Timely and Biting Wit in Adirondack Chairs at Steppenwolf

Local playwright Stephanie Alison Walker’s new comedy Adirondack Chair Circle, now delightfully on the astro turf at Steppenwolf, is the perfect play for the election season where culture wars are raging.  A group of moms gather around a fire circle observed and commented on by a very funny crow (David Darrow) as they seek to ban books in the local school system. They are led by charcuterie artist Banna (Katrina Lenk) who tells them this conservative movement is the fight of their lives, even as her non binary child and husband abandon her.  There’s pickleball and wine, there is Libby’s (Sadieh Rifai’s) rage and Winona’s (Wendy Mateo’s) ambivalence when real people get hurt including the self aware liberal Evelyn Grace (Caroline Neff).  The conflict pits these small town moms against one another and any sense of community and often the pretense of civility goes by the wayside. Everyone is confronting a culture they cannot understand or control. 

Director Pam McKinnon plays it fast and funny with this bright cast. It’s a catalogue of where we are at right this minute, from viral postings to swilling hard kombucha.  Todd Rosenthal’s ingenious set design takes us from suburban back yard to pickleball court to school board meeting with a slight of hand shift. 

Even as we are laughing, we audience members get the warning. And we see the underlying tragedy of people so committed to the struggle that they burn bridges with the humans they care most about.  Sometimes it's easier to “get it”if we laugh about confronting this pretty harsh mirror of our time. 

This is the kind of juicy uneasy theatre which Steppenwolf excels at.  Adirondack Chair Circle is playing most Tuesdays through Sundays through December 13, 2026 at Steppenwolf Theatre, 1650 N Halsted in Chicago–tickets are selling fast as it has already extended the run by a week.  Buy them here: https://www.steppenwolf.org/whats-on/2026-2027/adirondack-chair-circle

Photos by Michael Brosilow

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