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Due to illness, John Mahoney will not appear as the Judge in Goodman Theatre's production of Romance, as formerly announced. Romance is part of the seven-week David Mamet Festival and is the playwright's newest work. The play is a searing courtroom comedy that lampoons our most sacred issues. Pam MacKinnon, who made her Goodman Theatre debut in the Edward Albee Festival, returns to direct the cast. As a long-time Chicago resident and friend to Mr. Mamet and the Goodman, Mr. Mahoney regrets this circumstance.
Matt DeCaro will take the place of Mt. Mahoney and will portray the Judge. DeCaro was most recently seen at the Goodman in Heartbreak House and The Play About the Baby. Other recent credits include Symmetry at Victory Gardens Theater and Men of Tortuga at Steppenwolf Theatre. Other Chicago credits include the world premieres of Rebecca Gilman's Spinning Into Butter and Boy Gets Girl at the Goodman. He reprised both roles for their New York openings at Lincoln Center Theater and Manhattan Theatre Club, respectively. Steve Pickering (Prosecutor) has appeared in nearly 30 productions at the Goodman, including Falls' Tony Award-winning production of Death of a Salesman: on Broadway, the National Tour, the Showtime network, and most recently, in London's West End. Other recent credits include The Underpants at Milwaukee Repertory and The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow at the Old Globe in San Diego. Formerly the Artistic Director of the Next Theatre in Evanston, he serves as Project Director for Shanghai Low Theatricals.
Set against the backdrop of a Middle East peace summit, Romance takes gleeful aim at everything from the judicial system to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, fidelity, world peace, Jews, Gays, Catholics, podiatrists, chiropractors, Shakespeare and lawyers. Law and order quickly turns to chaos as the straight-laced prosecutor, his preening young boy toy, the evasive Jewish defendant and his anti-Semitic lawyer face off, fall apart and struggle to stay on track. Rendered with Mamet's trademark verbal dexterity, this ironically titled farce proposes that before international problems can be solved, differences must first be settled at home.