REVIEW: Extended & Highly Recommended: Gloria Playing Through Feb 19th at Goodman

Chi, IL LIVE Shows On Our Radar: BY POPULAR DEMAND, GOODMAN THEATRE ADDS TWO MORE PERFORMANCES OF ITS CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED,  GLORIA  BY BRANDEN JACOBS-JENKINS, MUST CLOSE FEBRUARY 19 ***UPCOMING ACCESSIBLE PERFORMANCES INCLUDE TOUCH TOUR/AUDIO DESCRIBED (2/11); ASL INTERPRETED (2/15) AND OPEN CAPTIONED (2/18) OFFERINGS*** Here at ChiIL Live Shows, we had the chance to catch opening night and we were blown away by Gloria. This wickedly witty production touches on some serious touch points for our society today, from mass shootings to post traumatic stress disorder, and even tell all tomes that profit from pain. This production even explores our systemic business problem of overeducated gen x employees getting nowhere, as aging baby boomers live on in management positions. Gloria poignantly points out how magazines and print resources become obsolete in a pop culture obsessed Twitter and Snapchat world, and even culture itself. Loneliness and vicious adult bullying become normalized. And savvy millennials end up bosses to brilliant, degree holding office temps twice their ages. This dystopian reality was played out by the cast with impeccable timing. Gloria is highly recommended and truly a thought provoking "must see" show. Audiences have two more opportunities to see the Chicago premiere of Gloria— a “shocking, hilarious and spectacularly honest play” (Chicago Tribune) and “tantalizing, darkly comic exposé of ambition and egoism” (Daily Herald) by MacArthur Foundation Fellow Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. Directed by Evan Cabnet, Gloria originally premiered off-Broadway in 2015 and the six-member cast—Kyle Beltran, Catherine Combs, Michael Crane, Jennifer Kim, Jeanine Serralles and Ryan Spahn—remains intact for Chicago premiere. The additional performances include Thursday, February 16 at 2pm and Sunday, February 19 at 7:30pm (closing performance). See below for special discounts including Chicago Theater Week and $20 tickets for patrons aged 35 and under.  UPCOMING ACCESSIBLE PERFORMANCES February 11, Touch Tour – 12:30 - 1pm; a presentation detailing the set, costume and character elements; Audio Described Performance – 2pm; the action/text is audibly enhanced for patrons via headset February 15, Sign Interpreted Performance – 7:30pm; professional ASL interpreter signs the action/text as played. February 18, Open Captioned Performance – 2pm; an LED sign presents dialogue in sync with the performance Visit Goodman Theatre.org/Access for more information about Goodman Theatre’s accessibility efforts. A group of ambitious twenty-somethings at one of New York’s most esteemed cultural magazines are pursuing it all—style, status and success. When a seemingly normal day at the office turns out to be anything but, these aspiring journalists recognize an opportunity to seize a career-defining moment. Tickets ($20 - $92; price subject to change) and special $20 discounted tickets (35 and younger, with promo code 20TIX) are available at GoodmanTheatre.org/Gloria, by phone at 312.443.3800 or at the box office (170 North Dearborn). Chicago Theater Week tickets ($15-30) for remaining performances are still available for purchase at ChicagoTheatreWeek.com.  Please note: Gloria contains scenes that may be disturbing; intended for mature audiences. Abbott Fund is the Major Production Sponsor and JP Morgan Chase is the Major Corporate Sponsor. In addition to Gloria, Jacobs-Jenkins’ playwriting credits include Appropriate (Signature Theatre, Obie Award and Outer Critics Circle Award nomination), Neighbors (The Public Theater), An Octoroon (Soho Repertory Theatre and Theatre for a New Audience, Obie Award) and War (Yale Repertory Theatre). He is currently a Residency Five playwright at the Signature Theatre, where his newest work, Everybody, makes its world premiere on January 31. His work has been seen at Actors Theater of Louisville, Victory Gardens Theater, Woolly Mammoth Theater, The Matrix Theater, Mixed Blood Theater, CompanyOne and the HighTide Festival in the U.K. He is under commission from LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater and Manhattan Theatre Club. Honors include a Paula Vogel Award, a fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the inaugural Tennessee Williams Award, the 2015 Steinberg Playwright Award and the 2016 “Genius” Fellowship from the MacArthur Foundation. He has taught at New York University and Queens University of Charlotte and holds an MA in performance studies from New York University and a BA from Princeton University. He is a graduate of the Lila Acheson Wallace Playwrights Program at The Juilliard School.  