THE JEFF AWARDS TO HONOR ROBERT FALLS WITH SPECIAL EQUITY THEATER AWARD OCTOBER 2ND, 2023

Recognizing his visionary direction and impact on Chicago theater, the Joseph Jefferson Awards will honor director Robert Falls at the organization’s 55th Anniversary Equity Awards ceremony Monday, October 2nd at Drury Lane Theatre with this year’s Special Award. Falls has been a local and national emissary for Chicago theater as a director, producer and advocate.   His directing credits and influence extend across the Chicago performing arts community including The Goodman Theatre, The Lyric Opera of Chicago, Court Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Remains Theater, Wisdom Bridge Theatre and many others as well as to Broadway and beyond. His leadership on boards and committees for the National Endowment for the Arts, Illinois Arts Alliance and the League of Chicago Theatres among many professional entities has created an enduring legacy in the arts.

American Theatre magazine has called Falls one of the country’s “most powerful” theater artists. During a career that has spanned more than four decades he has received multiple honors including a Tony Award, Obie Award, Helen Hayes Award and 11 Jeff Awards. He is also the recipient of prestigious recognition such as the Savva Morozov Diamond Award from the Moscow Art Theater, the O’Neill Medallion presented by the Eugene O’Neill Society, and the Illinois Arts Council Governor’s Award, in addition to being inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame in 2015. Under his artistic leadership at the Goodman, the organization received the 1992 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre and in 2003 was named “the number one regional theater in the U.S.” by Time magazine.   An Illinois native, Falls launched his professional career as a director and producer within months of graduating from the University of Illinois. His first Chicago directing project, Moonchildren (Apollo Productions) earned him his first Jeff Award. With his second Jeff Award the following year for his Wisdom Bridge Theatre production of Of Mice and Men, he was named the theater’s artistic director. For a decade at Wisdom Bridge, he made a significant contribution to Off-Loop theater, building a reputation as an innovative director with a wide thematic and stylistic range and beginning a long time collaboration with actor Brian Dennehy.   In 1986, Falls become the artistic director for the Goodman, Chicago’s largest non-for-profit theater company. During his tenure, he directed more than 40 productions and produced/co-produced hundreds of plays including more than 150 world premieres. Additionally, he helped transfer more than two dozen shows to Broadway which earned over 20 Tony Awards. His productions of Eugene O’Neill plays, all starring Brian Dennehy, were presented on Broadway, as well as at the Stratford Festival and at Dublin’s Abbey Theatre. His Tony Award winning production of Sir Elton John and Tim Rices’ Aida continues to be produced around the world. Under Falls’ leadership, the Goodman also received more than 160 Jeff Awards. His retirement at the end of the 2022-23 season culminated with his final show as Goodman’s artistic director in a new production of Anton Chekov’s drama A Cherry Orchard, which has received five Jeff Award nominations.   The 55th anniversary Equity Jeff Awards will take place October 2, 2023, at Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook, IL. The ceremony will be directed by Johanna McKenzie Miller, hosted by Lorenzo Rush, Jr., along with announcer Janet Ulrich Brooks, and with musical direction by Carolyn Jean Brady.

ABOUT THE JEFF AWARDS The Jeff Awards is one of the most active and engaged theater awards organizations in the country evaluating hundreds of theatrical productions annually and holding two awards ceremonies highlighting work over the past Equity and Non-Equity seasons. Through our recommendations, awards, and honors we help foster the growth of companies, encourage artists, bring new appreciation for diverse storytelling, and cultivate civic pride in the achievements of the Chicago theater community. Originally chartered in 1968 to recognize Equity productions, the Jeff Awards Non-Equity Wing was established in 1973 to celebrate outstanding achievement in non-union theatre. For more information, visit www.jeffawards.org.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON 55th ANNIVERSARY EQUITY AWARDS NOMINATIONS AND THE PROGRAM  The 55th Anniversary Jeff Awards ceremony recognizes theater excellence over the 2022-23 Equity season and honors the dedicated artists, behind the scenes teams and theater companies. This year’s nominees include 214 theater artists across 32 categories of excellence in theater production among shows from 35 companies.The program will be held Monday, October 2nd 7:30pm (CST) at Drury Lane Theatre, 100 Drury Lane in Oakbrook Terrace, IL. The show will be preceded by a red carpet walk featuring award nominees and theater community members beginning at 6:15pm.  The Jeff Awards website lists all the current nominees, along with previous recipients and nominations as well as other Jeff Awards information and news. Visit www.jeffawards.org.   Names of award recipients will be released immediately following the program on October 2nd by email and on our website under Equity Awards at www.jeffawards.org.

