Goodman Theatre

Goodman Theatre has announced a diverse line-up - from musical hilarity and classic yarns, to memory pieces and family dramas, to stories with ethnic roots that reflect today's world- in Goodman Theatre's new 2009/2010 season.

The madcap Marx Brothers musical Animal Crackers, directed by Henry Wishcamper, launches the season in the Albert Theatre. Next, Artistic Director Robert Falls and Brian Dennehy team up again for a Broadway-bound double-bill of Eugene O’Neill’s Hughie directed by Falls, and Samuel Beckett’s one-man-show Krapp’s Last Tape helmed by Canadian director Jennifer Tarver. In March 2010, Rebecca Gilman's Goodman commission, A True History of the Johnstown Flood makes its world premiere production. Finishing the season in June 2010- and launching the fifth biennial international Latino Theatre Festival- is Karen Zacharías' The Sins of Sor Juana, directed by Henry Godinez, following one of the legendary figures of Mexican arts and literature. Still to be announced is one Spring 2010 production directed by Chuck Smith in the Albert Theatre.

Also, three world premiere productions will debut in the Owen Theatre, beginning with Joan D'Arc; acclaimed Bosnian artist Aida Karic and Tanya Palmer put a contemporary spin on Friedrich Schiller's great romantic tragedy The Maiden of Orleans. Also appearing in the Owen are High Holidays, Alan Gross' boisterous, darkly comic look at coming of age in suburban Chicago in the early 1960s and Brett C. Leonard’s searing The Long Red Road, directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman in his Goodman Theatre directorial debut.

The season also includes the 32nd annual production of the perennial holiday favorite, A Christmas Carol beginning November 2009 in the Albert Theatre.

"Our new season is a broad shouldered line-up of plays ranging from a first look at brand new works, to a new spin on celebrated favorites," said Artistic Director Robert Falls . "I am thrilled to present this remarkable range of projects, many of which have been years in the making, with some of my favorite artistic collaborators who are special to Goodman audiences- Brian Dennehy, Rebecca Gilman, Henry Wishcamper, Karen Zacharías and Henry Godinez. And I warmly welcome to Chicago the bold voices of Aida Karic, Jennifer Tarver, Alan Gross, Brett C. Leonard and Philip Seymour Hoffman. It's an honor to bring together these people and their high-profile, dynamic plays in a single season."

The 2009/2010 Season:

IN THE ALBERT THEATRE

Animal Crackers
Book by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind
Music and Lyrics by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby
Directed by Henry Wishcamper
Begins September 2009

When a celebrated sculpture goes missing from Mrs. Rittenhouse's fancy house party in honor of African explorer Captain Spaulding, her guests set out to find the thief in a series of madcap antics and exploits. Based on the original Marx Brothers Broadway hit and film classic, this contemporary adaptation of Animal Crackers is an outrageous, rollicking, laugh-out-loud musical comedy.

A Broadway-Bound Double-Bill

Hughie
By Eugene O'Neill
Directed by Robert Falls

Krapp's Last Tape
By Samuel Beckett
Directed by Jennifer Tarver

Begins January 2010

Robert Falls and Brian Dennehy reprise their 2004 hit production of Eugene O'Neill's one-act play Hughie. High-rolling gambler Erie and Hughie, the credulous night clerk at his apartment building, were confidants. Hughie admired Erie for his bold lifestyle and Erie considered Hughie his good luck charm. When Hughie dies unexpectedly, Erie 's luck changes for the worse and he finds himself in dire straights. Then Erie meets the new night clerk, who reminds him enough of Hughie that he takes the gamble that his luck is about to change.

Brian Dennehy stars in Samuel Beckett's classic one-act, one-man show, Krapp's Last Tape. Every year on his birthday, self-absorbed Krapp records the important-and the banal-moments of the last year. As he prepares to record a new tape on his 69th birthday, he begins to listen to his archives and stumbles upon a tender memory that he recorded half a lifetime ago. This immersion in his own history leads Krapp to question with growing regret whether his present lives up to his past.

A True History of the Johnstown Flood
By Rebecca Gilman
Begins March 2010

The legendarily devastating Johnstown Flood of 1889 serves as the backdrop for this provocative world premiere by Rebecca Gilman. The Baxter Theatre Troupe-namely, siblings James, Richard, and Fanny-has been summoned to perform at a tony resort next to a beautiful man-made lake in the Pennsylvania mountains. Although the troupe's repertoire consists of the romantic trifles typical of the era, brother James envisions a different kind of play, exposing the true struggles of common people. When a violent rainstorm compromises the shoddily constructed dam, the resulting disaster lays bare the tragic inequities of the rigid class system-and paves the way for a seismic change in both theatre and society.

The Sins of Sor Juana
By Karen Zacharías
Directed by Henry Godinez
Begins June 2010

Legendary Mexican poet Juana Inés de la Cruz writes expressive, sensual verse at the Viceroy's court in the 1600s, a time when it was unfashionable-and sinful-for women to exercise their intellect. The Viceroy is jealous of Juana's influence on his beautiful wife, the Vicereine, who has arranged a profitable marriage to ensure that Juana will always have a place at court. Believing his own marriage is threatened by Juana's engagement, the Viceroy hires a charming, educated rogue to seduce Juana and destroy her reputation. When Juana refuses to compromise her poetry for what the church ordains appropriate, she stands to lose everything she loves.

IN THE OWEN THEATRE

Joan D'Arc
Created by Tanya Palmer and Aida Karic
Directed by Aida Karic
Adapted from Friedrich Schiller's Die Jungfrau von Orleans
Begins September 2009

Adapted from Schiller's great romantic tragedy, this riveting world premiere-set to breathtaking live gospel music-places a contemporary spin on the classic story of Joan of Arc. In the midst of a nightmarish war, a young woman rejects her femininity to become a ruthless warrior for her country. Driven by religious faith, Joan murders her enemies in cold blood until she is stopped short and ultimately destroyed when her emotions betray her in a way that she never expected. A compelling story of one woman's fierce struggle to forge her own identity in the heat of battle, Joan D'Arc features a cast of 15 American performers, including seven musicians and Gospel singers-several of whom she discovered while in residence at the Goodman and touring Chicago's neighborhoods and churches to create this piece.

High Holidays
By Alan Gross
Directed by Steve Robman
Begins October 2009

This darkly comic and boisterous look at growing up in the Chicago suburbs during the early sixties is the story of 13-year old Billy Roman and the rollicking, anxiety-riddled preparations for his Bar Mitzvah. When Billy's rebellious older brother returns from college during the Jewish high holidays, his family-the little Roman Empire-begins to wobble and crack as it is forced to examine some hard truths about coming of age in America .

The Long Red Road
By Brett C. Leonard
Directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman
Begins February 2010

In this raw, provocative world premiere, Sam drinks away his life on an Indian reservation in South Dakota , where he has been trying to forget his role in a tragic accident involving his family. When a visitor from his past arrives on the reservation, Sam is forced to face his guilt and to take a harrowing look at the man he has become. The Long Red Road is a searing play about the way one person's demons can tear a family apart.

Subscriptions for the 2009/2010 season are now on sale (subscriptions do not include A Christmas Carol ). For more information visit www.GoodmanTheatre.org/Subscribe or call 312-443-3800.