CASTING ANNOUNCED FOR GOODMAN PRODUCTIONS OPENING IN MARCH: PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING SWEAT AND THE WORLD PREMIERE OF LOTTERY DAY BY IKE HOLTER

ChiIL Live Shows on our radar

CASTING ANNOUNCED FOR TWO UPCOMING GOODMAN PRODUCTIONS: LYNN NOTTAGE’S 

PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING 

SWEAT, 

DIRECTED BY RON OJ PARSON (MARCH 9 – APRIL 14) AND THE WORLD PREMIERE OF 

LOTTERY DAY BY IKE HOLTER, 

DIRECTED BY LILI-ANNE BROWN 

(MARCH 29 – APRIL 28)

Goodman Theatre proudly announces the casts for its Chicago premiere of the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Sweat by Lynn Nottage, directed by Ron OJ Parson, as well as its world premiere of Lottery Day—Ike Holter’s final work in his seven-play “The Rightlynd Saga,” directed by Lili-Anne Brown. Tickets are now available for both productions at GoodmanTheatre.org, by telephone 312.443.3800 or at the box office (170 N. Dearborn). The Goodman is grateful for the support of its sponsors: for Sweat, American Airlines and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are Major Corporate Sponsors; ComEd is the Official Lighting Sponsor; Conagra Brands Foundation is the Production Sponsor; and ITW is the Corporate Sponsor Partner. For Lottery Day, Laurents/Hatcher Foundation is the Institutional Partner.

Sweat
By Lynn Nottage
Directed by Ron OJ Parson

Cynthia……...Tyla Abercrumbie
Oscar………..Steve Casillas
Jason………..Mike Cherry
Evan…………Ronald Conner
Jessie………..Chaon Cross
Tracey……….Kirsten Fitzgerald
Stan………….Keith Kupferer
Chris…………Edgar Sanchez
Brucie………..André Teamer

Sweat marks the fourth Nottage play to be produced at the Goodman, following Crumbs from the Table of Joy (2006), Ruined (a 2008 world-premiere Goodman commission that earned the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama) and By the Way, Meet Vera Stark (2013). A group of friends in a Rust Belt town has spent their lives sharing secrets and laughs on the factory floor. But when layoffs begin to chip away at their trust, they’re pitted against each other in a heart-wrenching fight in this collision of race, class and friendship at a pivotal moment in America. The creative team includes Kevin Depinet (Set Design), Mara Blumenfeld (Costume Design), Keith Parham (Lighting Design) and Richard Woodbury (Sound Design). Alden Vasquez is the Production Stage Manager.

Lottery Day
By Ike Holter
Directed by Lili-Anne Brown

Tori……………...Aurora Adachi-Winter
Mallory………....J. Nicole Brooks
Zora…………….Sydney Charles
Cassandra….....McKenzie Chinn
Robinson……....Robert Cornelius
Avery…………...James Vincent Meredith
Ezekiel………....Tommy Rivera-Vega
Nunley………....Tony Santiago
Vivien…………..Michele Vazquez
Ricky…………...Pat Whalen

“Thrilling Chicago writer” (Chicago Tribune) Holter concludes his acclaimed seven-play cycle, "The Rightlynd Saga,” by assembling his vibrant characters for a raucous theatrical bash. Long the matriarch of a quickly gentrifying neighborhood, Mallory invites the lonely residents, hardcore activists and starving artists of her block to what she hopes will go down as a legendary barbeque—thanks to a special surprise. But her mysterious plan to revitalize her community may be the very thing that tears it apart. Centering on a fictitious Chicago ward, Holter’s seven-play cycle also includes plays Red Rex (on stage through March 16 at Steep Theatre), Rightlynd, Exit Strategy, Sender, Prowess and The Wolf at the End of the Block. The creative team includes Arnel Sancianco (Set Design), Samantha C. Jones (Costume Design), Jason Lynch (Lighting Design) and Andre Pluess (Sound Design). Nikki Blue is the Production Stage Manager.

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHTS AND DIRECTORS

Lynn Nottage (Playwright, Sweat) is the first woman in history to win two Pulitzer Prizes for Drama. Her plays have been produced widely in the United States and throughout the world. Sweat (Pulitzer Prize, Obie Award, Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Tony Award nomination, Drama Desk Award nomination) moved to Broadway after a sold-out run at The Public Theater. It premiered and was commissioned by Oregon Shakespeare Festival American Revolutions History Cycle/Arena Stage. Her other plays include By The Way, Meet Vera Stark (Lilly Award, Drama Desk Nomination), Ruined (Pulitzer Prize, OBIE, Lucille Lortel, New York Drama Critics’ Circle, Audelco, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards), Intimate Apparel (American Theatre Critics and New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards for Best Play), Fabulation, or The Re-Education of Undine (OBIE Award), Crumbs from the Table of Joy, Las Meninas, Mud, River, Ston, Por’knockers and POOF! In addition, she is working with composer Ricky Ian Gordon on adapting her play Intimate Apparel into an opera (commissioned by The Metropolitan Opera/Lincoln Center Theater). She is also developing This is Reading, a performance installation based on two years of interviews, which opened at the Franklin Street, Reading Railroad Station in Reading, PA in July 2017. She is the co-founder of the production company Market Road Films, whose most recent projects include The Notorious Mr. Bout directed by Tony Gerber and Maxim Pozdorovkin (premiere at Sundance Film Festival 2014), First to Fall directed by Rachel Beth Anderson (premiere at International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, 2013) and Remote Control (premiere at Busan International Film Festival 2013, New Currents Award). She has also developed original projects for HBO, Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, Showtime, This is That and Harpo. She is writer/producer on the Netflix series She's Gotta Have It directed by Spike Lee. Nottage is the recipient of a MacArthur "Genius Grant" Fellowship, Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award, PEN/Laura Pels Master Playwright Award, Arts and Letters Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Columbia University Provost Grant, Doris Duke Artist Award, The Joyce Foundation Commission Project & Grant, Madge Evans and Sidney Kingsley Award, Nelson A. Rockefeller Award for Creativity, The Dramatists Guild Hull-Warriner Award, the inaugural Horton Foote Prize, Helen Hayes Award, the Lee Reynolds Award and the Jewish World Watch iWitness Award. She is a graduate of Brown University and the Yale School of Drama.

Ron OJ Parson (Director, Sweat) returns to Goodman Theatre, where he previously directed Let Me Live. As an actor, he last appeared at the Goodman in Romance. He is a resident artist at Court Theatre, and former co-founder and artistic director of The Onyx Theatre Ensemble. Recent directing credits include Skeleton Crew and Detroit 67 at Northlight Theatre; Fences at Kansas City Repertory Theatre; Five Guys Named Moe, Gem of the Ocean, Seven Guitars, The Mountaintop and Waiting For Godot at Court Theatre; East Texas Hot Links at Writers Theatre (where he is an associate artist); Paradise Blue, A Raisin in the Sun and Sunset Baby at TimeLine Theatre Company (where he is an associate artist), Apt. 3 A at Windy City Playhouse and The Who & The What at Victory Gardens Theater. Additional Chicago credits include Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Black Ensemble Theater, ETA Creative Arts, Congo Square Theatre Company, Teatro Vista (where he is an associate artist), Chicago Dramatists, UrbanTheater Company, Chicago Theatre Company, American Blues Theater and City Lit Theater. Regional and New York credits include Virginia Stage Company, Paul Robeson Theatre, Portland Stage, Studio Theatre, Studio Arena Theatre, Roundabout Theatre Company, Morris A. Mechanic Theatre, Baltimore Center Stage, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, The St. Louis Black Repertory, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company, Geva Theatre Center, Signature Theatre (New York), Alliance Theatre, South Coast Repertory and Pasadena Playhouse. In Canada, he directed the world premiere of Palmer Park at the Stratford Festival. Parson is a member of AEA, SAG-AFTRA and SDC. Parson hails from Buffalo, New York and is a graduate of the University of Michigan’s professional theater program. RonojParson.com

