Stage And Screen Actress Linda Gehringer Stars In Dael Orlandersmith's LADY IN DENMARK

Dael Orlandersmith, "an intense poet, writer and intellectual" (Chicago Tribune), brings her newest work, Lady in Denmark, to the Owen Theatre. Reuniting with director Chay Yew (Black n Blue Boys/Broken Men, 2012), Orlandersmith's world premiere production is a reflection on love and adversity starring stage and screen actress Linda Gehringer in a 90-minute solo performance.

Helene (Gehringer) is a Danish American woman coping with the death of her husband who finds solace in the hauntingly beautiful music of their favorite singer, Billie Holiday. This is her journey through the couple's time together-from the smoky jazz clubs of post-war Copenhagen to the home they shared in present-day Chicago. Lady in Denmark is one of five world premieres this season, all originally developed as a part of the Goodman's New Stages Festival. The creative team includes Andrew Boyce (set), Christine Pascual (costumes), Lee Fiskness (lighting) and Mikhail Fiksel (original music and sound). Donald E. Claxon is the Production Stage Manager. Lady in Denmark appears October 19 - November 18, 2018 (opening night is October 29 at 7pm) in the Goodman's Owen Theatre (170 N. Dearborn); tickets ($15-45; subject to change) go on sale Friday, August 31, by telephone 312.443.3800 or online GoodmanTheatre.org/LadyInDenmark.

"I am thrilled to welcome Dael, Linda and Chay back to the Goodman for the opening production of our 2018/2019 Owen Theatre Season," said Goodman Theatre Artistic Director Robert Falls. "I am energized by Dael's dynamic artistry and perspective and Linda is a masterful actor who has worked at the nation's top theaters for decades. I hope audiences will find their work as insightful, deft and stirring as I do."

American Airlines is the Contributing Sponsor for Lady in Denmark. The Goodman is grateful for the generosity of its New Work sponsors, including: the Time Warner Foundation, Lead Support of New Play Development; the Pritzker-Pucker Foundation, Major Support of New Play Development; the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, Major Support of New Work Development; and The Glasser and Rosenthal Family, Support of New Work Development.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Linda Gehringer (Helene) returns to the Goodman, having previously appeared in The Crowd You're in With by Rebecca Gilman (Jeff Award nomination). She was most recently seen in the world premieres of Vicuna by Jon Robin Baitz (developed at the Ojai Playwright's Festival) at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles and Bekah Brunstetter's Going to a Place Where You Already Are at South Coast Repertory. Gehringer also premiered Bill Cain's How to Write a New Book for the Bible at Berkeley Repertory Theatre (San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award), Seattle Repertory Theatre (Footlight Award) and South Coast Repertory (Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award nomination). A veteran of the stage and screen, Gehringer's television work includes Fear the Walking Dead, Grey's Anatomy, N.C.I.S., S.W.A.T.; recurring roles on Justified, Touch and The Division, and Gilmore Girls, The West Wing, The Larry Sanders Show and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Film credits include Into the Storm, Kreep and As Good As It Gets.

Dael Orlandersmith (Playwright) is a Goodman Theatre Artistic Associate and Alice Center Resident Artist. Her most recent work Until the Flood appeared at the Goodman during the 2017/2018 Season, and other works include Black n Blue Boys/Broken Men during the 2012/2013 Season and Stoop Stories during the 2009/2010 Season. Until the Flood held its world premiere at Repertory Theatre of St. Louis followed by productions at Milwaukee Repertory Theatre and Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre. Black n Blue Boys/Broken Men was developed as a co-commission between the Goodman and Berkeley Repertory Theatre, where it was staged in May 2012. Orlandersmith won the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for The Gimmick in 1999 and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist and Drama Desk Award nominee for Outstanding Play and Outstanding Actress in a Play for Yellowman in 2002. Yellowman and a collection of her earlier works have been published by Vintage Books and Dramatists Play Service. Orlandersmith attended Sundance Institute Theatre Lab for four summers and 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. She is the recipient of a Lucille Lortel Foundation Playwrights Fellowship and an Obie Award for Beauty's Daughter. Orlandersmith is currently working on two commissions.

