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Making something funny is way harder than making something important, says Steppenwolf Theatre artistic director Anna D. Shapiro.
She should know. The Tony Award-winning director has helmed both comedies and dramas, including Tracy Letts' Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning "August: Osage County," which premiered at Steppenwolf 10 years ago.
Shapiro and Letts, who collaborated for the first time 28 years ago when he acted in a show she directed, reunite for the premiere of Letts' latest, a political satire titled "The Minutes" beginning previews Thursday, Nov. 9.
"I loved it immediately," said Shapiro, a Steppenwolf ensemble member since 2005. "I laughed out loud, and I never laugh out loud at plays ... I smile loudly."
The cast includes fellow ensemble members Kevin Anderson, Ian Barford, Francis Guinan, James Vincent Meredith, Sally Murphy and William Petersen ("CSI: Crime Scene Investigation"), who plays a small-town mayor presiding over a city council meeting.
Letts was working on "The Minutes" well before the 2016 election, says Shapiro, who describes the play as political but nonpartisan.
"At the end, I was moved and I cried," Shapiro said. "I don't think there's a better experience than...