Casting is Complete for Goodman Theatre's Other Desert Cities

Oct 24, 2012
Goodman Theatre Chicago

Goodman Theatre Artistic Associate Henry Wishcamper announces the cast for the Chicago premiere of Jon Robin Baitz' Other Desert Cities, dubbed "the best new play on Broadway" (The New York Times). The ensemble cast for Other Desert Cities includes Tracy Michelle Arnold (Private Lives and A Midsummer Night's Dream at Chicago Shakespeare Theater) as Brooke Wyeth; Tony Award-winning Deanna Dunagan (August: Osage County at Steppenwolf Theatre Company and Broadway, Bounce) as Polly Wyeth; John Hoogenakker (The Iceman Cometh, The Good Negro ) as Trip Wyeth; Linda Kimbrough (The Play About the Baby) as Silda Grauman; and Chelcie Ross (AMC's Mad Men) as Lyman Wyeth. Tickets ($25 - $86; subject to change) go on sale Friday, December 7 and can be purchased at GoodmanTheatre.org, by phone at 312.443.3800 or at the box office (170 North Dearborn). Northern Trust is the Major Corporate Sponsor and Mayer Brown is the Corporate Sponsor Partner.

"Other Desert Cities makes its audience laugh, makes them think, makes them feel all at once," says director Henry Wishcamper. "It's a play about a dysfunctional family that desperately love each other. Other Desert Cities brings to the surface issues of secrecy, truth, love and shame that mirror our current culture and politics in a way that's both fascinating and moving."

When Brooke Wyeth (Tracy Michelle Arnold) arrives at her parents' Palm Springs mansion on Christmas Eve with the manuscript of her tell-all memoir in tow, she unearths a devastating family secret, throwing her parents, Polly (Deanna Dunagan) and Lyman (Chelcie Ross) into a panic that threatens to rip the clan apart. In its Broadway debut, Other Desert Cities was hailed a "boldly conventional yet altogether gripping work" (Newsday), "a full-bodied, emotionally alive play," (The Hollywood Reporter) and as having "the appeal of a Broadway hit from another age" (The New York Times).