As we ease our way into fall, our friends at Steppenwolf Theatre Company are chugging along with their 2024/2025 season! I sat down with Associate Production Manager, Elise Hausken and discovered more about one of my favorite Chicago institutions. Enjoy our talk below.
ED: For those that don’t live in Chicago or aren’t avid theater-goers, can you tell me a little bit about Steppenwolf? What is your role there?
EH: Steppenwolf Theatre Company is one of the nation’s premier ensemble theaters. We’re known for creating exciting and innovative plays – and as a launching pad for new works. Some of the plays we’re most known for premiering here include August: Osage County, Downstate, and most recently Purpose and Little Bear Ridge Road.
As the Associate Production Manager, my job is to essentially help project manage the production & design process of the plays in our two larger theater spaces.
ED: We make buttons for all of your shows, how do you use them?
EH: We make a special button for each of our shows in the season that we hand out as an opening night gift to the artists and production staff. It’s a thank you gift – and a collectible!
ED: Why do you think buttons and theater make such a great pair?
EH: People love to have something physical to commemorate the shows that they’ve worked on. It’s a bit of a tradition in theater to give physical gifts. In the last few years, we started giving out buttons.
The buttons have become quite the collector’s item for our production staff and the artists that work with us. It’s kind of the perfect memento – they’re not too clunky, they’re unique, and you can display them in multiple ways that suit you best.
ED: What made you choose to go with Busy Beaver?
EH: We originally went with Busy Beaver because they were a local Chicago company and because we needed buttons made fast. But we stuck with Busy Beaver because they have great products, have a fast turnaround with local Chicago pickup, and have great customer service.
We once had a play that used some “salty language” that we wanted to use as part of our button design. Your team was SO kind and understanding – and needless to say we were able to print our salty button guilt-free.
ED: How do you decide what artwork to put on your buttons? What does the design process look like?
EH: Designing our show buttons has to be some of the most fun we have with our Production Management team (shout out to Zav, Tom, Lo, Rachel, and Matt!). Usually, right before we move into the theater and add all the design/production elements, we watch a run of the play in the rehearsal hall and then start thinking about our button design – deciding which elements, dialogue, etc. feel memorable from the show and capture the spirit.
We usually have a quick brainstorming session, and then I take the ideas and start creating options for buttons to discuss with the team. After a week or so of debate and redesign, we usually settle on a design and then send it to print. We try to keep the design a secret from the rest of the company – and unveil the button design with a card on opening night.
ED: I’ve also noticed that all of your buttons also include rim-texts as well, how are these chosen?
EH: Yes! We love the rim text! It’s a fun Easter Egg that not everyone notices right away. We pretty much always pick a memorable line from the show to use for our rim text.
ED: Do you have a favorite show that you’ve seen at Steppenwolf?
EH: Woof, that’s a hard question! My favorite shows are often the ones I have the most fun working on with the team in the production process. Two of those favorites in the past few years have been Sanctuary City and Bald Sisters.
Thank you again to Elise for taking the time to answer my questions! I loved getting a behind the scenes peek! If you get the opportunity to check out a play at Steppenwolf– take it! You won’t regret it. Reach out today to make some commemorative merchandise for your own theater troupe or community organization!
