Between the Lines

<p>In the spring of 2022 the renowned Steppenwolf Theatre Company boldly and perhaps cavalierly re-emerged from the Covid-19 pandemic with a brand new 43 million dollar state-of-the-art theatre. Director Yasen Peyankov insisted he cast the premiere production - a brand new adaption of The Seagull - with as many Steppenwolf ensemble members as possible. This meant coaxing one non-actor director and writer Eric Simonson into coming back to the stage after a 33 year absence. Taking a leap in the dark and battling the demons of stage-fright confidence and homesickness Simonson took up the challenge and started on a journey into the great theatrical unknown. Part diary part history of the Chicago Theatre Renaissance this memoir takes the reader behind the scenes of a Steppenwolf classic and inside the head of a man desperate to rediscover the joy and craft of acting.</p>