DO-GOODER World Premiere to Open 16th Street's New Season, 1/16-2/22

The world premiere of Laura Jacqmin's DO-GOODER opens 16th Street Theater's Season Seven performing January 16 - February 22, 2014 at 6420 16th Street in Berwyn, with a press opening of Thursday, January 23 at 7:30 PM. Directed by Artistic Director Ann Filmer, Do-Gooder is the first show in 16th Street's Season Seven 2014: How to Be Good.

When Gordon and CarMel Buy a greystone in Chicago, it's with the best of intentions: they plan to rent the building's second apartment to a low-income black family, displacing Erik and Nora, their white tenants. But when Gordon realizes there's more to Nora than meets the eye, he finds himself caught in the middle of a power struggle, calling into question what it means to do good.

"Do-Gooder is a great follow-up to Steven Simoncic Broken Fences which dealt with gentrification," says director Ann Filmer. "In Do-Gooder we show the flip side: an affluent, African-American couple is forced to confront that wanting to help a certain kind of person may harm another."

Playwright Jacqmin returns to 16th Street following her stint as a staff writer for ABC's television series "Lucky 7." Jacqmin was 16th Street's 2011 playwright-in-residence for her play Dental Society Midwinter Meeting.

Do-Gooder features LaNisa Frederick (Goodman Theatre's By the Way Meet Vera Stark (u/s), Measure for Measure), Kyle Haden (Cleveland Play House, the Guthrie Theater, Kansas City Rep), Kaelan Strouse (Clybourne Park at Redtwist), and Meghan Reardon (Red Tape's Young Jean Lee's Lear) as Nora.

LAURA JACQMIN is a Chicago-based playwright, and the winner of the 2008 Wasserstein Prize, a $25,000 award given to recognize an emerging female playwright. She graduated cum laude from Yale University and earned an MFA from Ohio University.

Her play January Joiner was the recipient of an NEA Arts Works grant for its premiere production in Long Wharf Theatre's 2012-2013 season, dir. Eric Ting. Two Lakes, Two Rivers (originally commissioned by Goodman Theatre, and further developed during The Royal Court Theatre's 2011 International Residency) was workshopped at the 2012 O'Neill National Playwrights Conference, dir. Henry Wishcamper.

Other plays include Ski Dubai (Steppenwolf Theatre Company), Look, We Are Breathing (Sundance Theatre Lab), and Dental Society Midwinter Meeting (which enjoyed a sold-out run with Chicago Dramatists/At Play in 2010, and was remounted at 16th Street Theater and Theater on the Lake in 2011). Her short play Hero Dad (a finalist for the 2012 Heideman Award) premiered in the 2012 Humana Festival of New Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville. In addition to Do-Gooder, Upcoming productions include the world premieres of Milvotchkee, Visconsin (co-pro Synchro Theatre and Mo'olelo Performing Arts Company), and Ghost Bike (Buzz22 Chicago).

Her work has been produced and developed by Atlantic Theater Company, Old Vic New Voices, Roundabout Underground, Vineyard Theatre, LCT3, Ars Nova, Cape Cod Theatre Project, Second Stage Theatre, Contemporary American Theater Festival, The 24 Hour Plays Off-Broadway, and the inaugural NNPN University Playwrights Workshop at Stanford University, among others. She was a 2010 and 2012 MacDowell Fellow.

From 2007 to 2008, she was a contributing writer for The Onion A.V. Club and A.V. Club Chicago. Jacqmin was a member of the inaugural 2010-2011 Playwrights' Unit at the Goodman Theatre, and has been commissioned by South Coast Rep, Goodman Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre/Alfred P. Sloan Science and Technology Project, Arden Theatre Company, Carthage College, Victory Gardens Theatre/NNPN, and InterAct Theatre. Television: Lucky 7 (ABC).

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