Goodman Theater Presents 'MAGNOLIA,' Running 3/14-4/19

Goodman Theatre is proud to present the world premiere of ReGina Taylor's newest work, Magnolia, directed by Tony Award winner Anna D. Shapiro (August: Osage County). Magnolia runs March 14 - April 19, 2009, in the Albert Ivar Theatre. Tickets are $25 - 75. Target is the lead Corporate Sponsor Partner.

A tide of social change is shifting the southern landscape of 1963 Atlanta-the Peyton Wall divides blacks from whites, protests and sit-ins entreat personal freedom, and the 40-acre Magnolia Estate faces foreclosure. Lilly, an outspoken, sensual free spirit, returns home to try and save her inheritance; Thomas, an intelligent, strong-willed businessman-whose family was slaves on the estate-has a plan for its salvation. Each born of and bound by the Estate, Lily and Thomas now find themselves at odds for ownership, wrestling with the shadows of their buried past: one clinging to innocence, the other avenging the place where innocence was torn apart. A haunting world premiere by ReGina Taylor, Magnolia asks whether control is lost or gained in the deeply-rooted bargain for self.

Tickets are $25 - $82 and may be purchased online at GoodmanTheatre.org, at the box office (170 North Dearborn) or by phone at 312.443.3800. Mezztix are half-price mezzanine tickets available at 12 noon at the box office, and at 10am online (promo code MEZZTIX) day of performance; Mezztix are not available by telephone. 10Tix are $10 mezzanine tickets for students available at 12 noon at the box office, and at 10am online on the day of performance; 10Tix are not available by telephone. Valid student I.D. must be presented when picking up the tickets. Limit four per student with I.D. All tickets are subject to availability and handling fees apply. Discounted Group Tickets for 10 persons or more are available at 312.443.3820.

ReGina Taylor authored and directed The Dreams of Sarah Breedlove, which premiered at Alabama Shakespeare Festival and was produced at the Goodman in June 2006. Drowning Crow, her adaptation of Chekhov's The Seagull, was produced on Broadway at Manhattan Theater Club's Biltmore Theater. Taylor wrote the award-winning Crowns, first produced at McCarter Theatre and at Second Stage in New York, and has subsequently become the most performed musical in America; Taylor also directed the production to critical acclaim. Her other plays include Oo-Bla-Dee, which premiered at the Goodman and which won the 2000 American Theatre Critics/Steinberg New Play Award; Escape From Paradise, a one-woman show; Watermelon Rinds; Inside the Belly of the Beast; Mudtracks; Love Poem #97; and she curated Urban Zulu Mambo, an evening of plays by Adrienne Kennedy, Ntozake Shange, Suzan-Lori Parks and Kia Corthron. Acting credits include roles on Broadway, off-Broadway and in numerous resident theaters. Her film credits include Clockers, Losing Isaiah, Lean on Me, A Family Thing, Courage Under Fire, with Denzel Washington and The Negotiator with Samuel L. Jackson. For her role as Lilly Harper on the television series I'll Fly Away, Taylor won an NAACP Image Award, was nominated for an Emmy Award and received the Golden Globe Award for Best Leading Dramatic Actress. She currently portrays Molly on CBS's The Unit written and produced by David Mamet and Shawn Ryan (2008 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama).

Anna D. Shapiro recently won the Tony Award for Best Director for August: Osage County which premiered at the Steppenwolf Theatre. Her recent credits include the world premieres of Until We Find Each Other by Brooke Berman and The Pain and the Itch by Bruce Norris, the Chicago and Galway productions of Purple Heart, Three Days of Rain, Drawer Boy, I Never Sang for my Father, and Man from Nebraska. She also directed the world premieres of The Ordinary Yearning of Miriam Buddwing by Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros at Steppenwolf and Bruce Norris's The Infidel at both Steppenwolf and the Philadelphia Theatre Company. Other credits include Iron at Manhattan Theatre Club, A Fair Country by Jon Robin Baitz at the Huntington Theatre Company, and Edwin Sanchez's Trafficking in Broken Hearts for the Atlantic Theatre Company.

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