Ike Holter (Playwright, Lottery Day) is a 2017 winner of the Windham-Campbell Prize, one of the highest awards for playwriting in the world. Holter is a resident playwright at Victory Gardens Theater, and has been commissioned by The Kennedy Center, The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, South Coast Repertory and The Playwrights’ Center. His work has been produced at the Steppenwolf Garage, The Philadelphia Theater Company, off-Broadway at Barrow Street Theatre and Cherry Lane Theatre, The Lily Tomlin Center in Los Angeles, True Colors in Atlanta, Forward Theater in Wisconsin, Water Tower Theater in Dallas, 3oaks in Michigan and Jackalope Theatre Company, Teatro Vista, A Red Orchid and The Inconvenience in Chicago. He is the artistic director of The Roustabouts and is a regular performer at Salonathon in Chicago.

Lili-Anne Brown (Director, Lottery Day) is a native Chicagoan who works as a director, actor and educator, both locally and regionally. She is the former artistic director of Bailiwick Chicago, where she directed Dessa Rose (Jeff Award), Passing Strange (BTA Award and Jeff nomination for Best Director of a Musical), See What I Wanna See (Steppenwolf Theatre Garage Rep) and the world premiere of Princess Mary Demands Your Attention by Aaron Holland. Other directing credits include The Wolf at the End of the Block (16th Street Theatre), Marie Christine (Boho Theatre), Peter and the Starcatcher (Metropolis Performing Arts), The Wiz (Kokandy Productions),  Xanadu (American Theatre Company), Jabari Dreams of Freedom by Nambi E. Kelley (Chicago Children’s Theatre), American Idiot (Northwestern University); the national tour of Jesus Snatched My Edges; and Little Shop of Horrors, Hairspray, Unnecessary Farce, Cabaret, Sweet Charity, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story at Timber Lake Playhouse. She is a member of SDC, SAG-AFTRA and a graduate of Northwestern University.

ABOUT GOODMAN THEATRE

AMERICA’S “BEST REGIONAL THEATRE” (Time magazine), Goodman Theatre is a premier not-for-profit organization distinguished by the excellence and scope of its artistic programming and civic engagement. Led by Artistic Director Robert Falls and Executive Director Roche Schulfer, the theater’s artistic priorities include new play development (more than 150 world or American premieres), large scale musical theater works and reimagined classics (celebrated revivals include Falls’ productions of Death of a Salesman and The Iceman Cometh). Goodman Theatre artists and productions have earned two Pulitzer Prizes, 22 Tony Awards, over 160 Jeff Awards and many more accolades. In addition, the Goodman is the first theater in the world to produce all 10 plays in August Wilson’s “American Century Cycle;” and its annual holiday tradition A Christmas Carol, which marks its 41st production this season, has created a new generation of theatergoers. The Goodman also frequently serves as a production partner with local off-Loop theaters and national and international companies by providing financial support or physical space for a variety of artistic endeavors.

Committed to three core values of Quality, Diversity and Community, the Goodman proactively makes inclusion the fabric of the institution and develops education and community engagement programs that support arts as education. This practice uses the process of artistic creation to inspire and empower youth, lifelong learners and audiences to find and/or enhance their voices, stories and abilities. The Goodman’s Alice Rapoport Center for Education and Engagement is the home of such programming, most offered free of charge, and has vastly expanded the theater’s ability to touch the lives of Chicagoland citizens (with 85% of youth participants coming from underserved communities) since its 2016 opening.

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.

Goodman Theatre leadership also 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. David W. Fox, Jr. is Chair of Goodman Theatre’s Board of Trustees, Denise Stefan Ginascol is Women’s Board President and Megan McCarthy Hayes is President of the Scenemakers Board for young professionals.

Goodman Theatre Kicks Off 2019 With Two Kick-Ass Female-Authored World Premieres: HOW TO CATCH CREATION BY CHRISTINA ANDERSON AND TWILIGHT BOWL BY REBECCA GILMAN

ChiIL Live Shows on our radar

How to Catch Creation 

by Christina Anderson directed by Niegel Smith 

(January 28 through February 24 in the Albert Theatre) 

and 

Twilight Bowl 

by Goodman Artistic Associate Rebecca Gilman directed by Erica Weiss

As a female critic who attends upwards of twenty plays a month, I see the gender imbalance that's still prevalent on and off stage in the theatre world. Kudos to Goodman for helping to tip those scales with two world-premiere productions by women—one of which features an all-female cast, creative team and crew! We live in exciting times for increasing opportunities for women, an expanding range of roles, and stellar storytelling. It makes my feminist heart happy to witness the sea-change. I'll be out for the press openings of both shows, so check back soon for my full reviews. 

Goodman Theatre ushers in the 2019 “Year of Chicago Theatre” with How to Catch Creation by Christina Anderson directed by Niegel Smith(January 28 through February 24 in the Albert Theatre) and Twilight Bowl by Goodman Artistic Associate Rebecca Gilman directed by Erica Weiss appears February 8 – March 10 in the Owen Theatre. Tickets are available for both productions at GoodmanTheatre.org, by telephone 312.443.3800 or at the box office (170 N. Dearborn). Photos and video are now available for How to Catch Creation; visit the Press Room.



About the Plays
“I’m preparing. I’m expecting. I haven’t figured out the path to creation yet.” Creation—of life, family and art—takes center stage in this vivid portrait of three artist/intellectual couples exploring life, children and marriage, coming together and coming apart. How to Catch Creation by Christina Anderson—“a gifted playwright you want to pay attention to” (Variety)—is directed by Niegel Smith, who most recently directed the smash sensation Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) last season at the Goodman. The ensemble cast includes Karen Aldridge (Tami), Ayanna Bria Bakari (Natalie), Jasmine Bracey (G.K. Marche), Bernard Gilbert (Stokes), Maya Vinice Prentiss (Riley) and Keith Randolph Smith (Griffin). The creative team includes Todd Rosenthal (Set), Allen Lee Hughes (Lighting), Joanna Lynne Staub (Sound), Jenny Mannis (Costumes) and Justin Ellington (Composer). The Goodman Theatre Women’s Board is the Major Production Sponsor and WBEZ 91.5 is the Media Sponsor.



Pulitzer Prize finalist and Goodman Artistic Associate Rebecca Gilman marks her ninth production (and seventh world premiere) with Twilight Bowl—featuring an all-female company. Set in a rural Wisconsin bowling alley, the coming-of-age story focuses on six women struggling to define their own version of success. Erica Weiss—co-creator and -executive producer of the upcoming CBS series The Red Line and former Goodman Theatre Michael Maggio Directing Fellow—directs the world-premiere production. The ensemble cast, all of whom reprise their roles from the developmental production in the Goodman’s 2017 New Stages Festival of new plays, includes Hayley Burgess (Clarice), Heather Chrisler (Jaycee), Angela Morris (Maddy), Becca Savoy (Sam), Mary Taylor (Brielle) and Anne E. Thompson (Sharlene). The creative team includes Regina Garcia (Set), Cat Wilson (Lighting), Izumi Inaba (Costumes) and Victoria Deiorio (Sound). Major Support for Twilight Bowl is provided by the Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation and Russell Reynolds Associates is the Contributing Sponsor.






















