Stephen Adly Guirgis wins 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Drama

And the winner of the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Drama is: Stephen Adly Guirgis, for “Between Riverside and Crazy.” The play, which already has been announced as part of Steppenwolf Theatre’s 2015-16 season, homes in on ex-cop “Pops” Washington and his ex-con son Junior, who are barely holding on to one of the last great rent stabilized apartments in Manhattan. As Steppenwolf describes it: “Pops has his hands (not to mention his apartment) full as he navigates a steady stream of sketchy houseguests, and sweats out the impending verdict on his law suit against the police department.” it is being billed as “a celebration of the glorious contradictions that make up human nature — a rowdy dark comedy that looks at the slippery nature of justice, and the grit it takes to finally move on.”

The Steppenwolf production, to be directed by ensemble member Yasen Peyankov, will run June 23-Aug. 21, 2016 and will include ensemble members Tim Hopper and James Vincent Meredith in the cast.

Guirgis’ play premiered at the Atlantic Theatre in New York under the direction of Steppenwolf ensemble member Austin Pendleton. Steppenwolf has produced three other works by the writer, including “The Motherf**ker with the Hat,” under ensemble member Anna D. Shapiro’s direction.

Other plays by Guigis include: “Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train,” “The Little Flower of East Orange,” “Our Lady of 121st Street,” “In Arabia, We’d All Be Kings,” and “The Last Days of Judas Iscariot.”