Goodman Theatre

For Immediate Release

(April 1, 2008 - Chicago, IL) Artistic Director Robert Falls announces an addition to the Goodman's upcoming 2008/2009 season: Magnolia by Artistic Associate Regina Taylor (director TBA) slated for March 2009. Set in 1963 as the tide of social change is transforming Atlanta, Magnolia is written in the tradition of Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, revealing the powerful need to belong that exists at the root of all families-especially in the face of profound change. Prior to its world premiere at the Goodman, Magnolia has been chosen to receive a workshop at The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's National Playwrights Conference in July 2008. This marks the second collaboration between the Goodman and The O'Neill-the first was the 2007 workshop of The Ballad of Emmett Till by Ifa Bayeza, which will enjoy its world premiere at the Goodman April 26 - June 1, 2008.

Magnolia is set in winter, 1963, as the schools, stores and real estate markets of Atlanta, Georgia are beginning to desegregate-much to the resentment of the white community. Lily, a white landowner, returns from Paris to find the Forest Estate, her family's land, on the brink of ruin. Thomas, a successful businessman and the descendent of former slaves to the estate, has a plan to save the land: turn it into subdivisions and sell it to the white families fleeing the city. Tensions build as members of the estranged family reunite to try and save their beloved land-magnolia trees and all.

Regina Taylor is an Artistic Associate of Goodman Theatre where she most recently appeared in the staged reading of Fences, part of the 2007 August Wilson Celebration. Her other Goodman credits include the The Dreams of Sarah Breedlove (which premiered at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival); the award-winning Crowns (first produced at McCarter Theatre and at Second Stage in New York); the world premiere of Oo-Bla-Dee (2000 American Theatre Critics/Steinberg New Play Award); Urban Zulu Mambo (an evening of plays by Adrienne Kennedy, Ntozake Shange, Suzan-Lori Parks, Kia Corthron and Regina Taylor); and Drowning Crow. Crowns and The Dreams of Sarah Breedlove were both written and directed by Taylor. Drowning Crow, her adaptation of Chekhov's The Seagull, was produced on Broadway at Manhattan Theater Club's Biltmore Theatre. Her other plays include A Night in Tunisia, Escape from Paradise, Watermelon Rinds, Inside the Belly of the Beast, Mudtracks and Love Poem #97. Taylor was the first black woman to play Juliet in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet on Broadway. Her other stage credits include As You Like It, Macbeth, Machinal, A Map of The World, The Illusion, Jar the Floor and The Tempest. For her role as Lilly Harper in the television series I'll Fly Away she received a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a TV Series, an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series and two Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. Taylor recently received the NAACP Image Award for "Best Actress in a Drama" for her work on David Mamet's The Unit on CBS. Other television credits include Crisis at Central High, The Education of Max Bickford, Feds, In From the Night, Cora Unashamed, Strange Justice, The Third Twin, Hostile Waters, Children of the Dust, I'll Fly Away: Then and Now, Howard Beach: Making a Case for Murder, Concealed Enemies, Crisis at Central High and Nurse. Taylor's film credits include The Negotiator, Courage Under Fire, A Family Thing, The Keeper, Clockers, Losing Isaiah, Jersey Girl and Lean on Me.

More than 600 plays have evolved at The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's summertime National Playwrights Conference headed by Artistic Director Wendy C. Goldberg-including Ifa Bayeza's The Ballad of Emmett Till (which enjoys its world premiere production at the Goodman April 26 - June 1, 2008). Playwrights who have participated in the conference include Kia Corthron, John Guare, Israel Horovitz, David Henry Hwang, David Lindsay-Abaire, Adam Rapp, Mark Ravenhill, Wendy Wasserstein and August Wilson. In addition to writers selected for staged readings, the conference serves as a retreat for several writers in residence working independently on special projects. Recent summers' residents include Christina Anderson, David Cale and Joseph Chaikin. The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, founded in 1964, has been home to more than 1,000 new works for the stage and 2,500 emerging artists and is itself the winner of a special Tony Award, the National Opera Award, the Jujamcyn Award for Theater Excellence and the Arts and Business Council Encore Award.

Below is a list of plays in Goodman Theatre's upcoming 2008/2009 season. One more play is still to be announced.

Turn of the Century
By Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice
Directed by Tommy Tune
In the Albert Theatre, September 2008

Nine-time Tony Award winner and National Medal of the Arts recipient Tommy Tune directs the world premiere of the musical Turn of the Century, a romantic comedy and trip through time and the American songbook from the writers of the Tony Award-winning Jersey Boys-Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice. Dixie Wilson's a singer who can't catch a break-with a gig or a guy. Billy Clark's a piano player who knows the songs and loves the ladies. The friction between them is immediate; so is the chemistry. At the stroke of midnight on New Years Eve 1999, the impossible happens-and together, Billy and Dixie steal the songs that make the whole world sing, becoming the superstars they've always dreamed of being, at the Turn of the Century.

Yohen
By Philip Kan Gotanda
Directed by Steve Scott
Produced in association with Silk Road Theatre Project
September 18 - November 2, 2008
Performed at Silk Road Theatre, 77 W. Washington St., Chicago, IL

A divorced Japanese woman and an African American GI meet in post-World War II Japan, fall in love, and marry. After nearly four decades of defending their relationship against prevailing prejudices, they now live in a quiet, accepting Los Angeles suburb. Their seemingly durable marriage, however, is in danger and the things that originally brought them together now threaten to tear them apart. More than a study of clashing cultures, Yohen is a poetically resonant story of two partners who discover that as environments change, so do intimate relationships-and love, however time-tested, is never a constant.

