CHICAGO — Steppenwolf Theatre Company, a Chicago theater company perennially famed for its youthful irreverence, has announced its 50th anniversary season, an age that might be hard for some of its most fervent supporters to grasp.

“It’s a hard thing to make it to 50,” said co-artistic director Glenn Davis, speaking from New York, where he is starring in the Steppenwolf production of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ “Purpose” on Broadway, opening next week. “But it is a magnificent thing to make it to 50, and we see this season as a kind of pact that we will always stay together.”

The season, relatively modest in size for a company with two large theaters, begins with K. Todd Freeman directing the Chicago premiere of ensemble member Rajiv Joseph’s family drama “Mr. Wolf” (Sept. 11 to Nov. 2), featuring Steppenwolf ensemble members Kate Arrington, Tim Hopper, James Vincent Meredith and Caroline Neff in the Downstairs Theater. “Mr. Wolf,” a dark drama about an abducted teenager who returns to her family, premiered in 2015 at South Coast Repertory in California.

The slate continues with Peter Shaffer’s drama “Amadeus” (Nov. 4 to Jan. 6, 2026), a famously juicy play (and movie) title about the fractious relationship between the composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri. Performed on Halsted Street during the period of peak audience demand (a holiday time when Steppenwolf has been mostly dark for the last two years), the large-cast drama will be directed in the Ensemble Theater by former artistic director Anna D. Shapiro, whose most recent Steppenwolf production was “Noises Off.” The in-the-round “Amadeus” will feature several ensemble members in the cast, including Ian Barford, Francis Guinan, Sally Murphy, Yasen Peyankov and Freeman.

Suzan-Lori Parks’ Pulitzer Prize-winning drama “Topdog/Underdog” (Jan. 29 to March 22, 2026) next returns to the Steppenwolf stage in the Downstairs Theater. The Tony Award-winning director Kenny Leon, who revived the play on Broadway in 2022, will direct ensemble members Namir Smallwood and Davis.

In the spring, Steppenwolf will stage the world premiere of “Windfall” (April 9 to May 31, 2026) by the Academy Award-winning ensemble member Tarell Alvin McCraney. Directed by Awoye Timpo, this new work from the author of the movie “Moonlight” and “The Brother/Sister Plays” will feature ensemble members Alana Arenas, Jon Michael Hill and Davis. Likely to attract international interest, “Windfall” will play in the Ensemble Theatre.

Steppenwolf’s season concludes with the Chicago premiere of Mia Chung’s “Catch as Catch Can” (June 4 to July 12, 2026), directed by ensemble member Amy Morton. That play, seen in New York in 2022, will be freshly produced in Chicago with an all-ensemble cast including Gary Cole, Steppenwolf co-artistic director Audrey Francis and Hopper.

Francis said additional casting has yet to be announced. “We want to bring back as many ensemble members as possible,” she said, “so we can tell the story of Steppenwolf over the last 50 years.”

Also in Wednesday’s announcement, Steppenwolf said it would continue its LookOut Series in its smaller 1700 Theater. The 2025-26 season also will launch a multi-year partnership with Teatro Vista Productions, a project that will include full productions of Teatro Vista plays in the 1700 space, with more details to come.

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