Joey Slotnick Completes Cast Of ANIMAL CRACKERS, Begins 9/18 At Goodman Theater

"Hooray for Joey Slotnick!" Director Henry Wishcamper has tapped Chicago native Joey Slotnick for the lead role of the African explorer "Captain Jeffrey T. Spaulding"-the heightened vaudevillian persona created by Groucho Marx for the 1929 stage and screen original-in Goodman Theatre's season opening musical Animal Crackers, written by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind, with music and lyrics by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby.

Director Henry Wishcamper (Horton Foote's Talking Pictures at the Goodman) has strategically cast nine versatile actors to fill 15 roles, as well as those of harem girls, party guests and ensemble. Joining Slotnick (Ethan Cohen's Offices off-Broadway at Atlantic Theatre Company and Lookingglass' Our Town) in the three roles originated by the other Marx Brothers are Molly Brennan as "The Professor," Harpo Marx's role (Second City's Fatty Arbuckle's Spectacular Musical Review, 500 Clown's Theatrical Essays); Jonathan Brody as Emanuel Ravelli, Chico Marx's role (Broadway's Spamalot); and Ed Kross as "Horatio Jamison," Zeppo Marx's role (American Theatre Company's Stalag 17 and films Ocean's 12 and The Road to Perdition. Ora Jones (the Goodman's Proof and Steppenwolf's The Violet Hour) portrays Mrs. Rittenhouse.

Animal Crackers runs September 18 - October 25, 2009 in the Goodman's Albert Theatre. Tickets are currently available by season subscription - www.ExploreTheGoodman.org or call 312.443.3800. Individual tickets ($25 - $83) go on sale August 14 (on-line) and August 17 (by telephone). Production Sponsors for Animal Crackers include Abbott, Mayer Brown LLP and Goodman Theatre's Women's Board; Palmer House is the proud underwriter of the Season Opening Fall Benefit on September 25. Abbott Vice President, Government Affairs and Goodman Trustee Elaine Leavenworth and Women's Board member Marcia Cohn are the event co-chairs.

In Animal Crackers, chaos ensues at the estate of Mrs. Rittenhouse when a celebrated sculpture is stolen during a party honoring the African explorer Captain Spaulding. A series of madcap Marx Brothers antics follows as the guests set out to find the burglar. Rounding out the cast are Jessie Mueller as Grace Carpenter (Chicago Shakespeare Theater's The Three Musketeers, Henry IV Parts 1 and 2); Tony Yazbeck as Wally Winston (Broadway's A Chorus Line, Oklahoma!, Gypsy); Mara Davi as Arabella Rittenhouse (Broadway's The Drowsy Chaperone, A Chorus Line); and Stanley Wayne Mathis as Hives (Goodman's Faust, Broadway's Kiss Me, Kate, You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown, The Lion King).

Henry Wishcamper, Drama League Directing Fellow, is the Artistic Director of Katharsis Theatre Company in Brooklyn, New York, where he recently directed his own play The Polish Play, A Conflation of Macbeth by William Shakespeare and Ubu Roi by Alfred Jarry. His recent directing credits include Conor McPherson's Port Authority (Atlantic Theater Company), The Seafarer (Hartford TheaterWorks) and The Good Thief (Portland Stage Company); Stephen Karam's Speech and Debate (Hartford TheaterWorks); The Mystery of Irma Vep (The Old Globe), Lanford Wilson's The Mound Builders (Julliard); Horton Foote's Talking Pictures (Goodman Theatre); the New York premiere of Jane Martin's Flags (59E59 Theaters); Doug Grissom's Elvis People (New World Stages); Thorton Wilder's Pullman Car Hiawatha (Keen Company (Drama Desk Nomination for Outstanding Revival of a Play)); Scott Blumenthal's So Frightful an Event I Single in the History of Man (McGinn-Cazale Theater (commissioned by Maine Humanities Council)); Molière's The Flying Doctor and The Imaginary Cuckold (The Roundtable Ensemble); and John Ford's 'Tis Pity She's a Whore (HERE Arts Center). He served as the assistant director on the Broadway productions of August: Osage County directed by Anna D. Shapiro, Shining City directed by Robert Falls, Absurd Person Singular directed by John Tillinger and Match directed by Nicholas Martin. He served as the Artistic Director of the Maine Summer Dramatic Institute in Portland, Maine, from 1997-1999 and as the Artistic Associate of Keen Company from 2002-2005.

Named the country's Best Regional Theatre by Time magazine (2003), Goodman Theatre is a leader in the American theater, internationally recognized for its artists, productions and educational programs since its founding in 1925. Artistic Director Robert Falls and Executive Director Roche Schulfer's forward-thinking leadership has earned the Goodman unparalleled artistic distinction, garnered hundreds of awards-including the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre (1992) and Pulitzer Prizes for Ruined by Lynn Nottage and Glengarry GLen Ross by David Mamet-and moved dozens of plays from Chicago to stages in New York and abroad. Central to its commitment to the reinvestigation of classics and development of new plays and artists is the Goodman's Artistic Collective, including Brian Dennehy, Frank Galati, Henry Godinez, Chuck Smith, ReGina Taylor and Mary Zimmerman. The largest not-for-profit theater in Chicago, the Goodman moved in 2000 into a brand new state-of-the-art complex which houses two principal theaters: the 856-seat Albert Ivar Goodman Theatre and the 400-seat flexible Owen Bruner Goodman Theatre. Board Chairman is Shawn M. Donnelley and Karen Pigott is president of the Women's Board. American Airlines is the Exclusive Airline of Goodman Theatre.

Currently playing in Goodman Theatre's 2008/2009 season is The Crowd You're In With by Rebecca Gilman, directed by Wendy C. Goldberg (through June 21 in the Owen Theatre). The final play of the season is Boleros for the Disenchanted by José Rivera, directed by Henry Godinez (June 20 - July 26, 2009 in the Albert).

The upcoming 2009/2010 season includes Animal Crackers, book by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind, music and lyrics by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby, directed by Henry Wishcamper (September 18 - October 25); Brian Dennehy in the Broadway-bound double-bill of Hughie by Eugene O'Neill, directed by Robert Falls and Krapp's Last Tape by Samuel Beckett, directed by Jennifer Tarver (January 16 - February 21, 2010); the world premiere of A True History of the Johnstown Flood by Rebecca Gilman, directed by Robert Falls (March 13 - April 18, 2010); The Good Negro by Tracey Scott Wilson, directed by Chuck Smith (May 1 - June 6, 2010); The Sins of Sor Juana by Karen Zacarías, directed by Henry Godinez (June 19 - July 25, 2010) which launches the Goodman's 5th Latino Theater Festival (offerings TBA). World premiere offerings in the Owen Theatre include Joan D'Arc created by Tanya Palmer and Aida Karic, directed by Aida Karic, adapted from Friedrich Schiller's Die Jungfrau Von Orléans, a co-production with the Linz 2009 European Capital of Culture (September 11 - October 11); High Holidays by Alan Gross, directed by Steven Robman (October 31 - November 29); and The Long Red Road by Brett C. Leonard, directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman (February 13 - March 14, 2010).

 

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