Forty years ago, three high school friends started Steppenwolf Theatre in the basement of a suburban Chicago church. From there, Steppenwolf grew into one of the most avant-garde theaters in the world. With 44 ensemble members, including award winning actors such as Gary Sinise, John Malkovich, Laurie Metcalf, Jeff Perry and Terry Kinney.
To celebrate Steppenwolf’s 40th anniversary, we assembled 40 designers, illustrators, photographers and typographers to create 40 posters representing 40 productions from the theater’s 40 years history. The posters were then brought together in a series titled, Steppenwolf 40.
Steppenwolf recruited 40 of the world’s finest designers, illustrators, photographers, and typographers to produce these posters. They were free to create whatever they wanted, with just two requirements. Requirement one was to use the theater’s signature black, red and white color palette. Requirement two was to make the posters amazing.
In keeping with Steppenwolf’s spirit of originality an evolution, the Steppenwolf 40 series of posters explore what happens when one genre of artists, actors, inspires another genre of artists, designers. It represents how art performed on stage translates to art presented on a page. How a play of many acts and moments is translated into a single thought provoking image. It is, Art, inspired by Art.