Goodman Theatre

For Immediate Release

(Chicago, IL) Artistic Director Robert Falls announced today the final production of Goodman Theatre's 2009/2010 season-The Good Negro, Tracey Scott Wilson's "thunderous…stunning" (Variety) new play, comes to Chicago fresh from its off-Broadway run at The Public Theater. Resident Director Chuck Smith, who previously collaborated with Wilson on the Goodman's 2004/2005 Chicago-premiere production of The Story, will direct The Good Negro in the Albert Theatre in Spring 2010.

Before there was change, there was Birmingham. When Claudette Sullivan is beaten and arrested for taking her little girl into the "white only" restroom at a department store, she finds herself at the heart of the 1960's American Civil Rights Movement. Tensions build in the increasingly hostile South as a trio of emerging black leaders attempts to conquer their individual demons amid death threats from the Ku Klux Klan and wire taps by the FBI. Through personal and intimate stories inspired by the political upheavals of the era, The Good Negro reveals the human frailties behind the historic headlines.

Tracey Scott Wilson's recent work includes The Good Negro, produced at The Public Theater/NYSF and Dallas Theater Center, and The Story, produced at The Public Theater/NYSF and Goodman Theatre. Additional productions include Order My Steps for Cornerstone Theater Company's Black AIDS/Black Faith Project in Los Angeles; Exhibit #9; and Leader of the People. She is currently working on several screenplays, including a screen version of The Story. She has written a pilot for NBC and Curtis Hanson and is currently writing another pilot for NBC and Alicia Keyes' production company. Wilson earned two Van Lier Fellowships from New York Theatre Workshop and a residency at Sundance Ucross. She is the winner of the 2001 Helen Merrill Emerging Playwright Award, the 2003 AT&T Onstage Award, the 2004 Whiting Award and the 2004 Kesserling Prize.

The Good Negro joins previously announced season selections Animal Crackers, Book by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind, Music and Lyrics by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby, directed by Henry Wishcamper; the Broadway-bound double-bill of Hughie by Eugene O'Neill, directed by Robert Falls and Krapp's Last Tape by Samuel Beckett, directed by Jennifer Tarver; A True History of the Johnstown Flood by Rebecca Gilman; and The Sins of Sor Juana by Karen Zacarías, directed by Henry Godinez, which kicks off the 5th biennial Latino Theatre Festival; and the 32nd annual production of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, adapted by Tom Creamer, in the Albert Theatre. Owen Theatre selections include Joan D'Arc, Created by Tanya Palmer and Aida Karic, adapted from Friedrich Schiller's Die Jungfrau von Orleans (The Maiden of Orleans), directed by Aida Karic; High Holidays by Alan Gross, directed by Steven Robman; and The Long Red Road by Brett C. Leonard, directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Subscriptions for the 2009/2010 season are now on sale (subscriptions do not include A Christmas Carol). Visit www.GoodmanTheatre.org/Subscribe or call 312.443.3800. The complete 2009/2010 season follows; plays, artists and dates subject to change.

Animal Crackers
Book by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind
Music and Lyrics by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby
Directed by Henry Wishcamper
Begins September 2009

When a celebrated sculpture goes missing from Mrs. Rittenhouse's fancy house party in honor of African explorer Captain Spaulding, her guests set out to find the thief in a series of madcap antics and exploits. Based on the original Marx Brothers Broadway hit and film classic, this contemporary adaptation of Animal Crackers is an outrageous, rollicking, laugh-out-loud musical comedy.

Hughie By Eugene O'Neill Directed by Robert Falls

Krapp's Last Tape By Samuel Beckett Directed by Jennifer Tarver

Robert Falls and Brian Dennehy reprise their 2004 hit production of Eugene O'Neill's one-act play Hughie. High-rolling gambler Erie and Hughie, the credulous night clerk at his apartment building, were confidants. Hughie admired Erie for his bold lifestyle and Erie considered Hughie his good luck charm. When Hughie dies unexpectedly, Erie's luck changes for the worse and he finds himself in dire straights. Then Erie meets the new night clerk, who reminds him enough of Hughie that he takes the gamble that his luck is about to change.