Four productions are still to come in the Goodman’s 2018/2019 Season: Sweat by Lynn Nottage, directed by Ron OJ Parson (March 9 – April 14 in the Albert); Lottery Day by Ike Holter, directed by Lili-Anne Brown (March 29 – April 28 in the Owen); William Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, directed by Robert Falls (May 4 – June 9 in the Albert); and The Music Man, book and lyrics by Meredith Willson, based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey, directed by Mary Zimmerman (June 29 – August 4 in the Albert).

ABOUT GOODMAN THEATRE
AMERICA’S “BEST REGIONAL THEATRE” (Time magazine), Goodman Theatre is a premier not-for-profit organization distinguished by the excellence and scope of its artistic programming and civic engagement. Led by Artistic Director Robert Falls and Executive Director Roche Schulfer, the theater’s artistic priorities include new play development (more than 150 world or American premieres), large scale musical theater works and reimagined classics (celebrated revivals include Falls’ productions of Death of a Salesman and The Iceman Cometh). Goodman Theatre artists and productions have earned two Pulitzer Prizes, 22 Tony Awards, over 160 Jeff Awards and many more accolades. In addition, the Goodman is the first theater in the world to produce all 10 plays in August Wilson’s “American Century Cycle;” and its annual holiday tradition A Christmas Carol, which marks its 41st production this season, has created a new generation of theatergoers. The Goodman also frequently serves as a production partner with local off-Loop theaters and national and international companies by providing financial support or physical space for a variety of artistic endeavors.

Committed to three core values of Quality, Diversity and Community, the Goodman proactively makes inclusion the fabric of the institution and develops education and community engagement programs that support arts as education. This practice uses the process of artistic creation to inspire and empower youth, lifelong learners and audiences to find and/or enhance their voices, stories and abilities. The Goodman’s Alice Rapoport Center for Education and Engagement is the home of such programming, most offered free of charge, and has vastly expanded the theater’s ability to touch the lives of Chicagoland citizens (with 85% of youth participants coming from underserved communities) since its 2016 opening.

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 also 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. David W. Fox, Jr. is Chair of Goodman Theatre’s Board of Trustees, Denise Stefan Ginascol is Women’s Board President and Megan McCarthy Hayes is President of the Scenemakers Board for young professionals.

Tickets On Sale December 7th for Goodman Theatre's World Premiere of HOW TO CATCH CREATION

ChiIL Live Shows on our radar

CASTING ANNOUNCED FOR HOW TO CATCH CREATION BY CHRISTINA ANDERSON, A WORLD PREMIERE DIRECTED BY NIEGEL SMITH JANUARY 19 – FEBRUARY 24, 2019 IN THE ALBERT THEATRE

***TICKETS GO ON SALE THIS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7***

Goodman Theatre proudly announces its cast for the world premiere of How to Catch Creation by Christina Anderson—“a gifted playwright you want to pay attention to” (Variety). A vivid portrait of three artist/intellectual couples exploring life, children and marriage—coming together and coming apart—How to Catch Creation is directed by Niegel Smith, who most recently directed the smash sensation Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) last season at the Goodman. The ensemble cast includes Karen Aldridge (Tami), Ayanna Bria Bakari (Natalie), Jasmine Bracey (G.K. Marche), Bernard Gilbert (Stokes), Maya Vinice Prentiss (Riley) and Keith Randolph Smith (Griffin). The creative team includes Todd Rosenthal (Set), Allen Lee Hughes (Lighting), Jenny Mannis (Costumes) and Justin Ellington (Composer). 

Tickets ($25 - $70; subject to change) go on sale this Friday, December 7 at GoodmanTheatre.org/Creation, by telephone at 312.443.3800 or at the box office (170 N. Dearborn). The Goodman Theatre Women’s Board is the Major Production Sponsor and WBEZ 91.5 is the Media Sponsor.

A young writer’s life turns upside down when her girlfriend drops some unexpected news. Fifty years later, four artists feel the reverberations of that moment—and its unexpected consequences—as their lives intersect in pursuit of creative passion and legacy. In this bold, imaginative work, Christina Anderson dissects the universal act of creation to inspire the dreamers and idealists in us all.

Playwright Christina Anderson’s body of work includes the plays Blacktop Sky, pen/man/ship, The Ashes Under Gait City and Man in Love. Her plays have appeared at The Public Theater, Yale Repertory Theatre, Penumbra Theatre and Playwrights Horizons, among others in the United States and Canada. She is a resident playwright at New Dramatists and Epic Theatre Ensemble, a DNAWORKS ensemble member and the interim head of playwriting at Brown University. Awards and honors include the inaugural Harper Lee Award for Playwriting, two Playwrights of New York nominations, three Susan Smith Blackburn Prize nominations and a Woursell Prize finalist. Anderson received her BA from Brown University and MFA from the Yale School of Drama’s playwriting program.

Director Niegel Smith is a Bessie Award-winning theater director and performance artist. He is the artistic director of New York’s The Flea; board member of A.R.T./New York and ringleader of Willing Participant, an artistic activist organization. His theater work has been produced by Alley Theatre, HERE, Hip Hop Theatre Festival, Magic Theatre, Mixed Blood, New York International Fringe Festival, New York Live Arts, Phoenix Theatre Ensemble, Playwrights Horizons, Pomegranate Arts, The Public Theater, St. Ann’s Warehouse, Summer Play Festival and Under the Radar Festival, and his participatory walks and performances have been produced by Abrons Arts Center, American Realness, Dartmouth College, Elastic City, The Invisible Dog Art Center, Jack, The New Museum, Prelude Festival, PS 122, the Van Alen Institute and Visual AIDS. He often collaborates with playwright/performer Taylor Mac and with artist Todd Shalom. Smith was co­-director of the critically acclaimed A 24­ Decade History of Popular Music, winner of the Kennedy Prize in Drama, the Edwin Booth Award and a Pulitzer Prize finalist. NiegelSmith.com.

ABOUT THE CAST

Karen Aldridge (Tami) returns to Goodman Theatre, where previous credits include The Trinity River Plays, Proof (Black Theater Alliance Award, The Ruby Dee Award – Best Leading Actress in a Play), The Good Negro and The Cook (Jeff Award nomination for Best Actress). Additional Chicago theater credits include Victims of Duty at A Red Orchid Theatre; Love’s Labour’s Lost, MacBeth, Twelfth Night and Tug of War at Chicago Shakespeare Theater; The Seagull at Writers Theatre; Far Away and In the Blood (Jeff Award nomination for Best Actress) at Next Theatre Company; The Qualms, Clybourne Park and she originated the role of Tamyra in Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer Prize nominated Man from Nebraska at Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Aldridge starred in the international tours of Battlefield and Le Costume, both directed by Peter Brook. She also originated the role of Mrs. Phelps in the production of Matilda the Musical on Broadway. Film and television credits include Chicago Fire, Chicago PD and Chicago Med (NBC); Boss (STARZ!); Blue Bloods and Unforgettable (CBS); The Get Down (Netflix, produced and directed by Baz Luhrmann) and Ron Howard's film The Dilemma.

Ayanna Bria Bakari (Natalie) makes her Goodman Theatre debut. Theater credits include Indiana Repertory Theatre, Victory Gardens Theater, Emerald City Theatre, Raven Theatre, The New Colony, Red Theater, 16th Street Theater, TimeLine Theatre. She also performed in Stage Left Theatre’s Jeff nominated production of Insurrection: Holding History. Bakari is currently an ensemble member with The Story Theatre. Television credits include Chicago PD and a recurring role on ShowTime’s The CHI. She graduated with a BFA in acting from The Theatre School at DePaul University and is currently represented by Stewart Talent. 

