Goodman Theatre's NEW STAGES Festival Starts Today

Newcomers and Chicago favorites are cast in Goodman Theatre's 12th annual NEW STAGES, a festival of new plays designed to give playwrights an opportunity to experience their work with set, lighting, costume and sound elements and to implement audience response.

The 2015 festival includes three developmental productions in repertory-MOTHER ROAD by Octavio Solis, directed by Juliette Carrillo; OBJECTS IN THE MIRROR by Charles Smith, directed by Chuck Smith; and KING OF THE YEES by Lauren Yee, directed by Joshua Kahan Brody.

Four staged readings join the line-up during the festival's final weekend ("Professionals Weekend") including LADY IN DENMARK by Dael Orlandersmith, directed by Chay Yew; THE AMATEURS by Jordan Harrison, directed by Oliver Butler; RODVINSVANSTER (Red-Wine Leftists): 1977 by Rebecca Gilman, directed by Wendy C. Goldberg (part of Gilman's trilogy that also includes Soups, Stews, and Casseroles: 1976, which appears May 21 - June 19, 2016 at the Goodman); and ON THE EXHALE by Martín Zimmerman, directed by Marti Lyons.

NEW STAGES runs tonight, October 28, through November 15 in the Goodman's Owen Theatre; tickets are free, but reservations are required: call 312.443.3800, click GoodmanTheatre.org/NewStages or visit the box office (170 N. Dearborn). For more information about "Industry Professionals Weekend" (November 13 - 15), visit GoodmanTheatre.org/Professionals.

"The NEW STAGES Festival is really the heart of the Goodman's many efforts to develop new plays," said Artistic Director Robert Falls. "We are incredibly proud to support these unique and diverse playwrights, as we have for over a decade, and are pleased to offer the Chicago community and professionals from across the country the first look at this inspiring work."

Since its inception at Goodman Theatre in 2004, NEW STAGES has offered theatergoers a glimpse into the development process of new plays, many of which have gone on to receive full productions at the Goodman and elsewhere. Of the 65 plays seen in a developmental production or staged reading at NEW STAGES over the years, 65% were written by playwrights of color and/or women.

As the festival has grown, technical aspects of the productions have advanced as well. The three developmental productions, Mother Road , Objects in the Mirror, and King of the Yees, all receive full technical support with a design team including Kevin Depinet (Set Design), Jesse Klug (Lighting Design), Christine Pascual (Costume Design) and Mikhail Fiksel (Sound Design).

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Casting for the 2015 Developmental Productions

*Denotes Actors' Equity Association

Mother Road

By Octavio Solis

Directed by Juliette Carrillo

October 28 - November 14

A Developmental Production; appears in repertory

Inspired by John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, Mother Road is set in the present day and introduces William Joad. Hardworking and hard-living, Joad hung on to the family farm, but now has no blood kin to whom he can pass down the land. No one, that is, until a private detective uncovers an unexpected relation: Martín Jodes-a young Mexican American descendant of Steinbeck's protagonist, Tom Joad. The two men meet at the site of the former government work camp that was once home to Steinbeck's Joads, and is now home to migrant workers like Martín's mother, who lived and died laboring in the fields. Together these unlikely cousins travel from California back to Oklahoma, reversing the Joads' mythic journey in an epic story about land, family and survival.

CAST:

Brenda Barrie* Chorus/As Cast

Ricardo Gutierrez* Chorus/As Cast

Christopher Meister Roger/Chorus/As Cast

Ronnel Taylor James/As Cast

Tommy Rivera* Curtis/Chorus/As Cast

Chelcie Ross* William Joad/As Cast

Angelica Roque Mo/Chorus/As Cast

Lisandra Tena Amelia/Chorus/As Cast

Lakin Valdez* Martín Jodes/As Cast

Objects in the Mirror

By Charles Smith

Directed by Chuck Smith

October 30 - November 15

A Developmental Production; appears in repertory

In 2009, playwright Charles Smith traveled to Adelaide, Australia, to see a production of his play Free Man of Color, which featured Shedrick Yarkpai, a young Liberian actor, in the title role. Smith learned about the actor's tumultuous journey from war-torn Liberia through a number of refugee camps in Western Africa, before his final relocation to Australia. Shedrick's remarkable odyssey inspired Objects in the Mirror-the story of a young immigrant's journey and his search for a new family, identity and safe place to call home.

CAST:

Charles Andrew Gardner* Shedrick Kennedy Yarkpai

Lily Mojekwu* Luopu Workolo / Zaza Workolo

Jeff Parker* Rob Mosher

AC Smith* John Workolo

King of the Yees

By Lauren Yee

Directed by Joshua Kahan Brody

November 1 - 15

A Developmental Production; appears in repertory

For nearly 20 years, playwright Lauren Yee's father Larry has been a driving force in the Yee Family Association, a seemingly obsolescent Chinese American men's club formed 150 years ago in the wake of the Gold Rush. But when her father goes missing, Lauren must plunge into San Francisco's Chinatown and confront a world both foreign and familiar. Bitingly hilarious and heartbreakingly honest, King of the Yees is an epic joyride across cultural, national and familial borders that explores what it means to truly be a Yee.

CAST:

Melissa Canciller Lauren

Rammel Chan Actor 3

Francis Jue* Larry

Deanna Myers Actor 2

Daniel Smith Actor 1