Goodman Theatre to Stage Free Readings by Playwrights Unit Next Week
By: BWW News Desk Jul. 10, 2017
Goodman Theatre announces a line-up of free staged readings written by 2016/2017 members of its Playwrights Unit - Lucas Baisch, Dawn Renee Jones, Evan Linder and Emma Stanton. The four one-time-only readings take place at Goodman Theatre beginning Sunday, July 16 through Tuesday, July 18, presented in partnership with Chicago Dramatists. Over the past year members worked with the Goodman's artistic team to develop and discuss their plays-in-progress.
Free readings take place July 16-18 at Goodman Theatre (170 N. Dearborn); to make a reservation call 312.443.3800 or visit GoodmanTheatre.org/PlaywrightsUnit. Availability is extremely limited.
As previously announced, Teatro Vista's La Havana Madrid makes its way to Goodman Theatre in its downtown debut, July 21 - August 20. A world premiere by Playwrights Unit alum Sandra Delgado-who authored the play as a 2015 member of the unit-the production arrives at the Goodman following sold-out runs at Steppenwolf Theatre Company and Logan Square's Miracle Center.
Directed by Teatro Vista ensemble member Cheryl Lynn Bruce, the play was inspired by true stories of Cuban, Puerto Rican and Colombian immigrants who found refuge in the 1960s fabled Chicago nightclub. La Havana Madrid appears July 21 - August 20 in the Owen Theatre (Opening Night is Wednesday, July 26 at 7pm). Tickets ($30-$50; subject to change) are now available; visit GoodmanTheatre.org/LaHavanaMadrid or call the box office at (312) 443-3800. La Havana Madrid is recommended for ages 12 and up.
About the 2016/2017 Playwrights Unit Readings:
The Beauties by Dawn Renee Jones
Directed by J. Nicole Brooks
Sunday, July 16 | 2pm
A goddess with an anxiety disorder enlists the aid of her son to procure beauties for placement in the universe where needed. But when a rare and unusually beautiful maiden accepts the hand of a grotesque monster, mother and son are challenged to reassess their relationship to the superficially attractive.
Jones is the recipient of the 2015 Ruby Prize for her play A Heap See. Her interdisciplinary collaboration with composer Carei Thomas and visual artist Seitu Jones entitled S'Kin received a workshop production at the Cornerstone Theatre's Genesis Festival in New Brunswick, and was produced by Intermedia Arts in Minneapolis where it was recognized as one of the year's best by the Twin Cities Reader. Her feature screenplay Man of the Word won Best Screenplay at the 2008 FilmColumbia Film Festival. Jones' writing career began on Madison Avenue where she wrote print and broadcast advertising at the Leo Burnett Company, Young & Rubicam and McCann Erickson advertising agencies and for a broad range of national brands. She has been a script doctor on feature screenplays for Columbia Pictures, Warner Brothers and Paisley Park. Jones was the founder and artistic director of Alchemy Theatre in Minneapolis, where she also directed productions for Actors Theatre of St. Paul (The Blood Knot, If I'm Traveling on a Movin' Train and Water Torture), Alchemy Theatre (American Menu, A Raisin in the Sun), Mixed Blood (Ali), Penumbra Theatre (Suspenders), At the Foot of the Mountain Theatre (Angela, Going to Seed, Head Over Heels, Ida B. Wells, and Wake Up Call), Women's Theatre Project (A Place on Earth) and Starting Gate Theatre (A Raisin in the Sun). She developed theatre curriculum for the State of Minnesota's Professional Development Institute at the Perpich Center for the Arts, has been an artist in residence at K-12 schools in Minnesota and New York and taught theater history courses at Macalaster College and Metropolitan State University. Jones has an MFA in creative writing with emphasis in playwriting from Goddard College.
Jo and Liv by Evan Linder
Directed by Krissy Vanderwarker
Sunday, July 16 | 7:30pm
Liv has accepted her estranged sister Jo's invitation to spend Christmas together with their families in New York in 1961. With years of hurt between them, they hope this can be their chance to finally exhume all the skeletons in their closets... or at least the contentious Academy Award stuffed in the cupboard.
Linder is a founding member and the co-artistic director of The New Colony in Chicago. He works as a playwright, actor and director. He recently reprised the role of Jim in the remount of his play Byhalia, Mississippi, (2016 Non-Equity Jeff Award for new work) at Steppenwolf's 1700 Theatre. Other plays include FRAT, 11:11, The Warriors, The Bear Suit of Happiness (published by Chicago Dramaworks), B-Side Studio and 5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche (published by Samuel French) which ran off-Broadway at the SoHo Playhouse from 2012-2013 and has been performed all over the U.S., Europe and Australia. Linder's newest play, The Hunted (co-written with Paul Oakley Stovall), recently received its first staged reading with About Face Theatre's "First Draaft" Series. He is beginning his fifth year as a guest lecturer at the University of Chicago where he has created three new playwriting courses. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America and is represented by ICM.
