Goodman Theatre

For Immediate Release

(Chicago, IL) Goodman Theatre Artistic Director Robert Falls announced today the full schedule for the 2007/2008 season, completed by the addition of three plays in a four-play celebration of the legendary Horton Foote, one of America's most prolific writers. Talking Pictures-which will run in repertory with two one-act plays, Blind Date and The Actor-joins the previously-announced The Trip to Bountiful featuring Lois Smith to comprise the theater's Horton Foote Festival in February and March 2008. In addition to the mainstage offerings, special events in the celebration include an in-person conversation with the playwright, "An Evening with Horton Foote," screenings of Foote's films (he is a two-time Academy Award winner with To Kill a Mockingbird and Tender Mercies) and a panel discussion with prominent artists who have worked with this living legend. A calendar of dates and times of the offerings within the Horton Foote Festival will be released in the coming months.

"There are very few playwrights in the American theater who write with the depth and honesty of Horton Foote. For over 60 years he has been a veritable silent giant of the stage and screen, unsentimentally capturing the minds and hearts of small-town America with a signature delicacy," said Robert Falls. "Unbelievably, it has been ten years since the Goodman has presented a work by this remarkable writer-The Young Man from Atlanta in 1997, a production I had the privilege to direct and one I recall with great fondness. I'm thrilled that we at the Goodman will celebrate Horton's work and life in a significant, important way with this Festival-and I'm honored that Mr. Foote will be with us during this time."

Directed by Harris Yulin, The Trip to Bountiful anchors the Festival in the Albert Theatre, with Lois Smith slated to reprise her award-winning performance as Carrie Watts. Directing Talking Pictures in his Goodman Theatre debut is Henry Wishcamper, whom Falls tapped to assist with his Broadway production of Shining City last season. Two Chicago directors will helm the one-acts, which will be performed in repertory with Talking Pictures in the Owen Theatre.

Goodman Theatre's 2007/2008 season features the foremost established and emerging writers and artists working in theater in the United States and across the globe. Complete information on the new season follows; plays, dates and artists are subject to change.

In The Albert Theatre

Passion Play: a cycle
By Sarah Ruhl
Directed by Mark Wing-Davey
Starts September 15, 2007

What happens when religious belief is used for political manipulation? MacArthur Foundation Fellowship "Genius Grant" winner Sarah Ruhl uses the traditional dramatic restaging of the final days of Christ as a basis for the exploration of three highly-charged historical periods: Elizabethan England, pre-World War II Germany, and Reagan-era America. Startlingly original and beautifully human in its effect, Passion Play pits religious dogma, personal faith, and the realities of politics against love, beauty, and truth-all with Ruhl's signature wit, seductive theatricality and devastating insight. Other plays by Ruhl include The Clean House (a Pulitzer Prize finalist produced by the Goodman in the 2005/2006 season and recipient of the 2004 Susan Smith Blackburn Award and Pen Award), Melancholy Play, Eurydice, Late: a cowboy song, Orlando, Demeter in the City (NAACP image award nomination) and Dead Man's Cell Phone. Boeing is the Exclusive Corporate Sponsor of Passion Play: a cycle.

A Christmas Carol
By Charles Dickens
Adapted by Goodman Dramaturg Tom Creamer
Directed by William Brown
Starts November 16, 2007

Over three decades Goodman audiences have seen 150 Cratchits; 4,500 ghostly visits by Past, Present and Future; and 16,000 "Bah-Humbugs." Celebrating 30 years this holiday season, A Christmas Carol has been the centerpiece of Chicago Christmas for nearly one million people. From flying ghosts to a quiet little boy and his crutch, this timeless holiday treasure is filled with enough singing, dancing and enchantment to rejuvenate even the most disheartened of spirits. The miserly Ebenezer Scrooge is transformed through the course of one very memorable Christmas Eve night. Harris Private Bank is the Major Corporate Sponsor of A Christmas Carol.

Shining City
By Conor McPherson
Directed by Robert Falls
Starts January 12, 2008

In a Dublin psychiatrist's office, a distraught man reveals a fantastical happening: the recent sighting of the ghost of his newly deceased wife. Thus begins Irish playwright Conor McPherson's quietly haunting, finely wrought tale of urban isolation and connection. "As close to perfection as contemporary playwriting gets" (The New York Times). McPherson's other works include The Weir, Rum & Vodka, The Good Thief, Dublin Carol and Port Authority. His awards include the Laurence Olivier Award, Evening Standard Award, Critics Circle Award and the Stewart Parker Award. Goodman Artistic Director Robert Falls recently directed the American premiere of the Shining City on Broadway starring Oliver Platt. Northern Trust is the Major Corporate Sponsor and Katten Muchin Rosenman is the Corporate Sponsor Partner of Shining City.

The Trip to Bountiful
By Horton Foote
Directed by Harris Yulin
(See the Horton Foote Festival information at the end of this release for details.)

The Ballad of Emmett Till
By Ifa Bayeza
Directed by Kate Whoriskey
Starts April 26, 2008

The brutal murder of Emmett Till is believed by many to be the start of the modern civil rights movement of the 1950s and remains one of the most pivotal incidents in a monumental era. This world premiere, part history and part ghost story, is a jazz integration of past and present, living and dead, factual accounts and creative interpolation. Chicago author Ifa Bayeza captures the powerful truths at the heart of the story, creating a soaring work of music, vibrant poetry and theatricality. The Ballad of Emmett Till was developed in Goodman Theatre's 2006 New Stages Series as well as at The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's 2007 National Playwrights Conference. Bayeza has received a Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays fellowship, and has received numerous awards including two National Endowment for the Arts Creation Grants. Katten Muchin Rosenman is the Corporate Sponsor Partner of this production.

