Steppenwolf receives grant from Sondheim Foundation for new play program
Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre will reboot a program that supports new plays after receiving a grant from the Stephen Sondheim Foundation, an organization established under the will of the revered composer-lyricist.
The foundation has announced an inaugural round of cultural grant funding.
Neither Steppenwolf Theatre nor the Sondheim Foundation would disclose the amount of the grant.
The Sondheim Foundation said its mission is to support playwrights, lyricists and composers for the theater. Awardees were selected by the founding board of directors, who were close collaborators and confidantes appointed by Sondheim in his will.
“We are so honored that the Sondheim Foundation considered our program to be one where Sondheim's legacy could be continued,” said Brooke Flanagan, executive director of Steppenwolf.
American multi-award-winning composer and lyricist, Stephen Sondheim poses with his framed ‘Copy of Freedom’, after being awarded the Freedom of the City of London at a ceremony at the Guildhall in London, Sept. 27, 2018. The Stephen Sondheim Foundation announced an inaugural round of awards to arts groups in March 2026.
Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP
Reached Friday, she said the grant will go toward rebuilding Steppenwolf’s Scout program, which supports new works by emerging writers and was shuttered during the COVID-19 pandemic. Steppenwolf has developed and launched more than 130 plays in its 50-year history.
The Scout program partners playwrights with Steppenwolf’s new play development team. The writer receives access to ensemble artists.
“Over the course of a year, the playwright not only meets with the team to get counsel on the process of writing for an ensemble like Steppenwolf, but also gets coaching and feedback,” Flanagan said. “Then over the course of drafts, the culminating and crucible for the process is a week-long workshop that has a director, a dramaturg, a team of actors, and finally, a staged reading in our 1700 theater.”
Flanagan said the last play to go through the program was “Mosque4Mosque” by Omer Abbas Salem. In 2021, the final reading was hosted via Zoom due to the pandemic shutdown.
The program will return for the theater’s 2026-2027 season.
“We're excited not only to bring the program back, but also doing it with our artistic directors Audrey Francis and Glenn Davis, and our director of new play development, Jonathan Green, to work to evolve it, and to make it an even stronger program,” said Flanagan.
The program is meant to stand alone, she said, so there is no guarantee that plays that make it through the program will be staged as full productions at Steppenwolf. But there have been a few plays in the past, including “Bald Sisters” by Vichet Chum, that have been produced in full after beginning in the Scout program.
Flanagan said it has not been discussed whether or not the funding will continue past the 2026-27 season.
“I think we are really thrilled to be able to have the program back up and running, and we know that we're looking forward to the collaboration and what it means to the industry and to the artists that are involved,” she said.
The Playwrights’ Center of Minneapolis, Millay Arts, and Rhinebeck Writers Retreat also received grants from the Sondheim Foundation in the inaugural round.
Sondheim, who died in 2021 at 91, had a long career that included winning Academy, Tony and Grammy awards, as well as the Pulitzer Prize for Drama (for “Sunday in the Park with George”). His most popular musicals include “Sweeney Todd” and “Into the Woods.”