Jasmine Bracey (G.K. Marche) returns to Goodman Theatre where she previously appeared in A Christmas Carol. Chicago credits include Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Chicago Shakespeare Theater and Chicago Dramatists. Regionally, she has worked with Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Alley Theatre, Guthrie Theater, Resident Ensemble Players and Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival. Bracey has toured with The Acting Company and appeared in several independent films and commercials.

Bernard Gilbert (Stokes) returns to Goodman Theatre where he previously appeared in Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3). Additional Chicago credits include Skeleton Crew (Northlight Theatre), Our Lady of 121st Street (Eclipse Theatre Company), Man in the Ring (Court Theatre) and a tour of Letters Home (Griffin Theatre). Regional credits include Two Trains Running at the Weston Playhouse Theatre Company in Vermont, and productions of The Royale at City Theatre Company in Pittsburgh and the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. Television credits include Chicago P.D. Gilbert received his MFA from The Theatre School at DePaul University and Morehouse College.

Maya Vinice Prentiss (Riley) Chicago credits include productions with Goodman Theatre, Definition Theatre Company, Pegasus Theatre Chicago and Teatro Vista. She is a recent MFA acting graduate from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and holds a BA in drama from Spelman College. Prentiss is originally from Richmond, Virginia.

Keith Randolph Smith (Griffin) returns to Goodman Theatre, where he was previously in The Dreams of Sarah Breedlove and Jitney. Broadway credits include Jitney, American Psycho, Fences, Come Back Little Sheba, King Hedley II, Salome and Piano Lesson. Recent Off-Broadway credits include The Revolving Cycles Truly and Steadily Roll’d, Paradise Blue, First Breeze of Summer and Tamburlane the Great. Regional credits include the Alliance Theatre in The C.A. Lyons Project by Tsehaye Geralyn Hebert, The Old Globe, City Theatre and Seattle Repertory Theatre, among others. Smith is a company member of Quick Silver Theater Company and The Actors Center. He is also the recipient of acting fellowships from TCG/Fox Foundation and the Lunt-Fontanne Foundation; and a graduate of the conservatory of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

ABOUT GOODMAN THEATRE

AMERICA’S “BEST REGIONAL THEATRE” (Time magazine), Goodman Theatre is a premier not-for-profit organization distinguished by the excellence and scope of its artistic programming and civic engagement. Led by Artistic Director Robert Falls and Executive Director Roche Schulfer, the theater’s artistic priorities include new play development (more than 150 world or American premieres), large scale musical theater works and reimagined classics (celebrated revivals include Falls’ productions of Death of a Salesman and The Iceman Cometh). Goodman Theatre artists and productions have earned two Pulitzer Prizes, 22 Tony Awards, over 160 Jeff Awards and many more accolades. In addition, the Goodman is the first theater in the world to produce all 10 plays in August Wilson’s “American Century Cycle;” and its annual holiday tradition A Christmas Carol, which marks its 41st production this season, has created a new generation of theatergoers. The Goodman also frequently serves as a production partner with local off-Loop theaters and national and international companies by providing financial support or physical space for a variety of artistic endeavors.

Committed to three core values of Quality, Diversity and Community, the Goodman proactively makes inclusion the fabric of the institution and develops education and community engagement programs that support arts as education. This practice uses the process of artistic creation to inspire and empower youth, lifelong learners and audiences to find and/or enhance their voices, stories and abilities. The Goodman’s Alice Rapoport Center for Education and Engagement is the home of such programming, most offered free of charge, and has vastly expanded the theater’s ability to touch the lives of Chicagoland citizens (with 85% of youth participants coming from underserved communities) since its 2016 opening.

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 also 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. David W. Fox, Jr. is Chair of Goodman Theatre’s Board of Trustees, Denise Stefan Ginascol is Women’s Board President and Megan McCarthy Hayes is President of the Scenemakers Board for young professionals.

OPENING: WORLD PREMIERE of Lady in Denmark at Goodman Theatre Through November 18th, 2018

ChiIL Live Shows On Our Radar:

LADY IN DENMARK, 

DAEL ORLANDERSMITH’S PASSIONATE REFLECTION ON LIFE AND LOVE,  APPEARS 

OCTOBER 19 – NOVEMBER 18 

AT GOODMAN THEATRE

***DIRECTED BY OBIE AWARD-WINNER CHAY YEW, THE WORLD PREMIERE PRODUCTION STARS STAGE AND SCREEN ACTRESS LINDA GEHRINGER***

I'm elated to be catching the press opening and reviewing for ChiILLiveShows.com. Dael Orlandersmith and Chay Yew are favorites of mine and I'm eager to see their collaboration on Goodman's latest, Lady in Denmark. I'll be out on opening night, October 29th, so check back soon for my full review.

Pulitzer Prize Finalist Dael Orlandersmith highlights the universal languages of love and music in Lady in Denmark, kicks off the 2018/2019 season in the 350-seat flexible Owen Theatre. Chay Yew, who also helmed the play’s 2016 New Stages Festival staged reading, directs Linda Gehringer as Helene—a Danish American woman coping with the death of her husband who finds solace in the hauntingly beautiful music of their favorite singer, Billie Holiday. Orlandersmith’s newest play is Helene’s journey through the couple’s time together—from the smoky jazz clubs of post-war Copenhagen to the home they shared in present-day Andersonville, Chicago. The creative team includes Andrew Boyce (set), Christine Pascual (costumes), Lee Fiskness (lighting) and Mikhail Fiksel (original music and sound). Donald E. Claxon is the production stage manager. Lady in Denmark appears October 19 – November 18, 2018 (opening night is October 29 at 7pm) in the Goodman’s Owen Theatre (170 N. Dearborn); tickets ($15-45; subject to change), by telephone 312.443.3800 or online GoodmanTheatre.org/LadyInDenmark.

“Lady in Denmark is a celebration of life and our need to embrace the beauty in aging and death. It explores the universalism of art using the greatness of Billie Holiday, as her work continues to speak to everyone, everywhere,” said playwright Dael Orlandersmith. “It has been a wonder to reunite with Chay Yew—my bright, funny and sharp longtime friend and colleague. I’m grateful to have embarked on this journey with him and the talented Linda Gehringer.” 

The world premiere production marks Orlandersmith’s fourth collaboration with the Goodman. Her most recent work, Until the Flood, appeared at the Goodman during the 2017/2018 Season; and previous works include Black n Blue Boys/Broken Men (2012/2013 Season) and Stoop Stories (2009/2010 Season). She joined the Goodman’s Artistic Collective in 2016 as an Artistic Associate and Alice Center Resident Artist. Orlandersmith was named a Pulitzer Prize finalist and Drama Desk nominee Outstanding Play and Outstanding Actress in a Play for her 2002 production, Yellowman, premiered at the Manhattan Theatre Club.

“This play is a valentine to Chicago, a story that celebrates our local Danish community—a community we don't often experience in the theater. With incredible deftness, poetry and compassion, Dael explores the history, legacy and heritage of our often forgotten Chicago elderly,” said director Chay Yew, whose previous Goodman credits includes the 2012 Chicago premiere of Orlandersmith’s Black n Blue Boys/Broken Men. “Dael has masterfully woven the last seven decades of American and global history, and addressed pressing issues of race, gender and politics, into this beautiful work about love, loss and marriage.”

