Good Women Getting Seen and Heard at The Goodman

At Goodman Theatre this season, girls rule!   Of course talent knows no gender bounds, but sometimes even in this century, talented women have to prove themselves and break those good ol' boy networks to gain access and have their voices heard at the top of their fields.   Well, women are being seen and heard loud and clear in 2013/14 at the inimitable Goodman.

It’s a DREAM lineup at Goodman Theatre: four works authored and five directed by women, three world premieres (two direct from the New Stages new play development series), two Goodman commissions and a major large-scale musical event comprise Goodman Theatre’s 2013/2014 eight-play line-up.  It was our great pleasure here at ChiIL Live Shows, to catch Cheryl L. West’s Pullman Porter Blues —a Chicago premiere featuring original and classic blues songs and our annual favorite A Christmas Carol which somehow managed to be simultaneously funnier and scarier than in years' past.   As always, the set design was pure genius and the acting was a joy to behold.   The door knocker collaboration with Redmoon was a character in and of itself, with an intense, scene stealing little cameo, that will be remembered for years to come.  Next is the world premiere of Luna Gale by Rebecca Gilman, directed by Robert Falls; Joanie Schultz directs the Chicago premiere of David Ives’ Broadway smash Venus in Fur; and Mary Zimmerman directs her latest work, The White Snake, based on the classic Chinese fable. Finally, Rachel Rockwell directs a major revival of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s 1947 musical Brigadoon, with permission from the Lerner and Loewe estates to revise the book.  We also caught The Owen Theatre season opener in October, Smokefall by Noah Haidle, a Goodman commission directed by Anne Kauffman in a world-premiere co-production with South Coast Repertory. We're eagerly anticipating the opening this month off Tracey Scott Wilson’s Buzzer directed by Jessica Thebus, and concludes with Ask Aunt Susan, Seth Bockley’s Goodman commission directed by Henry Wishcamper.