All-Female Cast And Creative Team Announced For Rebecca Gilman's TWILIGHT BOWL

Goodman Theatre has announced the cast for Twilight Bowl by Pulitzer Prize finalist Rebecca Gilman, an Artistic Associate who marks her ninth production-and seventh world premiere-with the Goodman. Set in a rural Wisconsin bowling alley, the coming-of-age story focuses on six women struggling to define their own version of success. Erica Weiss-co-creator and -executive producer of the upcoming CBS series The Red Line (airing May 2019) and former Goodman Theatre Michael Maggio Directing Fellow-directs the world premiere production.

The ensemble cast, all of whom reprise their roles from the developmental production in the Goodman's 2017 New Stages Festival of new plays, includes Hayley Burgess (Clarice), Heather Chrisler (Jaycee), Angela Morris (Maddy), Becca Savoy (Sam), Mary Taylor (Brielle) and Anne E. Thompson (Sharlene). The creative team includes Regina Garcia (Set), Cat Wilson (Lighting), Izumi Inaba (Costumes) and Victoria Deiorio (Sound). Tickets ($10 - $45; subject to change) go on sale this Friday, December 14 at www.GoodmanTheatre.org, by telephone at 312.443.3800 or at the box office (170 N. Dearborn). Major Support for Twilight Bowl is provided by the Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation and Russell Reynolds Associates is the Contributing Sponsor.

"I'm thrilled to have the rare opportunity to continue the life of a new play with the actors who developed the roles in New Stages-and even more excited to feature all these women in their Goodman debuts," said Director Erica Weiss. "They are a collective force of girl power in the truest, non-Spice Girls sense of the term."

Six young women. One small town. Different lanes. After graduating from a small Wisconsin high school, Sam heads to college on scholarship-but her cousin Jaycee's future isn't looking as bright. As the young women and their friends face adulthood, their local bowling alley becomes a place to celebrate triumphs, confront challenges and forge new identities. With her signature grace, wit and compassion, Rebecca Gilman questions the blueprint for a successful life, and embraces the unknown on the road ahead.

Playwright Rebecca Gilman's body of work includes Soups, Stews, and Casseroles: 1976; 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.

Director Erica Weiss is a Jeff-nominated theatre director, filmmaker, and television writer based in Chicago, Illinois. She was the recipient of Goodman Theatre's Michael Maggio Directing Fellowship, and is a proud member of the ensemble at The Gift Theatre. Her primary passions lie in the development of new work and bringing female voices to the stage and screen. She is a longtime and frequent collaborator with writer Caitlin Parrish, directing their smash-hit world premiere productions of A Twist of Water and The Downpour with Route 66 Theatre, The Burials at Steppenwolf Theatre, as well as their first feature film, The View From Tall. Other theatre directing credits include Vigils and The Grapes of Wrath (The Gift Theatre); Cicada (Route 66 Theatre); and Distance (Strawdog Theatre). She and Parrish are the co-creators and executive producers of the new CBS series The Red Line, produced by Warner Brothers Studios with Greg Berlanti and Ava DuVernay.

ABOUT THE CAST

Hayley Burgess (Clarice) returns to Goodman Theatre where she previously appeared in the New Stages Festival productions of Twilight Bowl and Ugly, and as an understudy in The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window and The Little Foxes. Additional Chicago credits include Women in Jeopardy (First Folio Theatre), The Mystery of Love and Sex (Writers Theatre), Domesticated and the First Look Repertory of New Work reading Stupid Kid (Steppenwolf Theatre Company), Fugitive Awareness (First Floor Theater), Jake's Women (Spartan Theatre) and Spin Moves (IGNITION Festival of New Plays, Victory Gardens Theater). Regional credits include Frankenstein (Cardinal Stage). Burgess is a graduate of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and the School at Steppenwolf.

Heather Chrisler (Jaycee) returns to Goodman Theatre where she previously appeared in the New Stages Festival production of Twilight Bowl. Additional Chicago credits include Mies Julie (Victory Gardens Theater), Small Mouth Sounds (A Red Orchid Theatre), Machinal (Greenhouse Theater Center, Jeff Award nomination for Performer in a Principal Role) and good friday (Oracle Productions, Jeff Award nomination for Ensemble). Chrisler is an artistic associate at First Folio Theatre where she has been seen in Mary's Wedding, Captain Blood and The Madness of Edgar Allan Poe. Television credits include Chicago P.D. Chrisler holds an MFA from Ohio University.

Angela Morris (Maddy) returns to Goodman Theatre where she previously appeared in the New Stages Festival production of Twilight Bowl and understudied Ah, Wilderness!. Additional Chicago credits include Hang Man (The Gift Theatre Company), The Hamlet Project (The Collective) and Horatio (A Beautiful Fight Productions). Regional credits include The Comedy of Errors (The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts). Television and film credits include Chicago Fire, Two in the Bush: A Love Story and the award-winning shorts SPACEMAN., Trash and My Best Girl, which she also co-wrote. Morris voices the main character (among others) in the video game Perception and has been heard in commercial spots, including those for Sears and Google Books. AngelaMorris.net

Becca Savoy (Sam) returns to Goodman Theatre where she previously appeared in the New Stages Festival production of Twilight Bowl. Additional Chicago credits include The Burials and understudying Mary Page Marlowe (Steppenwolf Theatre Company), Pocatello (Griffin Theatre Company, Jeff Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress), Ten 2018 and Ten 2017 (The Gift Theatre Company), Ignition 2016 (Victory Gardens Theater) and understudying The Commons of Pensacola (Northlight Theatre). Savoy trained at the School at Steppenwolf and is represented by Actors Talent Group.

Mary Taylor (Brielle) returns to Goodman Theatre where she previously appeared in the New Stages Festival production of Twilight Bowl. Regional credits include All Shook Up (Myers Dinner Theatre), The Producers and The Addams Family (The Vanity Theater) and The Crucible (University Theatre). Taylor received her BFA in acting from Ball State University and is represented by Stewart Talent.

Anne E. Thompson (Sharlene) returns to Goodman Theatre, where she previously appeared in the New Stages Festival production of Twilight Bowl, as well as understudied Uncle Vanya and A Christmas Carol. Additional Chicago credits include Writers Theatre, Silk Road Rising, The Sound, Riff Collective and Rivendell Theatre Ensemble. Regionally, Thompson has worked with American Players Theatre, Montana Shakespeare in the Schools, Door Shakespeare, Illinois Shakespeare Festival and Indiana Repertory Theatre. She is a graduate of the School of Theatre at Illinois State University and represented by Shirley Hamilton Talent.

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