OPENING: Robert Falls' New Adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People at Goodman Theatre

ROBERT FALLS DIRECTS A NEW ADAPTATION OF AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE,

HENRIK IBSEN’S TIMELESS MASTERPIECE, APPEARING MARCH 10 – APRIL 15 AT GOODMAN THEATRE

***PHILIP EARL JOHNSON AND SCOTT JAECK LEAD THE 14-MEMBER CAST ALONG WITH CHICAGO FAVORITES

DAVID DARLOW, ALLEN GILMORE, LARRY NEUMANN, JR., LANISE ANTOINE SHELLEY AND MORE***

Here at ChiIL Live Shows, it was our great pleasure to catch Goodman Theatre's world premiere production of Blind Date, directed by Goodman Theatre Artistic Director Robert Falls. We can't wait for March 19th, for the press opening of Falls new adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People. Both are all too timely, thought provoking political dramas. There's been a whole lot of Ibsen going on this year on stage in Chicago's storefront scene, and this larger budget, main stage production should crown them all. We particularly enjoyed Brett Neveu's acclaimed Traitor, based on An Enemy of the People, at A Red Orchid, earlier this year. I'm eager to see a full staging of the original so soon after AROT's modern day adaptation.

Nearly 150 years after Ibsen’s masterpiece first thrilled audiences, it “is startling how current the play's ideas feel" (The New York Times) as it examines the complexities of corruption, greed and destruction of the environment and remains “a play so necessary, so exhilarating to experience." (The Village Voice) Falls directs his adaptation, based on a translation by Eleanor Marx-Aveling, with a cast featuring Philip Earl Johnson as Thomas Stockmann, doctor and chief medical officer of the baths; Scott Jaeck as Peter Stockmann, Thomas’ older brother and town mayor; Lanise Antoine Shelley as Katherine, Thomas’ wife; Rebecca Hurd as Thomas’ daughter, Petra. Rounding out the cast are Jesse Bhamrah (Billing), David Darlow (Morten Kiil), Allen Gilmore (Aslaksen), Aubrey Deeker Hernandez (Hovstad), Larry Neumann, Jr. (The Drunk) and Carley Cornelius, Arya Daire, Guy Massey, Roderick Peeples and Dustin Whitehead as townspeople. The design team includes Todd Rosenthal (set), Ana Kuzmanic (costumes), Robert Wierzel (lights), Richard Woodbury (sound and original music). Alden Vasquez is the production stage manager. 

An Enemy of the People appears in the Goodman’s Albert Theatre March 10 – April 15. Tickets ($25 - $80; subject to change) are now on sale at GoodmanTheatre.org/Enemy, by phone at 312.443.3800 or at the box office (170 North Dearborn).

“Any theater artist will inevitably confront the genius of 19th century Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen and I’m thrilled to take on this challenge with an incredible ensemble of actors and designers,” said Artistic Director Robert Falls. “I was compelled to adapt and direct An Enemy of the People both by our country’s political tumult and by the play’s complex treatment of myriad topics—from how we view our fellow humans, to public good versus individual rights, to the pitfalls of democracy. Though the play was written nearly 150 years ago, I find its themes remarkably fresh and the questions it raises just as perplexing as they must have been to 19th century audiences.”

When a water contamination crisis puts their community in peril, two brothers—Dr. Stockmann (Johnson) and Mayor Stockmann ( Jaeck)—face off in a battle of political ambitions and moral integrity. Triggered by the criticism and controversy of his earlier plays—A Doll’s House (1879) and Ghosts (1882)—Ibsen authored An Enemy of the People as a partial response to his critics. He felt angry that his discussion of what he considered important was being scrutinized and determined to examine the underbellies of marriage, sex and middle class society.

Falls’ staging of An Enemy of the People is the latest in the Goodman’s six-decade history of producing Ibsen and works inspired by the writer’s plays. Most recently, Falls directed the 2005 world premiere of Dollhouse, a modern-day take on Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, adapted by Goodman Artistic Associate Rebecca Gilman. Previous Ibsen works at the Goodman also include Arthur Miller’s adaptation of An Enemy of the People (1980), A Doll’s House (1973), Hedda Gabler (1962) and The Master Builder (1953). Following this production, Falls will remount his Lyric Opera of Chicago production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni for the Dallas Opera (April 2018), and this summer, he will direct Stacy Keach as Ernest Hemingway in the return of Jim McGrath’s Pamplona.