Cabnet’s Broadway credits include Thérèse Raquin (Roundabout Theatre Company) and The Performers. Off-Broadway credits include Gloria and Outside People (Vineyard Theater), The Model Apartment and Poor Behavior (Primary Stages), A Kid Like Jake and All-American (Lincoln Center Theater), The Dream of the Burning Boy (Roundabout Theatre Company), Elizabeth Meriwether's Oliver Parker! (stageFARM), Warrior Class (Second Stage Theatre), Oohrah! (Atlantic Theater Company), The Mistakes Madeline Made (Naked Angels) and Do I Hear a Waltz? (Encores!). Additional credits include Henry V (Chautauqua Theater Company), An American Daughter and his own adaptations of Ubu Roi and Salman Rushdie’s Haroun and the Seas of Stories (Williamstown Theatre Festival) and Saigono Samurai (Ginka Theater, Tokyo). Cabnet is the Artistic Director of Lincoln Center Theater’s LCT3. He is also a former Associate Artist with the Roundabout Theatre Company and a performance consultant for the Metropolitan Opera (Die Fledermaus). About Goodman Theatre America’s “Best Regional Theatre” (Time magazine) and “Chicago’s flagship resident stage” (Chicago Tribune), Goodman Theatre is a not-for-profit organization distinguished by the quality and scope of its artistic programming and civic engagement. Founded in 1925, the Goodman is led by Robert Falls—“Chicago’s most essential director” (Chicago Tribune ), who marks 30 years as Artistic Director this season—and Executive Director Roche Schulfer, who is celebrated for his vision and leadership over nearly four decades. Dedicated to new plays, reimagined classics and large-scale musical theater works, Goodman Theatre artists and productions have earned hundreds of awards for artistic excellence, including: two Pulitzer Prizes, 22 Tony Awards, nearly 160 Jeff Awards and more. Over the past three decades, audiences have experienced more than 150 world or American premieres, 30 major musical productions, as well as nationally and internationally celebrated productions of classic works (including Falls’ productions of Death of a Salesman, Long Day’s Journey into Night, King Lear and The Iceman Cometh, many in collaboration with actor Brian Dennehy). In addition, the Goodman is the first theater in the world to produce all 10 plays August Wilson’s “American Century Cycle.” For nearly four decades, the annual holiday tradition of A Christmas Carol has created a new generation of theatergoers.  The 2016 opening of the Alice Rapoport Center for Education and Engagement (“the Alice”) launched the next phase in the Goodman’s decades-long commitment as an arts and community organization dedicated to educating Chicago youth and promoting lifelong learning. Programs are offered year-round and free of charge. Eighty-five percent of the Goodman’s youth program participants come from underserved communities. Goodman Theatre was founded by William O. Goodman and his family in honor of their son Kenneth, an important figure in Chicago’s cultural renaissance in the early 1900s. The Goodman family’s legacy lives on through the continued work and dedication of Kenneth’s family, including Albert Ivar Goodman, who with his late mother, Edith-Marie Appleton, contributed the necessary funds for the creation of the new Goodman center in 2000. Today, Goodman Theatre leadership includes the distinguished members of the Artistic Collective: Brian Dennehy, Rebecca Gilman, Henry Godinez, Dael Orlandersmith, Steve Scott, Chuck Smith, Regina Taylor, Henry Wishcamper and Mary Zimmerman. Joan Clifford is Chair of Goodman Theatre’s Board of Trustees, Cynthia K. Scholl is Women’s Board President and Justin A. Kulovsek is President of the Scenemakers Board for young professionals.  Visit the Goodman virtually at GoodmanTheatre.org—including OnStage+ for insider information—and on Twitter (@GoodmanTheatre), Facebook and Instagram.