Ruined
By Lynn Nottage
Directed by Kate Whoriskey
In the Owen Theatre, November 2008

MacArthur Foundation Fellowship winner Lynn Nottage returns to Chicago with her Goodman commission, Ruined, which the theater workshopped and produced as part of the 2007 New Stages Series. Set in the present day Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ruined centers around Mama Nadi, a savvy businesswoman who, in the midst of a complex civil war, protects and profits from the women whose bodies have become a battleground. Nottage's work was last seen at the Goodman in 2006-Crumbs from the Table of Joy directed by Chuck Smith.

Desire Under the Elms and a showcase of Eugene O'Neill in the 21st century
Directed by Robert Falls
Featuring Brian Dennehy
In the Albert Theatre, January 2009

Artistic Director Robert Falls' history with Eugene O'Neill has spanned four landmark productions: The Iceman Cometh (1990), A Touch of the Poet (1996), Long Day's Journey Into Night (2002) and Hughie (2004). His 2009 production of Desire Under the Elms starring Brian Dennehy will be the centerpiece of a showcase of O'Neill's work as it is being interpreted today. Sparked by the dark hollows and brilliant imaginings of his subconscious, master playwright Eugene O'Neill conceived Desire Under the Elms as he slept one night, resulting in a work with the powerful emotional pitch of a fever dream. Elder Ephraim Cabot returns to his remote New England farm with his third wife-the young, alluring, headstrong Abbie-setting his three disapproving grown sons on an emotional rollercoaster and bitter fight for their inheritance. When Ephraim's youngest son Eben sets his sights on Abbie, the resulting tempest brings tragic consequences. First produced in 1924, Desire Under the Elms hauntingly mingles love and loathing, and has been praised for its "poetry and terrible beauty"(The New York Times).

Rock 'N' Roll
By Tom Stoppard
Directed by Charles Newell
In the Albert Theatre, May 2009

Direct from a record-breaking run on Broadway and in London's West End, Rock 'N' Roll is a theatrical event. It's August 1968, and Russian tanks are rolling into Prague... Jan, the Czech student, lives for rock music; Max, the English professor, lives for Communism; and Esme, the flower child, is high. By 1990, the tanks are rolling out, the Stones are rolling in and idealism has hit the wall. Stoppard's sweeping and passionate play spans two countries, three generations and 22 turbulent years, at the end of which, love remains-and so does rock 'n' roll.

Ghostwritten
By Naomi Iizuka
Directed by Lisa Portes
In the Owen Theatre, April 2009

An American woman goes to Southeast Asia and strikes a bargain with a mysterious stranger. Twenty years later, she's become an acclaimed chef specializing in Asian cuisine with an adopted Vietnamese-born daughter and a life that is successful beyond her wildest dreams-until the stranger from her past reappears to collect on an old debt. Into her life the stranger from her past reappears to collect on an old debt. A striking reimagining of the tale of Rumplestiltskin, Ghostwritten explores the relationship between America and Southeast Asia, unearthing the wounds of the Vietnam War, and uncovering what it means to come face to face with the ghosts of your past.

The Crowd You're in With
By Rebecca Gilman
Directed by Wendy C. Goldberg
In the Owen Theatre, May 2009

A backyard barbeque is the perfect place to tackle life's big questions: Is the chicken done? Does the band need a new tune? Is this the right time to have a baby? Rebecca Gilman's fresh and moving new play takes an intimate look at modern families, friendships and the ins and outs of love. The Crowd You're in With was chosen for the 2007 Eugene O'Neill Playwrights Conference and premiered at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco in 2007.

About Goodman Theatre

Named the country's Best Regional Theatre by Time magazine (2003), Goodman Theatre is a leader in the American theater, internationally recognized for its artists, productions and educational programs since its founding in 1925. Artistic Director Robert Falls and Executive Director Roche Schulfer's forward-thinking leadership has earned the Goodman unparalleled artistic distinction, garnered hundreds of awards-including the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre (1992)-and moved dozens of plays from Chicago to stages in New York and abroad. Central to its commitment to the reinvestigation of classics and development of new plays and artists is the Goodman's Artistic Collective, including Frank Galati, Henry Godinez, Steve Scott, Chuck Smith, Regina Taylor and Mary Zimmerman. The largest not-for-profit theater in Chicago, the Goodman moved in 2000 into a brand new state-of-the-art complex which houses two principal theaters: the 856-seat Albert Ivar Goodman Theatre and the 400-seat flexible Owen Bruner Goodman Theatre. Board Chairman is Shawn M. Donnelley and Alice Young Sabl is chair of the Women's Board. American Airlines is the Exclusive Airline of Goodman Theatre. Kraft Foods is the Principal Sponsor of the Goodman's free Student Subscription Series.

Still to come in the 2007/2008 season: The Trip to Bountiful by Horton Foote, directed by Harris Yulin as part of Goodman Theatre's Horton Foote Festival (through April 13); The Ballad of Emmett Till by Ifa Bayeza, directed by Oz Scott (April 26 - June 1, 2008); Ain't Misbehavin': The Fats Waller Musical Show based on an idea by Murray Horwitz and Richard Maltby, Jr., music by Fats Waller, directed by Chuck Smith (June 21 - July 27); Please note that the previously announced production The Boys are Coming Home has been cancelled; one production in the Owen Theatre to be announced.

For more information call Goodman Theatre's Publicity Office: 312.443.5151.

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