Casting Announced For Goodman Theatre's Free New Stages Festival

Casting is complete for the two "developmental productions" featured in Goodman Theatre's 16th annual New Stages Festival-a free celebration of new works by some of the country's finest established and emerging playwrights.

The two plays, which are staged in repertory following two weeks of rehearsal, include Incendiary by Dave Harris, directed by Monty Cole; and In the Sick Bay of the Santa Maria by Rajiv Joseph, directed by Robert O'Hara. Developmental productions are designed by Kevin Depinet (Original Set Design), Kristen Martino (Sets), Noël Huntzinger (Costumes), Claire Chrzan (Lights) and Richard Woodbury (Sound). Full cast lists are included below.

The New Stages Festival runs October 23 - November 10 in the Owen Theatre; to reserve FREE tickets, call 312.443.3800, visit GoodmanTheatre.org/NewStagesFestival or the box office (170 N. Dearborn). For more information about "Industry Professionals Weekend," visit GoodmanTheatre.org/Professionals.

In addition, four staged readings are presented during the last weekend of the festival (November 8-10) including The Garden by Charlayne Woodard (Saturday, November 9 at 10:30am); Engines and Instruments of Flight: A Fantasia in Three Acts by Calamity West (Saturday, November 9 at 2pm); The Humanities by Zayd Dohrn (Sunday, November 10 at 10:30am); and Fannie by Cheryl L. West (Sunday, November 10 at 7:30pm). The weekend also includes a special work-in-progress showing, (the) FAIR created by Sandra Delgado and Sojourn Theatre Company (Saturday, November 9 at 1pm and 5pm).

Since New Stages' inception, more than 80 plays have been produced as a developmental production or staged reading. More than 60% of all plays developed in New Stages have received a world premiere production at the Goodman or another leading U.S. theater. The Goodman's 2019/2020 season features the world premiere of Korde Arrington Tuttle's Graveyard Shift, which originated in New Stages in 2018.

The Goodman is grateful for the generosity of its New Work sponsors, including: Pritzker Pucker Family Foundation and the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, Major Support of New Play Development; Ruth D. and Ken M. Davee New Works Fund, Major Support of New Work; Shaw Family Supporting Organization, Support of New Work; The Glasser and Rosenthal Family, Support of New Work Development; and The Joyce Foundation, Principal Support for Diverse Artistic and Professional Development.

Casting for 2019 New Stages Festival Developmental Productions

Incendiary
By Dave Harris
Directed by Monty Cole
A Developmental Production; appears in repertory (October 23 - November 9)

Tanya is determined to break her son out of death row-or die trying. She'll need guns. She'll need to get her hair done. She'll need to save her son; but at what cost? This explosive tragicomedy challenges notions of motherhood, justice and generational trauma.

CAST:
Jerome Beck..................Joshua/Marcus
McKenzie Chinn...........Jasmine
Ronald L. Conner...........Manny
Bernard Gilbert.............Eric
Terry Guest..................Gerard/Markus
Wandachristine.............Tanya

In The Sick Bay of the Santa Maria
Written by Rajiv Joseph
Directed by Robert O'Hara
A Developmental Production; appears in repertory (October 26 - November 10)

It's 1492, and the Santa Maria sets sail towards a dangerous New World. In the ship's dank and diseased belly, a young man with visions of sea monsters and the voice of an angel seeks counsel from a grotesque old physician. But nothing can prepare them for the freedom and salvation-and the prison and damnation-that lies dead ahead.

CAST:
Cheryl Lynn Bruce...........Maestre Alonso/Maria
Richard David..................Pedro
Tim Frank.........................Terreros
Joe Goldammer...............Chachu

ABOUT Goodman Theatre

AMERICA'S "BEST REGIONAL THEATRE" (Time magazine), Goodman Theatre is a premier not-for-profit organization distinguished by the excellence and scope of its artistic programming and civic engagement. Led by Artistic Director Robert Falls and Executive Director Roche Schulfer, the theater's artistic priorities include new play development (more than 150 world or American premieres), large scale musical theater works and reimagined classics (celebrated revivals include Falls' productions of Death of a Salesman and The Iceman Cometh). Goodman Theatre artists and productions have earned two Pulitzer Prizes, 22 Tony Awards, over 160 Jeff Awards and many more accolades. In addition, the Goodman is the first theater in the world to produce all 10 plays in August Wilson's "American Century Cycle" and its four-decade annual holiday tradition A Christmas Carol, which has created a new generation of theatergoers. The Goodman also frequently serves as a production partner with local off-Loop theaters and national and international companies by providing financial support or physical space for a variety of artistic endeavors.

Committed to three core values of Quality, Diversity and Community, the Goodman proactively makes inclusion the fabric of the institution and develops education and community engagement programs that support arts as education. This practice uses the process of artistic creation to inspire and empower youth, lifelong learners and audiences to find and/or enhance their voices, stories and abilities. The Goodman's Alice Rapoport Center for Education and Engagement is the home of such programming, most offered free of charge, and has vastly expanded the theater's ability to touch the lives of Chicagoland citizens (with 85% of youth participants coming from underserved communities) since its 2016 opening.

Goodman Theatre was founded in 1925 by William O. Goodman and his family in honor of their son Kenneth, an important figure in Chicago's cultural renaissance in the early 1900s. The Goodman family's legacy lives on through the continued work and dedication of Kenneth's family, including Albert Ivar Goodman, who with his late mother, Edith-Marie Appleton, contributed the necessary funds for the creation of the new Goodman center in 2000.

Today, Goodman Theatre leadership also includes the distinguished members of the Artistic Collective: Brian Dennehy, Rebecca Gilman, Henry Godinez, Dael Orlandersmith, Steve Scott, Kimberly Senior, Chuck Smith, Regina Taylor, Henry Wishcamper and Mary Zimmerman. David W. Fox, Jr.is Chairman of Goodman Theatre's Board of Trustees, Denise Stefan Ginascol is Women's Board President and Megan McCarthy Hayes is President of the Scenemakers Board for young professionals.

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