Photo credit: (Top left) Image from Series of Unfortunate Events (Top right) Image from Little Women (Bottom left) Image from Of Mice and Men, (Bottom right) Image from Gone Girl
Need to brush up on your Steppenwolf? It doesn't need to feel like homework. We've put together a list of some of our favorite film and tv adaptations of beloved books and playscripts that just so happen to feature our talented ensemble members. Read the books, watch the movies and celebrate our incredible artists!
The Accidental Tourist (1988)
Screenplay adaptation by ensemble member Frank Galati
Based off the 1985 award-winning novel by Anne Tyler, this film follows an emotionally distant writer of travel guides must carry on with his life after his son is killed and his marriage crumbles.
The Crucible (1996)
Featuring ensemble member Joan Allen
Adapted from our own medium, the 1953 play by American playwright Arthur Miller takes on the silver screen in wickedly spooky fashion. Experience the dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during 1692 – 1693 on screen, just in time for fall.
Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
Featuring ensemble member John Malkovich
A scheming widow and her manipulative ex-lover make a bet regarding the corruption of a recently married woman. Published just years before the French Revolution, Laclos's great novel of moral and emotional depravity is a disturbing and ultimately damning portrayal of a decadent society.
East of Eden (1955)
Featuring ensemble member Lois Smith
Two brothers in 1910s California struggle to maintain their strict, Bible-toting father's favor as an old secret about their long-absent mother comes to light. Bases on the novel by American author and Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck, the work is regarded by many to be Steinbeck's most ambitious novel and by Steinbeck himself to be his magnum opus. A ringing endorsement, no?
The Firm (1993)
Featuring ensemble member and co founder Terry Kinney
Based on the 1991 novel The Firm by author John Grisham, a young lawyer joins a small but prestigious law firm only to find out that most of their clients are on the wrong side of the law. The company is helping to launder mob money, get clients off charges and even murder partners who threaten to blow their cover.
Gone Girl (2014)
Featuring ensemble member Carrie Coon
Buckle up for this 2014 American psychological thriller film based on Gillian Flynn's 2012 novel of the same name. In Carthage, Mo., former New York-based writer Nick Dunne and his glamorous wife Amy present a portrait of a blissful marriage to the public. However, when Amy goes missing on the couple's fifth wedding anniversary, Nick becomes the prime suspect in her disappearance.
The Human Stain (2003)
Featuring ensemble member and co founder Jeff Perry
Adapted from Philip Roth's novel of the same name, The Human Stain follows a disgraced former college dean who sparks a romance with a mysterious younger woman haunted by her dark, twisted past. As the story progresses, he is forced to confront a shocking fact about his own life that he has kept secret for fifty years.
The Laramie Project (2002)
Featuring ensemble members Lois Smith and Terry Kinney
The Laramie Project is set in and around Laramie, Wyoming, in the aftermath of the murder of 21-year-old Matthew Shepard. To create the stage version of The Laramie Project, the eight-member New York-based Tectonic Theatre Project traveled to Laramie, Wyoming, recording hours of interviews with the town's citizens over a two-year period. The film adaptation dramatizes the troupe's visit, using the actual words from the transcripts to create a portrait of a town forced to confront itself.
Little Women (2019)
Featuring ensemble member Tracy Letts
Not only can you read it and see it on stage, now you can watch this classic story from the comfort of your couch. Little Women is a coming-of-age novel written by American novelist Louisa May Alcott. The story follows the lives of the four March sisters—Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy—and details their passage from childhood to womanhood. Loosely based on the lives of the author and her three sisters.
Of Mice and Men (1992)
Directed by ensemble member and co founder Gary Sinese, featuring ensembles member John Malkovich and Moira Harris
You know John Steinbeck, you love John Steinbeck. See his American classic on screen as you watch George reflect on the time he spent traveling with Lennie, a huge childlike man. The two men drift through California during the Great Depression, looking for work. After they find jobs on a ranch, Lennie develops an infatuation with the owner's daughter-in-law. However, when George and Lennie are handed an opportunity to own part of the ranch, Lennie's fascination with the beautiful woman threatens to destroy their dreams.
Room (2015)
Featuring ensemble member Joan Allen
Room is a 2015 drama film written by Emma Donoghue, based on her 2010 novel of the same name. It stars a young woman who has been held captive for seven years and whose five-year-old son was born in captivity. Their escape allows the boy to experience the outside world for the first time.
A Series of Unfortunate Events (2017- 2019)
Featuring ensemble member K. Todd Freeman
This series is based on the book series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. When a massive fire kills their parents, three children are delivered to the custody of cousin and stage actor Count Olaf, who is secretly plotting to steal their parents' vast fortune.
Steppenwolf (1974)
Our namesake. You read that right.
Steppenwolf is the tenth novel by German-Swiss author Hermann Hesse. Originally published in Germany in 1927, it was first translated into English in 1929 and made into a film in 1974.