American Airlines is the Contributing Sponsor for Lady in Denmark. The Goodman is grateful for the generosity of its New Work sponsors, including: the Time Warner Foundation, Lead Support of New Play Development; the Pritzker Pucker Family Foundation, Major Support of New Play Development; the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, Major Support of New Work Development; and The Glasser and Rosenthal Family, Support of New Work Development.

TICKETS, DISCOUNTS AND SPECIAL EVENTS

Tickets ($15-$45) – GoodmanTheatre.org/LadyInDenmark; 312.443.3800; Fax: 312.443.3825; TTY/TDD: 312.443.3829

Box Office Hours –12noon - 5pm; on performance days, the box office remains open until 30 minutes past curtain

MezzTix – Half-price day-of-performance mezzanine tickets available at 10am online (promo code MEZZTIX) 

$10Tix – Student $10 advance performance tickets; limit four, with valid student ID (promo code 10TIX)

Teen Arts Pass (TAP) – $5 day-of-performance tickets for teens ages 13-19; subject to availability; limit two, with valid TAP identification. Sign up at TeenArtsPass.org (promo code TAP)

CityKey – CityKey Cardholders access half-price mezzanine tickets; limit four, with valid CityKey ID. Sign up at ChiCityClerk.com/ChicagoCityKey (promo code CITYKEY)

Group Sales are available for parties 10+; 312.443.3820

Gift Certificates – Available in any amount; GoodmanTheatre.org/GiftCertificates

POST-SHOW DISCUSSION – October 24, November 1 and 4 | immediately following the performance FREE. Audiences are encouraged to stay after select performances for a conversation led by members of the Artistic Team, often including artists from the show, over a complimentary glass of wine. GoodmanTheatre.org/DrinksDiscussion

SCHOOL MATINEE SERIES – November 7 and 8 | Chicago high schools that are partnered with the Goodman experience a matinee performance and participate in a post-show discussion with Goodman artists. GoodmanTheatre.org/SMS

Audiences can save more with Goodman Theatre’s MEMBERSHIP packages—including Classic, 8-play, 5-play or 3-play packages; Choice, a personalized package that can include both Owen and Albert productions; and Whenever—the ultimate flexible package, to be used at any time during the season. All Goodman members receive unlimited ticket exchanges, discounted parking, 15% savings at the Goodman bar and gift shop, restaurant discounts and more. To purchase a Membership visit GoodmanTheatre.org/Memberships or call the Box Office at 312.443.3800.

ACCESSIBILITY AT THE GOODMAN

Touch Tour, November 11 at 12:30pm – A presentation detailing the set, costume and character elements

Audio Described Performance, November 11 at 2pm – The action/text is audibly enhanced for patrons via headset

ASL Interpreted Performance, November 17 at 2pm 
Professional ASL interpreter signs the action/text as played 

Open Captioned Performance, November 18 at 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.

ABOUT GOODMAN THEATRE

AMERICA’S “BEST REGIONAL THEATRE” (Time magazine), Goodman Theatre is a premier not-for-profit organization distinguished by the excellence and scope of its artistic programming and civic engagement. Led by Artistic Director Robert Falls and Executive Director Roche Schulfer, the theater’s artistic priorities include new play development (more than 150 world or American premieres), large scale musical theater works and reimagined classics (celebrated revivals include Falls’ productions of Death of a Salesman and The Iceman Cometh). Goodman Theatre artists and productions have earned two Pulitzer Prizes, 22 Tony Awards, over 160 Jeff Awards and many more accolades. In addition, the Goodman is the first theater in the world to produce all 10 plays in August Wilson’s “American Century Cycle;” and its annual holiday tradition A Christmas Carol, which celebrates its 41st anniversary this season, has created a new generation of theatergoers. The Goodman also frequently serves as a production partner with local off-Loop theaters and national and international companies by providing financial support or physical space for a variety of artistic endeavors.

Committed to three core values of Quality, Diversity and Community, the Goodman proactively makes inclusion the fabric of the institution and develops education and community engagement programs that support arts as education. This practice uses the process of artistic creation to inspire and empower youth, lifelong learners and audiences to find and/or enhance their voices, stories and abilities. The Goodman’s Alice Rapoport Center for Education and Engagement is the home of such programming, most offered free of charge, and has vastly expanded the theater’s ability to touch the lives of Chicagoland citizens (with 85% of youth participants coming from underserved communities) since its 2016 opening.

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 also 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. David W. Fox, Jr. is Chair of Goodman Theatre’s Board of Trustees, Denise Stefan Ginascol is Women’s Board President and Megan McCarthy Hayes is President of the Scenemakers Board for young professionals.

Goodman Theatre FREE With RSVP: PlayBuild Youth Intensive and Musical Theater Intensive August 10th & 11th

GOODMAN THEATRE YOUTH PROGRAM 

PARTICIPANTS COMMEMORATE 1968 

HISTORICAL EVENTS IN PUBLIC SHOWCASES

***AUGUST 10 AND 11 PERFORMANCES FEATURE PARTICIPANTS FROM PLAYBUILD YOUTH INTENSIVE AND MUSICAL THEATRE INTENSIVE (RESPECTIVELY)*** 

More than 60 Chicagoland students make their Goodman Theatre debut on the mainstage to conclude summer programming—PlayBuild Youth Intensive and Musical Theater Intensive—on August 10 and 11 at 7pm. The free programs were taught over a course of seven-to-eight weeks in the Alice Rapoport Center for Education and Engagement. This year’s theme is 1968, marking the 50th anniversary of the now historic year—Musical Theater Intensive will feature selections from the rock musical Hair and more. The PlayBuild final performance will also feature members of the Goodman’s InterGens program—participants who have previously participated in the Goodman’s education programs—to create a special opening piece for the August 10 performance. The final showcases takes place on Friday, August 10 and Saturday, August 11 at 7pm at Goodman Theatre (170 N. Dearborn). Tickets are free but reservations are required; call 312.443.3800. For more information, visit GoodmanTheatre.org/PlaybuildYouthFinal and GoodmanTheatre.org/MusicalTheaterFinal.

Now in its 11th year, PlayBuild Youth Intensive’s seven-week curriculum uses all elements in the creation of theater to cultivate participants own voice and potential for creativity through personal history and storytelling techniques. Led by Walter Director of Education and Engagement Willa J. Taylor and 11 teaching artists—Amanda Delheimer, Khanisha Foster, Charles Gardner, Brandi Lee, Airos Sung-En Medill, Tony Sancho, Paul Whitehouse and Walker Zupan—more than 600 students have participated in PlayBuild (formerly General Theater Studies) since its inception.

Musical Theater Intensive, now in its third year, is led by acclaimed Chicago-based musical director Doug Peck together with Goodman teaching artists—Breon Arzell, Mark Jacob Chaitin, McKenzie Chinn, Liam Collier, Mateo Hernandez and Darian Tene. The eight-week program designed for young artists wishing to pursue a musical theater career. Through skill-building workshops designed to refine skills in acting, dancing, singing, storytelling and ensemble work, participants build a final musical showcase of original creations, works of classic and contemporary musical theater, and pop.

The Goodman is grateful for the generous support of its Education and Engagement program sponsors. The James and Madeleine McMullan Family Foundation is the Major Supporter of the Musical Theatre Intensive. PepsiCo is the Official Nutrition Sponsor for PlayBuild | Youth Intensive. The Goodman Scenemakers Board is the Sponsor Partner for PlayBuild | Youth intensive. KPMG is the Supporter of PlayBuild | Youth Intensive. The Goodman Women’s Board is the Major Supporter of Education and Engagement.