June in the Parade by Emma Stanton
Directed by Vanessa Stalling
Monday, July 17 | 7:30pm
In June's grandmother's house, everyone is sick. Her grandmother has dementia, her aunt is hallucinating and June is beginning to see things that aren't there. Three generations of women call into question what we inherit, what we are capable of and who we become as a result of our family.
Stanton's plays include Bojko and the Glacier, Jitterbug, One Wood Road, Bountiful Planets and No Candy. Her written collaborations include The Cure (Walkabout Theater Company), Storm (Walkabout Theater Company & London's Moon Fool), Circle-Machine (Oracle Theater), and The Straight Line (American Theater Company, as part of their Chicago Chronicle Program). Additionally, she has worked with such companies as Collaboraction, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Victory Gardens Theater, About Face Theatre, Redmoon Theater, Double Edge Theater, En Garde Arts and Roundabout Theatre Company. Her play In the Danube was a recipient of a Civics and Arts Foundation Playwriting Award for Emerging Artists in Chicago, as well as a finalist for the 2016 Heideman Award at Actors Theatre of Louisville. For her play No Candy, Stanton was a finalist for the 2016 Susan Glaspell Award, a winner of the 2016 Columbia University/Roundabout Theater Underground Reading Series and the recipient of the 2016 Jane Chambers Feminist Playwriting Award. Most recently, she was the recipient of the 2016 Princess Grace Award Playwriting Fellowship, which includes a year-long residency at New Dramatists in New York. She is the associate artistic director of Walkabout Theater Company in Chicago. BA: Boston College; MFA: Columbia University.
Refrigerator by Lucas Baisch
Directed by Kurt Chiang
Tuesday, July 18 | 7:30pm
Eighty-two percent of Earth's population has disposed of their physical bodies and digitally uploaded their consciousness to IceBox & Co. In the midst of a going-away party for a colleague, the company's few remaining employees battle their moral and socioeconomic inabilities to abandon reality.
Baisch's work has been read and developed at InFusion Theatre Company, Salonathon, Victory Gardens Theater, Post Q at Links Hall, Gloucester Stage Company, Chicago Dramatists' Saturday Series, The Bridge Program at American Theatre Company, The Wulfden, The DeYoung Museum, The NeoFuturists' Kitchen Festival, SF Playground and DePaul University. Full-length productions include The Scavengers (DePaul University), A Measure of Normalcy (Gloucester Stage Company) and Zipped & Pelted (The Wulfden/Chicago Fringe). He recently completed an eight-month residency as Gloucester Stage Company's 2015 Playwriting Apprentice and will be a 2017 artist-in-residence at Elsewhere Museum in Greensboro, NC. Baisch has also self-published his digital zine series Taste Test since 2015. He received his BFA in playwriting from the Theatre School at DePaul University.
America's "Best Regional Theatre" (Time magazine) and "Chicago's flagship resident stage" (Chicago Tribune ), Goodman Theatre is a not-for-profit organization distinguished by the quality and scope of its artistic programming and civic engagement. Founded in 1925, the Goodman is led by Robert Falls-"Chicago's most essential director" (Chicago Tribune), who marks 30 years as Artistic Director this season-and Executive Director Roche Schulfer, who is celebrated for his vision and leadership over nearly four decades. Dedicated to new plays, reimagined classics and large-scale musical theater works, Goodman Theatre artists and productions have earned hundreds of awards for artistic excellence, including: two Pulitzer Prizes, 22 Tony Awards, nearly 160 Jeff Awards and more. Over the past three decades, audiences have experienced more than 150 world or American premieres, 30 major musical productions, as well as nationally and internationally celebrated productions of classic works (including Falls' productions of Death of a Salesman, Long Day's Journey into Night, King Lear and The Iceman Cometh, many in collaboration with actor Brian Dennehy). In addition, the Goodman is the first theater in the world to produce all 10 plays in August Wilson's "American Century Cycle." For nearly four decades, the annual holiday tradition of A Christmas Carol has created a new generation of theatergoers.
The 2016 opening of the Alice Rapoport Center for Education and Engagement ("the Alice") launched the next phase in the Goodman's decades-long commitment as an arts and community organization dedicated to educating Chicago youth and promoting lifelong learning. Programs are offered year-round and free of charge. Eighty-five percent of the Goodman's youth program participants come from underserved communities.
Goodman Theatre was founded 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 includes the distinguished members of the Artistic Collective: Brian Dennehy, Rebecca Gilman, Henry Godinez, Dael Orlandersmith, Steve Scott, Chuck Smith, ReGina Taylor, Henry Wishcamper and Mary Zimmerman. Joan E. Clifford is Chair of Goodman Theatre's Board of Trustees, Cynthia K. Scholl is Women's Board President and Justin A. Kulovsek is President of the Scenemakers Board for young professionals.
Visit the Goodman virtually at GoodmanTheatre.org-including OnStage for insider information-and on Twitter (@GoodmanTheatre), Facebook and Instagram.
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