The play is set in modern day California
and introduces us to a mother who shares the death-defying
tales of pioneer crossings to her two adult, squabbling daughters
as they wait for the mother's bankruptcy to come through.
The play is interspersed with original songs
and it is a hilarious but very heartbreaking tale
of the mixed blessing of the American frontier spirit.
Steppenwolf is proud to present the premiere of this new work by Mona Mansour.
Mona is an exciting writer
who is a member of the Public Theatre's Emerging Writers Group
and the Playwrights' Center at Minneapolis,
and she will be paired with ensemble member Amy Morton, who directs the work.
It is thrilling to have Amy back.
She most recently directed at Steppenwolf Clybourne Park and Penelope
and, of course, Amy was in our production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf,
for which she was nominated for a Tony.
I think one of the things that most excites me about The Way West
is that it's a comic form in many ways.
These pioneer tales and these songs of the American West,
but it gets right to the heart of who we are as Americans.
What animates us? What responsibility do we have as we move forward?
What does it mean to always feel there's a new day?
I think in Amy's hands the play will be a delight.
((acoustic music))