ABOUT GOODMAN THEATRE

AMERICA’S “BEST REGIONAL THEATRE” (Time magazine), Goodman Theatre is a premier not-for-profit organization distinguished by the excellence and scope of its artistic programming and civic engagement. Led by Artistic Director Robert Falls and Executive Director Roche Schulfer, the theater’s artistic priorities include new play development (more than 150 world or American premieres), large scale musical theater works and reimagined classics (celebrated revivals include Falls’ productions of Death of a Salesman and The Iceman Cometh). Goodman Theatre artists and productions have earned two Pulitzer Prizes, 22 Tony Awards, over 160 Jeff Awards and many more accolades. In addition, the Goodman is the first theater in the world to produce all 10 plays in August Wilson’s “American Century Cycle” and its four-decade annual holiday tradition A Christmas Carol, which has created a new generation of theatergoers. The Goodman also frequently serves as a production partner with local off-Loop theaters and national and international companies by providing financial support or physical space for a variety of artistic endeavors.

Committed to three core values of Quality, Diversity and Community, the Goodman proactively makes inclusion the fabric of the institution and develops education and community engagement programs that support arts as education. This practice uses the process of artistic creation to inspire and empower youth, lifelong learners and audiences to find and/or enhance their voices, stories and abilities. The Goodman’s Alice Rapoport Center for Education and Engagement is the home of such programming, most offered free of charge, and has vastly expanded the theater’s ability to touch the lives of Chicagoland citizens (with 85% of youth participants coming from underserved communities) since its 2016 opening.

Goodman Theatre was founded in 1925 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 also 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. David W. Fox, Jr.is Chair of Goodman Theatre’s Board of Trustees, Denise Stefan Ginascol is Women’s Board President and Megan McCarthy Hayes is President of the Scenemakers Board for young professionals.

OPENING: STACY KEACH RETURNS AS ERNEST HEMINGWAY IN PAMPLONA BY JIM MCGRATH AT GOODMAN THEATRE THROUGH AUGUST 19TH

Chi IL Live Shows On Our Radar:

PAMPLONA BY JIM MCGRATH AT GOODMAN THEATRE

***STACY KEACH RETURNS AS ERNEST HEMINGWAY IN ROBERT FALLS’ WORLD PREMIERE PRODUCTION; OPENING NIGHT IS JULY 15, RUNS THROUGH AUGUST 19***

Stage and screen (CBS’ Man with a Plan, Mike Hammer Series, Goodman Theatre’s King Lear) veteran Stacy Keach is Ernest Hemingway in Pamplona by Jim McGrath, directed by Robert Falls—now appearing in the Owen Theatre through August 19. Originally scheduled for spring 2017, Pamplona appeared for 11 preview performances, but never opened: Goodman Theatre canceled the run after Keach suffered a mild heart attack and doctors ordered recuperation. Pamplona marks Keach’s second exploration of the literary legend: he earned a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Award nomination for his portrayal of Hemingway in the eponymous 1988 television mini-series. The creative team includes Kevin Depinet (set), Noël Huntzinger (costumes), Jesse Klug (Lights), Michael Roth (composer and soundscape), Adam Flemming (Projections) and Lauren V. Hickman is the Production Stage Manager. 

Pamplona appears through August 19 in the Owen Theatre. Tickets ($25-90, subject to change) are available at GoodmanTheatre.org, by telephone, 312.443.3800, or in person at the Goodman Box Office (170 N. Dearborn).

In Pamplona, after the prize comes the pressure. Basking in the glory of career-defining awards—the 1953 Pulitzer Prize and the coveted Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954—legendary writer Ernest Hemingway insists his best work is yet to come. Five years later, holed up in a Spanish hotel with a looming deadline, he struggles to knock out a story about the rivalrous matadors of Pamplona. But his real battles lie outside the bullfighting arena; in declining health, consumed by his troubled fourth marriage and tormented by the specter of past glories, he must now conquer the deepening despair that threatens to engulf him.

Pamplona is generously sponsored by the Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation and The Peninsula Chicago is the Corporate Sponsor Partner. 

TICKETS AND DISCOUNTS

Tickets ($25-$90) – GoodmanTheatre.org/Pamplona; 312.443.3800; Fax: 312.443.3825; TTY/TDD: 312.443.3829

Box Office Hours –12noon - 5pm; on performance days, the box office remains open until 30 minutes past curtain

Group Sales are available for parties 10+; 312.443.3820

MezzTix – Half-price day-of-performance mezzanine tickets available at 10am online (promo code MEZZTIX) 
$10Tix – Student $10 advance tickets; limit four, with valid student ID (promo code 10TIX)
Teen Arts Pass (TAP) – $5 day-of-performance tickets for teens ages 13-19; subject to availability; limit two, with valid TAP identification. Sign up at TeenArtsPass.org (promo code TAP)

CityKey – CityKey Cardholders access half-price mezzanine tickets; limit four, with valid CityKey ID. Sign up at ChiCityClerk.com/ChicagoCityKey (promo code CITYKEY)

Gift Certificates – Available in any amount; GoodmanTheatre.org/GiftCertificates

ACCESSIBLE PERFORMANCES

Open Captioned Performance, August 12 at 2pm – LED sign presents dialogue in sync with the performance 

ASL Interpreted Performance, August 15 at 7:30pm – Professional ASL interpreter signs the action/text as played 

Touch Tour, August 19 at 12:30pm – A presentation detailing the set, costume and character elements

Audio Described Performance, August 19 at 2pm – The action/text is audibly enhanced for patrons via headset

Visit Goodman Theatre.org/Access for more information about Goodman Theatre’s accessibility efforts.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS 

Ernest Hemingway (1899 – 1961) was born in Oak Park, IL, and got his start as a journalist writing for The Kansas City Star after attending Oak Park and River Forest High School. Shortly after, he joined the Red Cross during World War I, receiving the Italian Silver Medal of Bravery in 1918 for assisting soldiers, an experience that would inspire one of his most beloved works, A Farewell to Arms (1929). Following the war, he spent time in Paris, befriending the likes of Gertrude Stein, James Joyce and F. Scott Fitzgerald, and published his first collection, Three Stories and Ten Poems (1923). Next came his first novel, The Sun Also Rises (1926), about a group of British and American expatriates traveling to Pamplona, Spain. Among his many other great works are the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Old Man and the Sea, For the Whom Bell Tolls (Pulitzer Prize nomination), Green Hills of Africa, Death in the Afternoon and To Have and Have Not. On assignment, Hemingway was also present for some of World War II’s most noted events, including the liberation of Paris, and received a Bronze Star for bravery for his coverage of the war. Following the war, he spent an extensive amount of time in Cuba and in 1954, shortly after publishing The Old Man and the Sea, received the Nobel Prize for Literature. Hemingway was married four times, often tumultuously, to Elizabeth Hadley Richardson, Pauline Pfeiffer, Martha Gelhorn and Mary Welsh Hemingway. He had three sons, Jack, Patrick and Gregory. Troubled by financial issues, familial burdens and alcohol abuse, Hemingway took his own life in Idaho in 1961.