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT AND DIRECTOR
HENRIK IBSEN (Playwright, 1828 - 1906) was born in Skien, Norway, Ibsen was apprenticed at age 15 to an apothecary, a situ­ation he detested. He wrote poetry to escape his misery and at 20 attended the univer­sity in Christiania (now Oslo). Within a short time his plays were being published and produced at the Christiania Theatre. In 1851, he was appointed to the theater at Bergen, where he served as director, designer and resident playwright. After six years learning his craft in Bergen, Ibsen moved back to Christiania, again working as a theater manager and artistic advisor. Plays from this period, such as The Vikings at Helgeland (1858) and Loves Comedy  (1862), stirred up contro­versy on their first appearances. In 1864, Ibsen applied to the govern­ment for a poet's stipend; when it was refused, he exiled himself from Norway. The injustice he felt at this denial helped propel his two early masterpieces, the verse dramas Brand (1866) and Peer Gynt (1867). Ibsen spent most of his years of exile in Germany, though he frequently spent months at a time in Italy. He returned briefly to Norway for the publication of his huge epic Emperor and Galilean (1873). He published A Doll's House in 1879, followed by Ghosts (1881), An Enemy of the People (1882), The Wild Duck (1884), Rosmersholm (1886), The Lady from the Sea (1888), Hedda Gabler (1890),  The Master Builder (1892), Little Eyolf (1894) and John Gabriel Borkman (1896). When We Dead Awaken, Ibsen's last play and a grand culmination of his themes, appeared in 1900. He returned to Christiania in 1891 to live out his life and died in 1906 after suf­fering a physical and mental breakdown.

ROBERT FALLS (Goodman Theatre Artistic Director) previously directed at the Goodman the world premiere of Rogelio Martinez’s Blind Date. He also partnered with Goodman Playwright-in-Residence Seth Bockley to direct their world premiere adaptation of Roberto Bolaño’s 2666 (Jeff Award for Best Adaptation). Additional recent productions 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 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. 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,” 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.

TICKETS, DISCOUNTS AND SPECIAL EVENTS
Tickets ($25-80; subject to change) – GoodmanTheatre.org/Enemy; 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)

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

ARTIST ENCOUNTER –March 11 at 5pm | Goodman Theatre
Tickets are $10 for general public; free for Goodman Members. Join Artistic Director Robert Falls for an in-depth conversation about the play. GoodmanTheatre.org/Enemy

ACCESSIBILITY AT THE GOODMAN
Touch Tour,  April 7 at 12:30pm – A presentation detailing the set, costume and character elements.
Audio Described Performance, April 7 at 2pm – The action/text is audibly enhanced for patrons via headset.
ASL Interpreted Performance, April 11 at 7:30pm – Professional ASL interpreter signs the action/text as played. 
Open Captioned Performance,  April 14 at 2pm – An LED sign presents dialogue in sync with the performance.
Visit GoodmanTheatre.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.

Join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram #EnemyChi

OPENING: Uncle Vanya at Goodman Now Extended Through March 19th

Chi, IL LIVE Shows On Our Radar:

OPENING AND JUST EXTENDED: ROBERT FALLS’ PRODUCTION OF 

UNCLE VANYA 

BY ANTON CHEKHOV, ADAPTED BY ANNIE BAKER

**THE CHICAGO PREMIERE MARKS FALLS’ 30TH ANNIVERSARY AS ARTISTIC DIRECTOR**

***SIX PERFORMANCES ADDED BY POPULAR DEMAND, EXTENDED THROUGH MARCH 19***

Here at ChiIL Live Shows we've long been fans of Chekhov's writing and Robert Falls' directing. This is sure to be a stellar match up of talents. We're looking forward to this one and will be out to review at the press opening. Check back soon for our full review.

Goodman Theatre Artistic Director Robert Falls, “Chicago’s most essential director” (Chicago Tribune), marks his 30th anniversary season with the Chicago premiere of Pulitzer Prize winner Annie Baker’s (The Flick) adaptation of Uncle Vanya. Taken from a literal translation by Margarita Shalina and the original Russian text, Baker’s adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s intimate play about relationships, love and loss, has been hailed as “easygoing, free of the stilted or formal locutions that clutter up some of the more antique-sounding translations” (The New York Times) with “fresh pockets of rawness and disorientation in the classic” (Time Out New York). Falls returns to Chekhov following his critically-acclaimed productions of The Seagull (2010) and Three Sisters (1994). 

