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18TH ANNUAL NEW STAGES FESTIVAL
IS UNDERWAY, CONTINUES THROUGH DECEMBER 18th
FREE OF CHARGE WITH RSVP
Goodman Theatre’s 18th annual New Stages Festival, a celebration of innovative new work offered entirely free of charge and curated by Director of New Works Jonathan L. Green, is on stage now. Two fully staged developmental productions include This Happened Once at the Romance Depot off the I-87 in Westchester by Gina Femia, directed by Kimberly Senior and Rust by Nancy García Loza, directed by Laura Alcalá Baker.
In addition, four script-in-hand staged readings are presented during the last weekend of the festival, December 18-19: White Monkey by Charlie Oh, directed by Eric Ting (Saturday, December 17 at 10:30am); Fever Dreams (of Animals on the Verge of Extinction) by Jeffrey Lieber (co-creator of TV’s Lost), directed by Susan V. Booth (Saturday, December 17 at 2pm); Modern Women by Omer Abbas Salem, directed by Lavina Jadhwani (Sunday, December 18 at 10:30am); and What Will Happen to All That Beauty? by Donja R. Love, directed by Malika Oyetimein (Sunday, December 18 at 1:30pm).
The New Stages Festival appears through December 18 in the 350-seat Owen Theatre; free tickets (reservations required) are available at GoodmanTheatre.org/NewStages or by phone at 312.443.3800 (12noon – 5pm, daily).
More than 100 plays have appeared in the New Stages Festival since its inception in 2004, the majority of which have gone on to premiere at the Goodman and its peer theaters across the country. Each year, the Festival’s final weekend draws national theater industry professionals to Chicago for the opportunity to view all of the plays.
The New Stages Festival is made possible by The Joyce Foundation, which provides Major Support for Diverse Artistic and Professional Development, and BMO is the Next Generation Artists Sponsor. The Goodman is grateful for the generosity of its New Work sponsors, including: Pritzker Pucker Family Foundation and the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, Major Support of New Work; Ruth D. and Ken M. Davee New Works Fund, Major Support of New Play Development; The Glasser and Rosenthal Family, Mayer Brown LLP, and Shaw Family Supporting Organization, Support of New Work.
ABOUT ROMANCE DEPOT AND RUST
The cast for Gina Femia’s This Happened Once at the Romance Depot off the I-87 in Westchester, directed by Kimberly Senior, includes Satya Chávez (Janice/Amy), Sandra Delgado (Beth), Raymond Fox (Tom/Walt) and Eric Slater (Kevin). Kevin’s days are full of monotony, selling bondage gear and sex toys to ordinary customers. But when schoolteacher Beth blows into Kevin's store in desperate search of a vibrator, it sparks an unlikely relationship that forces them both to confront what they think they know about love, romance and sex. Revealing that nothing, and no one, are what they seem, Gina Femia’s hilarious and intimate new play asks us to re-examine ourselves, our fears and our dreams.
The cast for Nancy García Loza’s Rust, directed by Laura Alcalá Baker, includes Eduardo Xavier Curley-Carrillo (Fer), Arash Fakhrabadi (Papi), Molly Hernández (Yo), René L. Moreno (Abuelo), Daniella Pereira (Mami), Brandon Rivera (Pablo) and Jocelyn Zamudio (Güera). Güera, a young pocha, is trying very hard to be a perfect Mexican daughter and contain her glaring imperfections. The hot Chicago summer has her climbing trees, fighting with her brothers, and melting like a paleta under her parents’ searing gaze. Suddenly, when Abuelo moves in, Güera begins to wonder if she really has to be perfect at all. Why be perfect when you can be free?
The design teams include Kevin Depinet (Original Set Design), Ryan Emens (Sets), Evelyn Danner (Costumes for Romance Depot) and Uriel Gomez (Costumes for Rust), Heather Gilbert (Lights), Stephanie Farina (Sound for Romance Depot and Co-Sound Design for Rust), Mike Przygoda (Composition for Rust) and Claudette Przygoda (Co-Sound Design for Rust).
ABOUT GOODMAN THEATRE
Chicago’s theater since 1925, Goodman Theatre is a not-for-profit arts and community organization in the heart of the Loop, distinguished by the excellence and scope of its artistic programming and community engagement. The theater’s artistic priorities include new play development (more than 150 world or American premieres), large scale musical theater works and reimagined classics. Artists and productions have earner two Pulitzer Prizes, 22 Tony Awards and more than 160 Jeff Awards, among other accolades. The Goodman is the first theater in the world to produce all 10 plays in August Wilson’s “American Century Cycle.” Its longtime annual holiday tradition A Christmas Carol, now in its fifth decade, has created a new generation of theatergoers in Chicago. The Goodman also frequently serves as a production and program partner with national and international companies and Chicago’s Off-Loop theaters.
Using the tools of the theatrical profession, the Goodman’s Education and Engagement programs aim to develop generations of citizens who understand the cultures and stories of diverse voices. The Goodman’s Alice Rapoport Center for Education and Engagement is the home of these programs, which are offered free of charge for Chicago youth—85% of whom come from underserved communities—schools and life-long learners.
As a cultural and community organization invested in quality, diversity and community, Goodman Theatre is committed to using the art of theater for a better Chicago. Goodman Theatre’s Action Plan for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Anti-Racism and Access (IDEAA) was born out of the belief that progress means action, which includes building on the decades-long commitment to using art, assets and resources to contribute to a more just, equitable and anti-racist society.
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 on the new Goodman center in 2000.
Today, Goodman Theatre is led by Artistic Director Susan V. Booth and Executive Director/CEO Roche Schulfer. Jeff Hesse is Chairman of Goodman Theatre’s Board of Trustees, Fran Del Boca is Women’s Board President and Craig McCaw is President of the Scenemakers Board for young professionals.
