Monk replaces Tony winner Rondi Reed, who departed the production for “personal reasons,” according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Directed by artistic director Anna D. Shapiro, the cast also includes Ian Barford, K. Todd Freeman, Sally Murphy and Michael Rabe.

“Edna has suffered a number of losses as she has aged, and now faces the stealthy advance of cancer embodied by an intimate figure that she could do without,” according to press notes. “Home for a visit, Edna’s son Andrew tries to bridge the gulf between the childhood love they shared and the aggressively polite but baffling relationship they now live with. Mother and son stumble toward honesty as they wrestle with the distractions–-both mundane and profound—that keep us from real connection.”

Monk’s stage accolades include a Tony Award for her performance in Redwood Curtain, an Obie for The Time of the Cuckoo and two Drama Desk Awards for Curtains and Oil City Symphony. An original cast member and co-author of Pump Boys and Dinettes, Monk has performed in 12 other Broadway productions, garnering three more Tony nominations, most recently for the 2012 production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

Tickets ($20 - $89) go on sale August 5 through Audience Services (1650 N. Halsted St), (312) 335-1650 and steppenwolf.org.