Photo Flash: Goodman Theatre's STOOP STORIES

Stoop Stories comes to Chicago direct from its premiere at Washington, D.C.'s Studio Theatre this spring, where critics called it a "triumph" (Washington City Paper) and a "breathtaking" and "spellbinding" performance (DC Theatre Scene). Pulitzer Prize Finalist Dael Orlandersmith transforms with mesmerizing ease into an astounding range of characters, from an elderly Polish Holocaust survivor to a poetic young junkie to a teenage Puerto Rican punk to a washed-up rock 'n' roll star. An electrifying journey through the streets of Harlem, Orlandersmith performs a powerful, sizzling, fierce symphony of the diverse voices that make up her neighborhood. The New Yorker has described Dael's work as "...passionate and full of insight" and The Washington Post noted, "One cup of Orlandersmith is worth a gallon of what most other monologists serve up."

Playwright and performer Dael Orlandersmith first performed Stoop Stories in 2008 at The Public Theater as part of the Under the Radar festival; the play was subsequently produced in 2009 at The Studio Theatre in Washington, D.C. Her play Monster premiered at New York Theatre Workshop in November 1996. The Gimmick, commissioned by McCarter Theatre, premiered on their Second Stage in 1998 and went on to great acclaim at Long Wharf Theatre and New York Theatre Workshop. Yellowman was commissioned by and premiered at McCarter Theatre in a co-production with The Wilma Theater and Long Wharf Theatre. Orlandersmith premiered a new work in collaboration with David Cale at Long Wharf Theatre called The Blue Album in 2007. Bones was commissioned by Mark Taper Forum, where it opened in spring 2009. Orlandersmith has toured extensively with the Nuyorican Poets Café (Real Live Poetry) throughout the United States, Europe and Australia and is currently developing a play called Horsedreams which premiered at New York Stage and Film last summer. She is also completing work on a commission from Atlantic Theater Company and a memoir called Character. Yellowman and a collection of Orlandersmith's earlier works have been published by Vintage Books and Dramatists Play Service. Orlandersmith attended Sundance Institute Theatre Lab for four summers to develop new plays. She is the recipient of a New York Foundation for the Arts Grant, The Helen Merrill Award for Emerging Playwrights, a Guggenheim and The 2005 PEN/Laura Pels Foundation Award for a playwright in mid-career. In 2006, Orlandersmith won a Lucille Lortel Foundation Playwrights Fellowship. She won an OBIE Award for Beauty's Daughter, written and performed at The American Place Theatre. Orlandersmith was a Pulitzer Prize Award Finalist and Drama Desk Award Nominee for Outstanding Play and Outstanding Actress in a Play for Yellowman at Manhattan Theatre Club in 2002. She was a Susan Smith Blackburn Prize Finalist with The Gimmick in 1999 and won for Yellowman.

Tickets to Stoop Stories ($10 &#8211 $40) go on sale Friday, August 7 at GoodmanTheatre.org. Tickets can also be purchased 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.

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 final play of the season-Boleros for the Disenchanted by José Rivera, directed by Henry Godinez (through July 26, in the Albert Theatre).

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). Offerings in the Owen Theatre include Stoop Stories written and performed by Dael Orlandersmith (September 12 - 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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