Brian Dennehy stars in Samuel Beckett's classic one-act, one-man show, Krapp's Last Tape. Every year on his birthday, self-absorbed Krapp records the important-and the banal-moments of the last year. As he prepares to record a new tape on his 69th birthday, he begins to listen to his archives and stumbles upon a tender memory that he recorded half a lifetime ago. This immersion in his own history leads Krapp to question with growing regret whether his present lives up to his past.

These conjoined productions were first performed to universal acclaim at Canada's Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Summer 2008.

A True History of the Johnstown Flood
By Rebecca Gilman
Begins March 2010
A world premiere Goodman Theatre commission

The legendarily devastating Johnstown Flood of 1889 serves as the backdrop for this provocative world premiere by Rebecca Gilman. The Baxter Theatre Troupe-namely, siblings James, Richard, and Fanny-has been summoned to perform at a tony resort next to a beautiful man-made lake in the Pennsylvania mountains. Although the troupe's repertoire consists of the romantic trifles typical of the era, brother James envisions a different kind of play, exposing the true struggles of common people. When a violent rainstorm compromises the shoddily constructed dam, the resulting disaster lays bare the tragic inequities of the rigid class system-and paves the way for a seismic change in both theatre and society.

The Sins of Sor Juana
By Karen Zacarías
Directed by Henry Godinez
Begins June 2010

Legendary Mexican poet Juana Inés de la Cruz writes expressive, sensual verse at the Viceroy's court in the 1600s, a time when it was unfashionable-and sinful-for women to exercise their intellect. The Viceroy is jealous of Juana's influence on his beautiful wife, the Vicereine, who has arranged a profitable marriage to ensure that Juana will always have a place at court. Believing his own marriage is threatened by Juana's engagement, the Viceroy hires a charming, educated rogue to seduce Juana and destroy her reputation. When Juana refuses to compromise her poetry for what the church ordains appropriate, she stands to lose everything she loves.

Joan D'Arc
Created by Tanya Palmer and Aida Karic
Directed by Aida Karic
Adapted from Friedrich Schiller's Die Jungfrau von Orleans (The Maiden of Orleans)
A world premiere co-production with Linz 2009 European Capital of Culture
Begins September 2009

Adapted from Schiller's great romantic tragedy, this riveting world premiere-set to breathtaking live gospel music-places a contemporary spin on the classic story of Joan of Arc. In the midst of a nightmarish war, a young woman rejects her femininity to become a ruthless warrior for her country. Driven by religious faith, Joan murders her enemies in cold blood until she is stopped short and ultimately destroyed when her emotions betray her in a way that she never expected. A compelling story of one woman's fierce struggle to forge her own identity in the heat of battle, Joan D'Arc features a cast of 15 American performers, including seven musicians and Gospel singers-several of whom she discovered while in residence at the Goodman and touring Chicago's neighborhoods and churches to create this piece.

High Holidays
By Alan Gross
Directed by Steve Robman
Begins October 2009
A world premiere

This darkly comic and boisterous look at growing up in the Chicago suburbs during the early sixties is the story of 13-year old Billy Roman and the rollicking, anxiety-riddled preparations for his Bar Mitzvah. When Billy's rebellious older brother returns from college during the Jewish high holidays, his family-the little Roman Empire-begins to wobble and crack as it is forced to examine some hard truths about coming of age in America.

The Long Red Road
World Premiere
By Brett C. Leonard
Directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman
Begins February 2010
A world premiere

In this raw, provocative world premiere, Sam drinks away his life on an Indian reservation in South Dakota, where he has been trying to forget his role in a tragic accident involving his family. When a visitor from his past arrives on the reservation, Sam is forced to face his guilt and to take a harrowing look at the man he has become. The Long Red Road is a searing play about the way one person's demons can tear a family apart.

Still ahead in Goodman Theatre's 2008/2009 season is Magnolia by Regina Taylor, directed by Anna D. Shapiro (March 14 - April 19 in the Albert); Ghostwritten by Naomi Iizuka, directed by Lisa Portes (April 4 - May 3 in the Owen); Rock ' N Roll by Tom Stoppard, directed by Charles Newell (May 2 - June 7 in the Albert); The Crowd You're In With by Rebecca Gilman, directed by Wendy C. Goldberg (May 23 - June 21 in the Owen); and Boleros for the Disenchanted by José Rivera, directed by Henry Godinez (June 20 - July 26 in the Albert).

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 Brian Dennehy, 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 Karen Pigott is President 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.

-30-