The Boys Are Coming Home
Music and lyrics by Leslie Arden
Book by Rebecca Gilman
Directed by David Petrarca
Starts June 21, 2008

Swing meets bebop in this gloriously captivating musical set in the tumultuous, anything-can-happen post-World War II era. When the troops, led by a gregarious lady's man, return home they encounter a world whose rules (and women) are now very different. Romantic and poetic, hilarious and earthy, The Boys Are Coming Home is a tuneful celebration of a society on the eve of an exciting new era, where nothing is what it was and everything is possible. Leslie Arden is the composer/lyricist/co-book writer of the critically acclaimed and multi-award winning The House of Martin Guerre which premiered at the Goodman in 1996. Rebecca Gilman's play Dollhouse was most recently seen at the Goodman in 2005. Her numerous awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Roger L. Stevens Award from the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays.

In The Owen Theatre

The Cook
By Eduardo Machado
Directed by Henry Godinez
Starts October 20, 2007

It is 1958 in Havana, on the night of Fidel Castro's revolution. The aristocratic owners of an estate flee the country, entrusting it to their young cook, Gladys, who vows to safeguard it until their return. Through the years, the cook holds firm to her promise. Forty years later, the daughter of the mistress of the house returns-resulting in a confrontation that reveals the very human conflicts that still exist between those who left their homeland and those who stayed behind.

Talking Pictures
By Horton Foote
Directed by Henry Wishcamper

Blind Date and The Actor
An Evening of One-Act Plays
By Horton Foote
(See the Horton Foote Festival information below for details.)

Ain't Misbehavin': The New Fats Waller Musical Show
Based on an idea by Murray Horwitz and Richard Maltby, Jr.
Music by Thomas "Fats" Waller
Directed by Chuck Smith
Starts April 5, 2008

The Cotton Club comes to the Goodman in a joyous tribute to the music of the inimitable Fats Waller. Travel back to Harlem in the sassy, swinging 1930s via such classic tunes as "Honeysuckle Rose" and "Mean to Me," exuberantly performed by a quintet of irresistible talents. Sultry, infectiously playful, and downright fun, Ain't Misbehavin' will make this joint jump!

In The Albert and Owen Theatre

Horton Foote Festival
January - March 2008

Talking Pictures
Directed by Henry Wishcamper
Starts January 26, 2008

It is 1929 in the town of Harrison, Texas. On the eve of the Depression, the residents of a small boarding house deal with myriad crises, small and large: the quarrels between estranged husbands and wives, the uncertain future of a railroad engineer, and the coming of the "talkies" to the local movie theater, which signals the end of an era (and a job) for the woman who plays the live music there. These potentially cataclysmic events are chronicled with gentle humor and deep compassion by Horton Foote, "the Chekhov of the small town," in a play termed simply by Variety "a treasure."

Blind Date and The Actor-An Evening of One-Act Plays
Starts February 21, 2008

In Blind Date, a well-meaning aunt tries to arrange the social life of her overwhelmingly reluctant niece, with hilariously unexpected results. And a young man's determination to launch a career on the stage provides the basis for The Actor, one of Foote's most affecting explorations of the family dynamic.

The Trip to Bountiful
Directed by Harris Yulin
Starts March 1, 2008

Horton Foote's tender, heartfelt study focuses on Carrie Watts, who dreams of returning to her childhood home in the small town of Bountiful, Texas, which she left three decades earlier. She sets out to fulfill her dream, with results that are both heartbreaking and brilliantly life-affirming. Actor/director Harris Yulin recreates his off-Broadway triumph, featuring Obie Award-winner Lois Smith.

Latino Theatre Festival August 2008

Curated by Resident Artistic Associate Henry Godinez, the fourth biennial Latino Theatre Festival builds on the success of the previous celebrations and will include some of the best international, national and local Latino theater companies. Schedule and dates TBD.

Special Events

A Christmas Carol Family Benefit December 2, 2007 Macy's Narcissus Room

Fame, Fantasy, Food, Adventure Auction January 28, 2008 The Casino

Goodman Theatre Black Tie Gala May 17, 2008 Fairmont Hotel

Subscriptions to Goodman Theatre's 2007/2008 season are now on sale and are priced from $100 to $320. Subscriptions to the Owen are priced from $45 to $90. The Platinum Subscription-for all of the plays in the Goodman's new season-begins at $145. Subscriptions may be purchased at the Goodman Box Office, 170 North Dearborn, by calling 312.443.3800 or online at GoodmanTheatre.org. For further subscription information, call 312.443.3800.

Goodman Theatre, recipient of the Special Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre, has been a leader in the American theater and internationally recognized for its artists, productions and education programs. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Robert Falls and Executive Director Roche Schulfer, the Goodman is committed to producing classic and contemporary works, giving full voice to a wide range of artists and visions. Central to that mission is the Goodman's Artistic Collective, including Frank Galati, Mary Zimmerman, Chuck Smith, Regina Taylor and Henry Godinez. In 2000, the Goodman moved to the heart of Chicago's revitalized downtown North Loop Theater District, into a 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 Lester N. Coney 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

American Airlines is the Exclusive Airline of Goodman Theatre. Kraft Foods is the Principal Sponsor of the Goodman's free Student Subscription Series.

-30-

August 3, 2007