Uncle Vanya appears through March 19 in the Owen Theatre. Tickets ($20-$59; subject to change) are available at GoodmanTheatre.org/Vanya, the box office (170 North Dearborn) or by phone at 312.443.3800.

“Uncle Vanya is Chekhov’s first mature play—and as such, his most radical. It’s essentially about life, whether you’re 27, 47, 60 or 80. Time is going by, and you naturally start to examine your life and how you’re living it, or have lived it. For many years, I had a hard time connecting to it. But I re-read it last year, and suddenly it demanded to be done,” said Artistic Director Robert Falls. “Chekhov was really the creator of modern drama. To an enormous extent, everything that we are as contemporary theater artists comes from him and his very complex collaboration with [Konstantin] Stanislavsky.”

In Uncle Vanya, tensions are high at the remote estate of an elderly professor, where resentments flow as freely as the vodka. As the professor’s health fails, his extended family is forced to confront their disturbing futures, while still foundering in their disconcerting pasts. As previously announced, Falls’ all-star cast includes Kristen Bush (Yelena), Marton Csokas (Astrov), David Darlow (Serebryakov), Marilyn Dodds Frank (Maria), Tim Hopper (Vanya), Caroline Neff (Sonya), Larry Neumann, Jr. (Telegin), Alžan Pelesić (Yefim) and Mary Ann Thebus (Marina).

Falls frequent collaborators bring life to Chekhov’s famed classic including: Todd Rosenthal (Set), Ana Kuzmanic (Costumes), Keith Parham (Lighting) and Richard Woodbury (Sound). 

Baker’s adaptation of Uncle Vanya first premiered in 2012 Off-Broadway at the Soho Repertory Theatre. Baker, who is not fluent in Russian, noted that she wanted to “create a version that sounds to our contemporary American ears the way the play sounded to Russian ears during the play’s first productions.” 

EXTENSION WEEK PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

Thursday, March 16 at 7:30pm 

Friday, March 17 at 8pm 

Saturday, March 18 at 2pm and 8pm 

Sunday, March 19 at 2pm and 7:30pm (closing performance) 

TICKETS AND DISCOUNTS

Tickets ($20-$59) – GoodmanTheatre.org/UncleVanya; 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-performance tickets; limit four, with valid student ID (promo code 10TIX)

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

ACCESSIBILITY AT GOODMAN THEATRE

Touch-Tour, March 5 at 12:30pm – A presentation detailing the set, costume and character elements

Audio-Described Performance, March 5 at 2pm – The action/text is audibly enhanced for patrons via headset.

Sign-Interpreted Performance, March 11 at 2pm – Professional ASL interpreter signs the action/text as played. 

Open-Captioned Performance, March 12 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 the Artists 

Robert Falls is celebrating 30 years as Goodman Theatre Artistic Director this season. Last season, he directed Rebecca Gilman’s Soups, Stews, and Casseroles: 1976 and co-adapted/directed the world premiere of his critically acclaimed production of 2666, based on Roberto Bolaño’s internationally celebrated novel.  Previous credits include the critically acclaimed production of The Iceman Cometh at the Brooklyn Academy of Music; Gilman’s Luna Gale at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles; and a new production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni for the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Other recent productions include Measure for Measure and the world premiere 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 (his last play), 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 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 production of Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida. 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,” Falls has also 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) and the Illinois Arts Council Governor’s Award.

Annie Baker grew up in Amherst, Massachusetts. Her full-length plays include John (Signature Theatre), The Flick (Playwrights Horizons, Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Hull-Warriner Award, Susan Smith Blackburn Award, Obie Award for Playwriting), Circle Mirror Transformation (Playwrights Horizons, Obie Award for Best New American Play, Drama Desk Award nomination for Best New American Play),The Aliens (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Obie Award for Best New American Play), Body Awareness (Atlantic Theater Company, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations for Best Play/Emerging Playwright) and an adaptation of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya (Soho Rep, Drama Desk nomination for Best Revival), for which she also designed the costumes. Her plays have been produced at over 150 theaters throughout the U.S. and have been produced internationally in over a dozen countries. Other recent honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship, Steinberg Playwriting Award, American Academy of Arts and Letters Award and the Cullman Fellowship at the New York Public Library. She is a resident playwright at the Signature Theatre.

