New Stages Professionals Weekend 26/27

A new stages residency reading
black-eyed peas and collard greens

By Lachrisa Grandberry
Directed by J. Nicole Brooks

Friday, December 11 at 3:00pm

In a West Side Chicago apartment building, three families prepare to welcome the New Year with the beliefs, strategies, and secrets they’ve relied upon for generations. But what happens when our traditions no longer align with our reality? Black-Eyed Peas & Collard Greens is a multi-generational ensemble dramedy about inheritance and what happens when those inherited truths stop serving us. Funny, heartfelt, and deeply human, Lachrisa Grandberry’s newest play explores how tradition comforts us, when it confines us, and what remains when we’re finally brave enough to choose something new.

KICK-OFF PARTY

Clifford Family Lobby & Baskes Rotunda
Alice Center for Education and Engagement

Friday, December 11 at 6:00pm

Launch this weekend of exciting new work at a casual mixer with complimentary beer, wine and light fare.

shook

Book by Mike Lew
Music & Lyrics by Zoe Sarnak
Directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel

Friday, December 11 at 7:30pm

Something is rotten at Camp Avon, the prestigious Shakespeare summer camp for teens. Is it the star-crossed lovers facing a stage kiss? The stage management intern who wants a chance to perform so badly that she disguises herself as a camper? Or the fact that there are actual witches in the woods? All the wood’s a stage, and all the campers merely players in this angsty musical ode to the eternal power of theatre.

A new stages Residency reading 
The last time we saw them

By William Glick
Directed by Jessica Fisch

Saturday, December 12 at 10:00am

In 1983, Tess, Sasha, and Amelia are young writers hoping to make their marks on Ronald Reagan’s Washington. As the years pass, their lives—and the Conservative Movement that brought them to power—are made unrecognizable by wars abroad and division at home. Spanning four turbulent decades, from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the beginning of the second Trump administration, The Last Time We Saw Them tells the story of three exceptional women whose ideals, rivalries, and love of country and each other help forge the America of the 2020s.

INDUSTRY LUNCH

Clifford Family Lobby & Baskes Rotunda
Alice Center for Education and Engagement

Saturday, December 12 at 12:30pm

Join fellow industry professionals for lunch, with the option of joining several breakout lunch tables centered on industry roles and identities.

wonderland

By Will Eno
Directed by Susan V. Booth

Saturday, December 12 at 2:00pm

After a punishing decade-long exile in Europe, Orson Welles returns to Hollywood for a one-night only reading of Lewis Carrol’s Alice in Wonderland. The borders between fiction and real life—and between his outward wants and inner demons—begin to break down, as Alice’s journey becomes hopelessly entangled with Orson’s past, and the evening takes a wild turn into the present. From Obie-Award winning playwright Will Eno, Wonderland paints a hopeful, tender, and at times surreal portrait of humanity and reality in the modern age. 

bruceploitation

By Qui Nguyen
Directed by May Adrales

Saturday, December 12 at 7:30pm

After Bruce Lee’s death, a struggling Asian American actor gets his big Hollywood break…. by replacing the legend…. despite not knowing a lick of kung fu. Sparks fly when he meets the badass Black stuntwoman hired to train him, who’s tired of making everyone else look like a hero while she stays out of frame. Turns out learning to throw a punch is way easier than keeping their hands off each other. A Kung Fu Rom Com. 

POST-SHOW SALON

Clifford Family Lobby & Baskes Rotunda
Alice Center for Education and Engagement

Saturday, December 12 at 9:30pm

Join fellow playwrights, dramaturgs, directors, actors and other industry professionals for relaxed late-night festivity with complimentary food, beer and wine.

house gyalz

By Abigail C. Onwunali
Directed by Lili-Anne Brown

Sunday, December 13 at 11:00am

House Gyalz follows two Nigerian housemaids as they spiral into dangerous roleplay, examining class, power, and womanhood. When unexpected news raises the stakes of their games, they will pull out all the stops to survive. Blending sharp satire with explosive theatricality, Abigail C. Onwunali’s dark comedy is a contemporary take on Jean Genet’s classic The Maids.  

new Stages residency readings

The Goodman’s New Stages Residency is a year-long program for Chicago-area generative artists. Each season, the New Stages Residency commissions original works of theatre from local artists and presents in-process readings of early drafts to Goodman audiences. Established in 2010, the program supports multiple writers each season, offering tailored developmental support for works-in-progress and fostering close connections between Goodman staff and Chicago artists.

Starting this year, Residency writers’ culminating reading will take place during Professionals Weekend of the New Stages Festival. We’re thrilled you’ll be able to join us for readings of new works by the 2026 Residents, Lachrisa Grandberry and William Glick, presented in the Alice Studio.

The Artists Exchange @ New Stages

The Artists Exchange is a new initiative within the New Stages Festival, designed to nurture and spotlight Chicago-based artists interested in new work development.  

Rooted in the Goodman’s commitment to supporting Chicago’s vibrant new-work ecosystem, the Exchange is an opportunity for artists to reflect on their artistic practice and build relationships that strengthen the pipeline of new play development in Chicago. 

Participation in the Exchange is by invitation. More information coming soon.