Stacy Keach (Ernest Hemingway) performed in top motion picture and television projects while continuing to add to his stage work, both classical and Broadway. His most recent motion picture, Gotti, starring John Travolta, is set to premiere in 2018. Other recent films include director Stephen Gaghan’s Gold, starring Matthew McConaughey, Edgar Ramirez and Bryce Dallas Howard; Truth, teamed with Cate Blanchett and Robert Redford; and the film adaptation of the Stephen King novel Cell, also starring John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson. Keach’s filmography also includes John Huston’s Fat City co-starring Jeff Bridges, Alexander Payne’s Academy Award-nominated Nebraska, If I Stay, The Bourne Supremacy, Sin City: A Dame To Kill For, The Ninth Configuration,; The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter, Doc, Up In Smoke, American History, and the classic western The Long-Riders, which he produced with his brother James Keach. Keach recently finished filming the second season of the CBS award-winning comedy series Man With A Plan, alongside Matt LeBlanc and Kevin Nealon. He was one of the stars of the NBC comedy series Crowded, and he guest-starred on Showtime’s Ray Donovan, starring Liev Schreiber and Jon Voight. He also guest-starred on Starz’s second season of Blunt Talk, starring Sir Patrick Stewart, and continues on a recurring role on CBS’ Blue Bloods, starring Tom Selleck. His prior television series credits include his title role performance in Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer and Titus. He has been seen on many hit shows such as Two and a Half Men, Prison Break, NCIS: New Orleans and Hot In Cleveland. As a narrator, he has been heard in many documentaries and books on tape. He is also the narrator on CNBC’s American Greed. Keach is considered a pre-eminent American interpreter of Shakespeare, with his Shakespearean roles including Hamlet, Henry V, Coriolanus, Falstaff, Macbeth, Richard III and King Lear (at Goodman Theatre and Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C., directed by Robert Falls). He also led the national touring company cast of Frost/Nixon, portraying Richard M. Nixon. Keach’s memoir, All in All: An Actor’s Life On and Off the Stage, was an initial recipient of the Prism Literary Award for work addressing overcoming addictive behavior. His performance honors include a Best Actor Golden Globe Award, three OBIE Awards, three Vernon Rice Awards, two Drama Desk Awards, three Helen Hayes Awards, the prestigious Millennium Recognition Award and the Will Award, and he has been nominated for Emmy and Tony Awards. In 2015, he was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame. In 2016, Keach received a Hollywood Film Award for Best Ensemble in the film Gold. He also received the 2016 Best Narrator Award from the Society of Voice Arts and Sciences in the category of Crime and Thriller for his work on the Mike Hammer audio novels. Keach was a Fulbright scholar to the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and attended the University of California at Berkeley and the Yale School of Drama. Keach has been married to his wife Malgosia for 31 years, and they have two children, son Shannon and daughter Karolina.

Jim McGrath’s first short play, Trail of the Westwoods Pewee, was presented at the West Bank Theatre in New York City in 1987. The next year saw the production of his first full-length play, Bob’s Guns, at the Director’s Company in New York. In 1992, New Jersey’s Passage Theatre produced his play Roebling Steel. In 1995, the Met Theatre in Los Angeles premiered The Ellis Jump, which won McGrath the Ovation Award for Best Writing of a World Premier Play. For television, he wrote detective stories for Simon & Simon, The Father Dowling Mysteries, Matlock, Mike Hammer and Over My Dead Body, as well as the children’s series Wishbone and Liberty Kids, science fiction series Quantum Leap, Codename Eternity and Dark Realm and the television films Elvis: The Early Years and Silver Bells (starring Anne Heche). He also co-wrote the screenplay for the feature film Kickboxer: Vengeance. In 2012, he produced and wrote the documentary Momo: The Sam Giancana Story, which won Best Documentary Awards at the Bel Air Film Festival and The Monaco International Film Festival. He has taught creative writing courses at Patton State Prison in San Bernardino, California State Home for Veterans in Los Angeles and The Center Theater in Chicago. He was trained as an artist leader with Imagination Workshop, by founders Margaret Ladd and Lyle Kessler in 1983, for which he worked with mentally ill and homeless clients for decades as a theater artist. In 2010, he became Executive Director of Imagination Workshop. McGrath is a native of Dallas, Texas. After graduating SMU, he attended Princeton Theological Seminary for two years before embarking on his playwriting career.

Robert Falls (Goodman Theatre Artistic Director) previously directed at the Goodman the world premiere of Rogelio Martinez’s Blind Date, the Chicago premiere of Rebecca Gilman’s Soups, Stews, and Casseroles: 1976, and partnered with Goodman Playwright-in-Residence Seth Bockley to direct their world premiere adaptation of Roberto Bolaño’s 2666 (Jeff Award for Best Adaptation). Falls will direct a new production of Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People (March 10 – April 15, 2018) at the Goodman, and also remount his Lyric Opera of Chicago production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni for the Dallas Opera (April 2018). Recent productions also include The Iceman Cometh for the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Rebecca Gilman’s Luna Gale for the Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles, Measure for Measure and the world and off-Broadway premieres of Beth Henley’s The Jacksonian. Among his other credits are The Seagull, King Lear, Desire Under the Elms, John Logan’s Red, Jon Robin Baitz’s Three Hotels, Eric Bogosian’s Talk Radio and Conor McPherson’s Shining City; the world premieres of Richard Nelson’s Frank’s Home, Arthur Miller’s Finishing the Picture, Eric Bogosian’s Griller, Steve Tesich’s The Speed of Darkness and On the Open Road, John Logan’s Riverview: A Melodrama with Music and Rebecca Gilman’s A True History of the Johnstown Flood, Blue Surge and Dollhouse; the American premiere of Alan Ayckbourn’s House and Garden; and the Broadway premiere of Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida. Mr. Falls’ honors for directing include, among others, a Tony Award (Death of a Salesman), a Drama Desk Award (Long Day’s Journey into Night), an Obie Award (subUrbia), a Helen Hayes Award (King Lear) and multiple Jeff Awards (including a 2012 Jeff Award for The Iceman Cometh). For “outstanding contributions to theater,” Mr. Falls has been recognized with such prestigious honors as the Savva Morozov Diamond Award (Moscow Art Theatre), the O’Neill Medallion (Eugene O’Neill Society), the Distinguished Service to the Arts Award (Lawyers for the Creative Arts), the Illinois Arts Council Governor’s Award and induction into the Theater Hall of Fame.

About Goodman Theatre
AMERICA’S “BEST REGIONAL THEATRE” (Time magazine), Goodman Theatre is a premier not-for-profit organization distinguished by the excellence and scope of its artistic programming and civic engagement. Led by Artistic Director Robert Falls and Executive Director Roche Schulfer, the theater’s artistic priorities include new play development (more than 150 world or American premieres), large scale musical theater works and reimagined classics (celebrated revivals include Falls’ productions of Death of a Salesman and The Iceman Cometh). Goodman Theatre artists and productions have earned two Pulitzer Prizes, 22 Tony Awards, over 160 Jeff Awards and many more accolades. In addition, the Goodman is the first theater in the world to produce all 10 plays in August Wilson’s “American Century Cycle” and its annual holiday tradition A Christmas Carol, which celebrated its 40th anniversary this season, has created a new generation of theatergoers. The Goodman also frequently serves as a production partner with local off-Loop theaters and national and international companies by providing financial support or physical space for a variety of artistic endeavors.

Committed to three core values of Quality, Diversity and Community, the Goodman proactively makes inclusion the fabric of the institution and develops education and community engagement programs that support arts as education. This practice uses the process of artistic creation to inspire and empower youth, lifelong learners and audiences to find and/or enhance their voices, stories and abilities. The Goodman’s Alice Rapoport Center for Education and Engagement is the home of such programming, most offered free of charge, and has vastly expanded the theater’s ability to touch the lives of Chicagoland citizens (with 85% of youth participants coming from underserved communities) since its 2016 opening.