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 in 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

OPENING: The Goodman Theatre Presents SOUPS, STEWS, AND CASSEROLES: 1976

Chi, IL LIVE Shows On Our Radar: REBECCA GILMAN’S LATEST PLAY SOUPS, STEWS, AND CASSEROLES: 1976 MAKES ITS CHICAGO PREMIERE AT GOODMAN THEATRE  MAY 21 – JUNE 19,  DIRECTED BY ROBERT FALLS, HER LONGTIME COLLABORATOR                                           Life was sweet in a small Wisconsin town…then corporate America came to the table. Goodman Theatre concludes its 2015/2016 Owen Theatre series with Soups, Stews, and Casseroles: 1976, by Artistic Associate Rebecca Gilman—a timely and thought-provoking look at workers’ rights and the effects of big business on small town lives. Directed by Artistic Director Robert Falls, Gilman’s 1970s-era work centers on the working class Durst family, and the opportunities and moral dilemmas a buy-out of the Farmstead cheese factory raises.  The previously announced cast features Cliff Chamberlain as longtime factory employee Kim Durst; Cora Vander Broek as his wife Kat; Lindsay Stock as their daughter, Kelly and Ty Olwin (Kyle), Angela Reed (Elaine) and Ann Whitney (JoAnne). Please note: the role of “JoAnne” will be portrayed by Meg Thalken on June 3 at 8pm; June 4 at 2pm and 8pm; and June 5 at 2pm and 7:30pm. Soups, Stews, and Casseroles: 1976 appears May 21 – June 19 in the Owen Theatre (opening night is Tuesday, May 31). Tickets ($10 - $40; subject to change) are on sale now at GoodmanTheatre.org/Soups, by phone at 312.443.3800 or at the box office (170 North Dearborn). Mayer Brown LLP is the Corporate Sponsor Partner. “The past four decades have seen massive changes in American commerce, with the legions of middle class workers who once formed our economic backbone downsized and globalized nearly out of existence. In our current election year, we might find Soups, Stews, and Casseroles: 1976 offers a vital perspective into our vastly transformed landscape of 2016,” said Artistic Director Robert Falls. “As always, I am bowled over by the brevity and craftsmanship of Rebecca’s work; without resorting to flashy overstatement or outsized theatrics, she finds the human truths at the center of social conflict.” A social awakening is underway for the town of Reynolds, Wisconsin, in the year of the American bicentennial, when the town’s main employer, Farmstead Cheese Factory, is bought out by a Chicago-based food conglomerate. The purchase leaves the Durst family and their friends and neighbors in a cycle of fear and uncertainty for their livelihoods. Although fictitious, the town of Reynolds resembles Green County, which lies in southwest Wisconsin. As in Green County and the world of the play, cheese is not only a delectable food, it represents the foundation of cultural traditions, socializing and finding connections to the residents’ European ancestry.   Gilman found inspiration for her latest work in an unlikely place. “I was at a garage sale for the volunteer fire department in this little town in Wisconsin, and I found a cookbook called Soups, Stews, and Casseroles:  1976. As I was reading the recipes the women of the town had submitted, I started to think about how communities really come together to help each other out in small towns in ways that remind me of how unions can have a really strong connection to community as well,” said Gilman.   Set Designer Kevin Depinet’s interpretation of a classic 1970s kitchen is the heart and sole set for Falls’ production. The creative team also includes Jenny Mannis (costumes), Richard Woodbury (sound), Jesse Klug (lights) and Kim Osgood is the production stage manager. The Chicago premiere of Soups, Stews, and Casseroles: 1976 marks the eighth collaboration (five of which were Goodman commissions) between Goodman Theatre and Gilman—“one of Chicago’s hottest playwrights” (Chicago Tribune). Falls’ and Gilman’s last collaboration, Luna Gale, most recently earned the 2016 LA Drama Critics Circle, as well as the 2015 Steinberg/ATCA Award and the 2014 Jeff Award for New Work. Falls first encountered Gilman when he read her 1998 play The Glory of Living (a 2001 Pulitzer Prize finalist that was first produced at Circle Theatre). Soon after, he commissioned Gilman to write a new play for the Goodman; she responded with Spinning Into Butter (premiered in the Goodman Studio in 1999, directed by Les Waters, subsequently produced at Lincoln Center Theater in 2000 and made into a feature film starring Sarah Jessica Parker). The show’s run was extended three times and led to Gilman’s next Goodman commission, Boy Gets Girl (premiered at the Goodman in 2000, directed by the late Michael Maggio), which transferred to New York’s Manhattan Theatre Club and was named by Time magazine as one of the “best theater productions of the decade.” Falls later directed both Blue Surge (2001) and Dollhouse (2005)—a modern interpretation of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. The Crowd You’re In With, directed by Wendy C. Goldberg, made its Chicago