December 3, 2008

Good news for the Chicago theatre scene — the newest member to Steppenwolf Theatre’s ensemble is “CSI” actor William Petersen. Petersen is currently appearing in Steppenwolf’s “Dublin Carol,” and joining the ensemble means it won’t be his last time on that stage.

Petersen has already wrapped filming his final shows as Gil Grissom on “CSI” (his last episode airs Jan. 15) but in this Chicago Sun-Times interview Petersen said he could pop up on the show in the future) and he’s making a return to Chicago theatre. In July, he’ll appear in Victory Garden Theatre’s “Blackbird,” a real-time account of the awkward reunion of Ray and Una, 15 years after a passionate affair when he was 40 and she was just a minor. After years in prison and subsequent hardships, Ray has a new identity and has made a new life for himself, but Una, now 27, has thought of nothing else since, and sets out to find him, looking for answers, not vengeance.

In Conor McPherson’s “Dublin Carol,” Petersen plays John, a man whose life was nearly destroyed by drinking, and who now holds down a steady job at a Dublin undertaker’s office. When his estranged daughter appears on Christmas Eve with disturbing news, it sets off a series of painful confessions that ultimately offer John a chance to escape the burden of his past.

Petersen is the 42nd member to join Steppenwolf, which was founded by Gary Sinise, Terry Kinney and Jeff Perry in 1974 in a church basement in Highland Park. The theatre relocated to Chicago in 1980 and moved to its current downtown location in 1991. Petersen, an Evanston, IL native, got his start in theatre. At Steppenwolf, he’s appeared in “Balm in Gilead” (1980) and “Fool for Love” (1984). In 1979, he started the Remains Theater Ensemble in Chicago with a group of actors, including current Steppenwolf members Gary Cole and Amy Morton. In 1996, Petersen made his Broadway debut in a revival of Tennessee Williams’ “The Night of the Iguana.”

The 42-member Steppenwolf ensemble includes some major talent, here’s where you might know some of them from off the stage: Joan Allen (Jason Bourne movies, “The Contender”), Kevin Anderson, Alana Arenas, Randall Arney, Kate Arrington, Ian Barford, Robert Breuler, Gary Cole (”Office Space,” “Desperate Housewives”), Kathryn Erbe (Det. Eames on “Law & Order: Criminal Intent”), K. Todd Freeman (Mr. Trick on “Buffy,” “The Cider House Rules,”), Frank Galati, Francis Guinan, Moira Harris, Jon Michael Hill, Tim Hopper, Tom Irwin (”My So Called Life”), Ora Jones, Terry Kinney (”Oz”), Tina Landau, Martha Lavey, Tracy Letts (won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play “August: Osage County”), John Mahoney (”Frasier”), John Malkovich (”Being John Malkovich), Mariann Mayberry, James Vincent Meredith, Laurie Metcalf (Jackie on “Roseanne”), Amy Morton, Sally Murphy, Austin Pendleton, Jeff Perry (”Nash Bridges”), William Petersen, Yasen Peyankov, Martha Plimpton (”The Goonies”), Rondi Reed, Molly Regan, Anna D. Shapiro, Eric Simonson, Gary Sinise (”CSI: New York,” “Forrest Gump”), Lois Smith (Gran on “True Blood”), Rick Snyder, Jim True-Frost (Prez on “The Wire”) and Alan Wilder.

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