Chay Yew (Director) previously collaborated with the Goodman on Black n Blue Boys/Broken Men, Dartmoor Prison and the New Stages reading of Lady in Denmark. He is the artistic director of Victory Gardens Theater. Other Chicago credits include Po Boy Tango at Northlight Theatre; Where Did We Sit On The Bus? at Teatro Vista and Lettie, A Wonder in My Soul, Hillary and Clinton, The House That Will Not Stand, Oedipus el Rey, Death and the Maiden, An Issue of Blood, The Gospel of Lovingkindness, Mojada and Universes' Ameriville at Victory Gardens Theater. His opera credits include world premieres of Osvaldo Golijov and David Henry Hwang's Ainadamar (co-production with the Tanglewood Music Center, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and the Los Angeles Philharmonic) and Rob Zuidam's Rage of d'Amours (Tanglewood Music Center). For his direction, he has been awarded an Obie Award and Drama Logue Award. Mr. Yew edited Version 3.0: An Anthology of Contemporary Asian American Plays for TCG Publications. He is also an alumnus of New Dramatists and serves on the executive board of the League of Chicago Theatres and Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events' Cultural Advisory Council.

TICKETS, DISCOUNTS AND SPECIAL EVENTS

Tickets ($15-$45) - GoodmanTheatre.org/LadyInDenmark; 312.443.3800; Fax: 312.443.3825; TTY/TDD: 312.443.3829

Box Office Hours -12noon - 5pm; on performance days, the box office remains open until 30 minutes past curtain
MezzTix - Half-price day-of-performance mezzanine tickets available at 10am online (promo code MEZZTIX)

$10Tix - Student $10 advance performance tickets; limit four, with valid student ID (promo code 10TIX)

Teen Arts Pass (TAP) - $5 day-of-performance tickets for teens ages 13-19; subject to availability; limit two, with valid TAP identification. Sign up at TeenArtsPass.org (promo code TAP)

CityKey - CityKey Cardholders access half-price mezzanine tickets; limit four, with valid CityKey ID. Sign up at ChiCityClerk.com/ChicagoCityKey (promo code CITYKEY)

Group Sales are available for parties 10+; 312.443.3820

Gift Certificates - Available in any amount; GoodmanTheatre.org/GiftCertificates

Audiences can save more with Goodman Theatre's MEMBERSHIP packages-including Classic, 8-play, 5-play or 3-play packages; Choice, a personalized package that can include both Owen and Albert productions; and Whenever-the ultimate flexible package, to be used at any time during the season. All Goodman members receive unlimited ticket exchanges, discounted parking, 15% savings at the Goodman bar and gift shop, restaurant discounts and more. To purchase a Membership visit GoodmanTheatre.org or call the Box Office at 312.443.3800.

ACCESSIBILITY AT THE GOODMAN

Touch Tour, November 11 at 12:30pm - A presentation detailing the set, costume and character elements

Audio Described Performance, November 11 at 2pm - The action/text is audibly enhanced for patrons via headset

ASL Interpreted Performance, November 17 at 2pm - Professional ASL interpreter signs the action/text as played

Open Captioned Performance, November 18 at 2pm - An LED sign presents dialogue in sync with the performance

Visit Goodman Theatre.org/Access for more information about Goodman Theatre's accessibility efforts.

ABOUT Goodman Theatre

"AMERICA'S "BEST REGIONAL THEATRE" (Time magazine), Goodman Theatre is a premier not-for-profit organization distinguished by the excellence and scope of its artistic programming and civic engagement. Led by Artistic Director Robert Falls and Executive Director Roche Schulfer, the theater's artistic priorities include new play development (more than 150 world or American premieres), large scale musical theater works and reimagined classics (celebrated revivals include Falls' productions of Death of a Salesman and The Iceman Cometh). Goodman Theatre artists and productions have earned two Pulitzer Prizes, 22 Tony Awards, over 160 Jeff Awards and many more accolades. In addition, the Goodman is the first theater in the world to produce all 10 plays in August Wilson's "American Century Cycle" and its annual holiday tradition A Christmas Carol, which celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2017, has created a new generation of theatergoers. The Goodman also frequently serves as a production partner with local off-Loop theaters and national and international companies by providing financial support or physical space for a variety of artistic endeavors.

Committed to three core values of Quality, Diversity and Community, the Goodman proactively makes inclusion the fabric of the institution and develops education and community engagement programs that support arts as education. This practice uses the process of artistic creation to inspire and empower youth, lifelong learners and audiences to find and/or enhance their voices, stories and abilities. The Goodman's Alice Rapoport Center for Education and Engagement is the home of such programming, most offered free of charge, and has vastly expanded the theater's ability to touch the lives of Chicagoland citizens (with 85% of youth participants coming from underserved communities) since its 2016 opening.

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 also 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. David W. Fox, Jr. is Chair of Goodman Theatre's Board of Trustees, Denise Stefan Ginascol is Women's Board President and Megan McCarthy Hayes is President of the Scenemakers Board for young professionals.

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