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 also 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. David W. Fox, Jr. 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.

Shows On Our Radar: SUPPORT GROUP FOR MEN at GOODMAN THEATRE Through JULY 29

Chi IL Live Shows On Our Radar:

SUPPORT GROUP FOR MEN, 

ELLEN FAIREY’S OF-THE-MOMENT SUMMER COMEDY DIRECTED BY KIMBERLY SENIOR, 

PREMIERES AT GOODMAN THEATRE 

JUNE 23 – JULY 29

***SPECIAL EVENTS INCLUDE JUNE 27 “COCKTAILS AND COMEDY,” HOSTED BY THE SCENEMAKERS BOARD OF YOUNG PROFESSIONALS; AND JULY 1 “ARTIST ENCOUNTER” OPPORTUNITY TO MEET THE PLAYWRIGHT AND DIRECTOR***

“We are brothers, we are men. We do not give advice or comment on other people’s feelings or situations. We only talk when we have the stick.” These are the rules of Support Group for Men, a new comedy by Ellen Fairey (Graceland, TV’s Nurse Jackie, Masters of Sex, The Sinner) about what it means to be a man in today’s America. Directed by Kimberly Senior, Support Group for Men explores shifting social and gender roles through the lens of four Chicago guys—Delano (Anthony Irons), Brian (Ryan Kitley), Roger (Keith Kupferer) and Kevin (Tommy Rivera-Vega)—who gather weekly to vent about middle-aged maladies in a Wrigleyville apartment. Also cast are Jeff Kurysz, Sadieh Rifai and Eric Slater, and the creative team includes Jack Magaw (sets), Noël Huntzinger (costumes), Jen Schriever (lighting) and Richard Woodbury (sound). 

Support Group for Men appears June 23 – July 29, 2018 (opening night is July 2 at 7pm) in the Goodman’s Albert Theatre. Tickets ($25 - $80; subject to change) are available at GoodmanTheatre.org/SupportGroup, by telephone at 312.443.3800 or at the box office (170 N. Dearborn).

“Hilarious, warm-hearted and honest, Ellen Fairey’s Support Group for Men is the perfect summertime entertainment—a witty, timely exploration of who we are, who we thought we were, and who we can become,” said Goodman Theatre Artistic Director Robert Falls. “When this play appeared as part of our 2016 New Stages Festival, audiences were immediately captivated by its humor and intrigued by its insights. Ellen's obvious empathy and affection for her characters, rendered through their earnest but sometimes painful journey to enlightenment, is at once laugh-out-loud funny and incredibly perceptive. We are thrilled to welcome back director Kimberly Senior—a perfect match for this world premiere.”

Fairey returns to Chicago 10 years after Graceland—her break-out play that, in part, inspired Support Group for Men. Her work has been hailed as “a must-see for anyone who follows important new plays” (Chicago Tribune), and as a writer “with bracing wit and stylistic delicacy” (Variety).

“I began writing Support Group for Men almost eight years ago, and in the time since, the national conversation around gender has come to the forefront in a way I never could have imagined,” said playwright Ellen Fairey. “It’s incredibly exciting, meaningful and at times challenging. I’m no longer just writing about a bunch of middle-aged guys trying to figure their stuff out; I’m writing about a group of men who find themselves in a world where everything has changed, and will continue to change—and what it means when ‘to be a man’ finds itself on the sociological chopping block.”

The recipient of an Edgerton Foundation New Plays Award, Support Group for Men is generously sponsored by Winston & Strawn LLP, Corporate Sponsor Partner. In addition, the National Endowment for the Arts awarded the play a $50,000 “Art Works” grant—the NEA’s largest funding category for creations of art that meet the highest standards of excellence, public engagement with diverse and excellent art, lifelong learning in the arts and/or the strengthening of communities through the arts.

SPECIAL EVENTS

“Cocktails & Comedy” for Young Professionals – June 27 at 5:30pm | Catch35 (35 W. Wacker) |$65

Nosh, network and support new play development. This Scenemakers Board fundraiser includes a pre-show reception with live jazz music at Catch35, and a performance of Support Group for Men at 7:30pm.

“Artist Encounter” with Ellen Fairey and Kimberly Senior – July 1 at 5pm | The Alice Center at Goodman Theatre

Tickets are free for members; $10 for general public. Join Support Group for Men playwright Ellen Fairey and director Kimberly Senior for a discussion on the world premiere production's sartorial take on gender, politics and Chicago's Wrigleyville neighborhood.

TICKETS AND DISCOUNTS

Tickets ($25-$80) – GoodmanTheatre.org/SupportGroup; 312.443.3800; Fax: 312.443.3825; TTY/TDD: 312.443.3829

Box Office Hours –12noon - 5pm; on performance days, the box office remains open until 30 minutes past curtain

MezzTix – Half-price day-of-performance mezzanine tickets available at 10am online (promo code MEZZTIX) 
$10Tix – Student $10 day-of tickets; limit four, with valid student ID (promo code 10TIX)

Teen Arts Pass (TAP) – $5 day-of-performance tickets for teens ages 13-19; subject to availability; limit two, with valid TAP identification. Sign up at TeenArtsPass.org (promo code TAP)

CityKey – CityKey Cardholders access half-price mezzanine tickets; limit four, with valid CityKey ID. Sign up at ChiCityClerk.com/ChicagoCityKey (promo code CITYKEY)

Group Sales are available for parties 10+; 312.443.3820
Gift Certificates – Available in any amount; GoodmanTheatre.org/GiftCertificates

ACCESSIBILITY

Touch Tour, July 21 at 12:30pm – A presentation detailing the set, costume and character elements

Audio Described Performance, July 21 at 2pm – The action/text is audibly enhanced for patrons via headset

ASL Interpreted Performance, July 25 at 7:30pm – Professional ASL interpreter signs the action/text as played 

Open Captioned Performance, July 28 at 2pm – LED sign presents dialogue in sync with the performance

Visit Goodman Theatre.org/Access for more information about Goodman Theatre’s accessibility efforts.

ABOUT GOODMAN THEATRE

AMERICA’S “BEST REGIONAL THEATRE” (Time magazine), Goodman Theatre is a premier not-for-profit organization distinguished by the excellence and scope of its artistic programming and civic engagement. Led by Artistic Director Robert Falls and Executive Director Roche Schulfer, the theater’s artistic priorities include new play development (more than 150 world or American premieres), large scale musical theater works and reimagined classics (celebrated revivals include Falls’ productions of Death of a Salesman and The Iceman Cometh). Goodman Theatre artists and productions have earned two Pulitzer Prizes, 22 Tony Awards, over 160 Jeff Awards and many more accolades. In addition, the Goodman is the first theater in the world to produce all 10 plays in August Wilson’s “American Century Cycle” and its annual holiday tradition A Christmas Carol, which celebrated its 40th anniversary this season, has created a new generation of theatergoers. The Goodman also frequently serves as a production partner with local off-Loop theaters and national and international companies by providing financial support or physical space for a variety of artistic endeavors.

Committed to three core values of Quality, Diversity and Community, the Goodman proactively makes inclusion the fabric of the institution and develops education and community engagement programs that support arts as education. This practice uses the process of artistic creation to inspire and empower youth, lifelong learners and audiences to find and/or enhance their voices, stories and abilities. The Goodman’s Alice Rapoport Center for Education and Engagement is the home of such programming, most offered free of charge, and has vastly expanded the theater’s ability to touch the lives of Chicagoland citizens (with 85% of youth participants coming from underserved communities) since its 2016 opening.

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 also 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. David W. Fox, Jr. 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.