CHICAGO: Steppenwolf for Young Adults has announced its 2016–17 season, featuring two new plays.

“Recognizing the culture of violence we live in, how do we participate through our beliefs and convictions?” said artistic director Hallie Gordon in a statement. “Through these two stories we will investigate the aftermath of tragedy through a community’s response to a mass shooting and one teen’s journey to understand himself in the face of that culture.”

The first play of the season will be The Burials (Oct. 5–22), by Caitlin Parrish, about an upstanding young woman who is thrown into the national spotlight when her brother goes on a high school shooting rampage. Erica Weiss will direct.

Next will be the world premiere of Monster (Feb. 15–March 9, 2017), adapted by Aaron Carter from Walter Dean Myers’s books. The story is about a 16-year-old aspiring filmmaker in juvenile detention for allegedly participating in a robbery, who writes his story as a screenplay as the prosecutor sets out to put him behind bars for life. Gordon will direct, and the show will tour, in partnership with Storycatchers Theatre, to three juvenile detention centers throughout Cook County in Chicago.

Steppenwolf for Young Adults, established more than 30 years ago, combines play production with educational components to enhance arts education for young audiences.