Goodman Theatre

Life and love are not so simple, as three couples with six different perspectives discover in the Chicago premiere of Rebecca Gilman's The Crowd You're In With at Goodman Theatre. Wendy C. Goldberg, a frequent Gilman collaborator and artistic director of the acclaimed National Playwrights Conference at The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center- where The Crowd You're In With was developed- directs this intimate and relevant new play. The Crowd You're In With is the final play in the Goodman's "Strong Women, Strong Voices" three-play series of works written and directed by women (which also included the Pulitzer Prize-winning Ruined by Lynn Nottage and Naomi Iizuka's Ghostwritten) in the Owen Bruner Theatre.

"I am thrilled to welcome back Rebecca to the Goodman with this thought-provoking and funny new play about how we measure success 'in our own backyard'-marriage and property, career and children," said Artistic Director Robert Falls, whose critically acclaimed production of Gilman's Dollhouse premiered at the Goodman in 2005. "We welcome director Wendy Goldberg, whose grace and skill with new plays is fast earning her a reputation as a leader in new play development in the country."

In the backyard of a Chicago two-flat on the 4th of July, three intelligent and liberal couples engage in what begins as friendly conversation, but soon evolves into a heated debate about the pros and cons of starting a family. Jasper (Coburn Goss) and Melinda (Janelle Snow) are considering having a baby, Dan (Kiff Vanden Heuvel) and Windsong (Stephanie Childers) are enthusiastically expectant and Tom (Rob Riley) and Karen (Linda Gehringer) have opted not to have children. As the innocuous barbeque turns into an ideological confrontation, each couple must ask themselves how much the crowd they're in with determines the course of their lives.

"I had been considering a couple of ideas for a new play when Bob Falls suggested I write something more personal," said Chicago Playwright Rebecca Gilman, who named The Crowd You're In With after a line in Bob Dylan's song "Positively 4th Street" about the alliances in friendship. "I thought about the time of transition my husband and I were going through, and how sometimes, what may seem like benign choices actually leave you in the minority-when you didn't expect to be in the minority. I am honored and excited to present this work here in my hometown."

Rebecca Gilman's plays include Dollhouse, Spinning Into Butter, Boy Gets Girl, Blue Surge, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter and The Glory of Living. Her plays have been produced at Goodman Theatre, Royal Court Theatre, Lincoln Center Theater, Joseph Papp Public Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club and Manhattan Class Company. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, The Prince Prize for Commissioning New Work, The Roger L. Stevens Award from the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays, The Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright, The George Devine Award and The Harper Lee Award. Gilman was named a finalist for the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for her play The Glory of Living. She is an assistant professor of playwriting and screenwriting in the MFA in Writing for the Screen and Stage program at Northwestern University.

The Crowd You're In With runs May 23 - June 21. Tickets are $10 - 39, and may be purchased online at GoodmanTheatre.org, at the Goodman Theatre Box Office, 170 North Dearborn Street, or by phone at 312-443-3800.