debut in 2009 at the Goodman, followed by A True History of the Johnstown Flood, a Goodman commission that had its world premiere at the Goodman in 2010 under Falls’ direction. Rebecca Gilman’s plays include Luna Gale, A True History of the Johnstown Flood, Dollhouse, Boy Gets Girl, Spinning Into Butter, Blue Surge (all of which were commissioned and originally produced by the Goodman), The Glory of Living, The Sweetest Swing in Baseball, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter and The Crowd You’re in With. Gilman is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, The Harold and Mimi Steinberg/American Critics Association New Play Award, The Harper Lee Award, The Scott McPherson Award, The Prince Prize for Commissioning New Work, The Roger L. Stevens Award from the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays, The Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright, The George Devine Award, The Theatre Masters Visionary Award, The Great Plains Playwright Award, The Roe Green Award, and an Illinois Arts Council playwriting fellowship. Boy Gets Girl received an Olivier nomination for Best New Play, and she was named a finalist for the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for The Glory of Living. She is a member of the Council of the Dramatists Guild of America and a board member of the ACLU of Illinois. She received her MFA in playwriting from the University of Iowa. Gilman is a professor of playwriting and screenwriting at Northwestern University as part of its MFA in Writing for the Screen and Stage program.  She is the recipient of a Global Connections Grant by Theatre Communications Group and an American Scandinavian Foundation Creative Writing Grant for the development of a new play in conjunction with Göteborgs Dramatiska Teater in Gothenburg, Sweden: Rödvinsvänster (Red-Wine Leftists): 1977. Robert Falls, a recent inductee into the Theater Hall of Fame, most recently co-adapted/directed the world premiere of his critically acclaimed production of 2666, based on Roberto Bolaño’s internationally celebrated novel.  Last season, he reprised his critically acclaimed production of The Iceman Cometh at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, directed Rebecca Gilman’s Luna Gale at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles and directed a new production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni for the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Other recent productions include Measure for Measure and the world premiere 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 (his last play), 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 production of Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida. 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 also 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) and the Illinois Arts Council Governor’s Award EVENTS & ACCESSIBILITY AT GOODMAN THEATRE May 26, Soups, Stews, and Conversation – 6pm; pre-show mix-n-mingle with artists from the show, followed by 7:30pm performance; Enter promo code SOUPS when purchasing at GoodmanTheatre.org/conversation June 5, Artist Encounter – 5pm; an in-depth conversation with Playwright Rebecca Gilman & Director Robert Falls, moderator TBD June 8, American Sign Language Interpreted Performance –7:30pm; Enter the promo code SIGN when purchasing June 12, Touch Tour Presentation – 12:30pm; a presentation detailing the set, costume and character elements; Audio Described Performance – 2pm; the action/text is audibly enhanced for patrons via headset, enter promo code AUDIO when purchasing June 19, Open Captioned Performance – 2pm; an LED sign presents dialogue in sync with the performance; Enter the promo code OPEN when purchasing Visit Goodman Theatre.org/Access for more information about Goodman Theatre’s accessibility efforts. TICKETS & DISCOUNTS Tickets ($10-$40) –GoodmanTheatre.org/Soups; 312.443.3800; Fax: 312.443.3825; TTY/TDD: 312.443.3829 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) Group Sales – Discounted tickets for parties of 10+ – 312.443.3820 Gift Certificates – Available in any amount (GoodmanTheatre.org/GiftCertificates) Box Office Hours –12noon - 5pm; on performance days, the office remains open until 30 minutes past curtain) About Goodman Theatre Called America’s “Best Regional Theatre” by Time magazine, Goodman Theatre has won international recognition for its artists, productions and programs, and is a major cultural, educational and economic pillar in Chicago. 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), Goodman Theatre has garnered hundreds of awards for artistic achievement and community engagement, including: two Pulitzer Prizes, 22 Tony Awards (including “Outstanding Regional Theatre” in 1992), nearly 160 Joseph Jefferson Awards and more. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Robert Falls and Executive Director Roche Schulfer, the Goodman’s artistic priorities include new plays (more than 150 world or American premieres in the past 30 years), reimagine