If you’ve ever chosen family — even when it hurt — The Book of Grace will resonate deep.
The Book of Grace is now playing at Steppenwolf Theatre Company through May 18. It tells a story that digs deep into the raw, complicated bonds between parents, children, and the hopes we fight to hold onto.
Written by Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks, The Book of Grace first premiered in New York in 2010 and now finds new life on the Chicago stage with fresh urgency.
Purchase Tickets
The Book of Grace
When: Until May 18th
Where: Steppenwolf Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted
Info: steppenwolf.org
In a moment when families everywhere are reckoning with generational trauma, buried truths, and the long road to healing, this play offers something rare: a temporary space to face the pain — and still choose love.
For South Side families who know what it means to love through hard times, this play speaks our truth.
“If Grace was alive in today’s world, I think she would be like my mom,” says actress Zainab Jah, who stars as Grace. “You know, my mom just loves to give out love. She loves being surrounded by family and community — and that’s what I see in Grace. She’s always looking for ways to build that.”
Grace spends most of her time in the home — and she isn’t afraid to open it up to others. That kind of hospitality isn’t unusual on the South Side, where families gather on porches, grill in the summer, and drop by an auntie’s house without warning because the door is always open.
But Grace, with her radical optimism, opens up the most vulnerable and valuable part of her being: her heart. Even when it’s not returned. Even when it hurts.
That’s the tension at the center of The Book of Grace. Grace chooses love over bitterness and hope over pain. But when her stepson, Buddy, comes home with years of unresolved anger, her soft touch meets a hardened heart. Their reunion stirs old wounds — and unspoken truths rise to the surface.
It’s a quiet storm. And it’s deeply familiar.
During recent student matinees, Zainab Jah noticed something powerful happening in the audience — especially during scenes that touched on family trauma.
“Teenagers might not always say what they’re feeling,” she says, “but their bodies react — the knee tapping, the handshaking. And I think, wow, they’re seeing something that’s familiar… and they don’t like it.”
For so many families, The Book of Grace may feel less like theater and more like memory. Whether it’s a mother trying to break generational cycles, or a child searching for a way to be heard, the characters reflect people we know.
And in the middle of it all is Grace, trying to carve out something powerful and beautiful to hold onto — something that might help her escape what’s going on around her. For Grace, that escape is her book. When asked what line from the play lingers in her mind off stage, Jah pointed to a quiet but meaningful moment:
“Buddy asks, ‘What’s your book about?’ And Grace says, ‘I don’t know… evidence of good things.’”
In a world filled with tension, Grace is writing her own truth and documenting slivers of hope. Her book becomes a sacred place to name the light, even when surrounded by darkness.
One of the most symbolic and tender moments in The Book of Grace comes when Buddy eats a slice of cake Grace baked just for him. It’s her quiet offering, a simple gesture that says, you’re safe here.
But even sweetness can sting when life has made you bitter.
“Sugar hurts,” Buddy says.
That line lingers. Because how many of us have tried to love someone who didn’t know how to receive it? And how many of us have been Buddy — so hardened by pain that even kindness feels like a threat?
As the final scenes unfold, The Book of Grace doesn’t hand us a resolution. Instead, it gives us a choice.
When asked what she hopes audience members carry with them after the curtain falls, Zainab Jah offered this:
“No matter what the circumstances of our present-day America or world, you can always choose to look for grace. You can always find grace. You can always choose to bestow grace — on yourself and the world around you.”
And maybe that’s the real story. Not just a family in conflict, but a world still learning how to receive love, how to give it back, and how to hold on to grace — even when it hurts.
This article was created in paid partnership with Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Learn more and get tickets to The Book of Grace here.
