Goodman Theatre's GHOSTWRITTEN Opens 4/13

Goodman Theatre presents the world premiere of Naomi Iizuka's newest work, Ghostwritten directed by Lisa Portes as part of the Goodman's "Strong Women, Strong Voices" Owen Theatre Series. The 2004 recipient of the Joyce Award, Ghostwritten runs April 4 - May 3, 2009 in the Owen Bruner Theatre. Tickets are $10 - $39.

Ghostwritten officially opens tonight, Monday April 13th.

In conjunction with the "Strong Women, Strong Voices" series, Goodman Theatre partners with six of Chicago's most exciting theater companies focused on presenting and supporting work by women for "Taking the Stage: A Celebration of Women Making Theater," a celebration of the distinct voices and visions of women theater artists, and the opportunities and obstacles facing women working in the theater today. Further information regarding these events will be announced at a later date. Ghostwritten is a Goodman commission supported by The Joyce Foundation. The Sara Lee Foundation is the Owen Season Corporate Sponsor.

Naomi Iizuka's Ghostwritten tells the story of Susan, a young American woman who travels to Vietnam, where her soldier father disappeared years earlier. In Vietnam, Susan meets and makes a deal with a mysterious woman: in exchange for "magic food" cooking lessons, Susan must surrender her first-born child to the woman. Believing she will never have children, Susan makes the deal but later adopts a daughter, Bea, from Vietnam. Twenty years later, Susan is a thriving Asian-fusion chef and Bea is engaged to be married when the woman comes to collect on her debt. Susan must face her old promise and grapple with her family's thorny past as she strives to protect her daughter.

Presented in conjunction with Goodman Theatre's "Strong Women, Strong Voices" series and the world premieres of Magnolia by ReGina Taylor and Ghostwritten by Naomi Iizuka, "Taking the Stage" is a celebration of the distinct voices and visions of women theater artists, and the opportunities and obstacles facing women working in the theater today. These events are a collaboration with six of Chicago's most exciting companies focused on presenting and supporting work by women.

Tickets are $10 - $39 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.

Naomi lizuka was born in Tokyo and raised in Japan, Indonesia, Holland and Washington, D.C. Her work has been produced and developed at theaters across the country. Her latest play, Strike-Slip, premiered at the 2007 Humana Festival of New Plays. Other plays include 36 Views, Anon(ymous), Hamlet: Blood in the Brain, At the Vanishing Point, Polaroid Stories and War of the Worlds (written in collaboration with Anne Bogart and SITI Company). lizuka's works have been seen at the Children's Theater Company, the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, Huntington Theater, Actors' Theatre of Louisville, Berkeley Repertory Theater, the Joseph Papp Public Theatre/New York Shakespeare Festival and the Brooklyn Academy of Music's "Next Wave Festival," among others. She is a member of New Dramatists and has received the Joyce Award, the Alpert Award, a Whiting Writers' Award, a Rockefeller Foundation MAP grant, and an NEA/TCG Artist?in?Residence grant.

Lisa Portes directed the 2007 reading of Ghostwritten in Goodman Theatre's New Stages Series, and directed the world premiere of Iizuka's After 100 Years at the Guthrie Theater in June 2008. Portes returns to the Goodman, where she directed El Grito Del Bronx by Migdalia Cruz as part of the 2006 Latino Theater Festival. Recent Chicago credits include Elliot, A Soldier's Fugue by Quiara Alegria Hudes at Steppenwolf in association with Teatro Vista; Spare Change by Mia McCullough at Steppenwolf's First Look Series; Permanent Collection by Thomas Gibbons at Northlight; and Far Away by Caryl Churchill and In the Blood by Suzan-Lori Parks at Next Theatre Company. New York credits include the world premiere of Wilder: An Erotic Chamber Musical by Erin Cressida Wilson, Jack Herrick and Mike Craver at Playwrights Horizons. She chairs the MFA directing program at The Theatre School at DePaul University.

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