Steppenwolf Theatre’s ‘Good Night, And Good Luck’ World Premiere Adaptation Postponed Indefinitely Due To Pandemic

Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre has indefinitely postponed its world premiere stage adaptation of the 2005 George Clooney-co-written film Good Night, and Good Luck, a project that had generated considerable interest on Broadway.

Steppenwolf announced yesterday that due to the coronavirus pandemic, the theater company’s 2020-21 season will consist largely of streaming, virtual productions. Good Night, and Good Luck won’t hit the Chicago stage until “a future season,” according to Steppenwolf.

Written by playwright Matt Charman based on the George Clooney-Grant Heslov screenplay for the Oscar-nominated film about the battle between Sen. Joseph McCarthy and TV journalist Edward R. Murrow, Good Night, and Good Luck had been set to begin performances in December. The play was to be directed by Anna D. Shapiro (The Minutes), with Steppenwolf’s Ian Barford leading the cast.

Other announced cast members for the now-scuttled staging were William Petersen as William S. Paley, Alana Arenas as Annie Lee Moss, Audrey Francis as Shirley Lubowitz, Tom Irwin as Fred Friendly, Jordan Brodess as Joe Wershba, Keith Gallagher as Palmer Williams and Joey Slotnick as Don Hollenbeck.

With the postponement, Steppenwolf’s next live, on-stage production will be the early 2021 staging of I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, adapted by Isaac Gómez from the novel by Erika L. Sánchez.