Robert Falls News

What did our critic think of SWING STATE at Goodman Theatre? Rebecca Gilman shows her deftness at writing “slice of life” plays in SWING STATE at Goodman Theatre. In this latest collaboration with outgoing Goodman Theatre Artistic Director Robert Falls, Gilman introduces four characters at a crossroads in a small town in rural Wisconsin during summer 2021. It’s marketed as a play about the pandemic, and indeed, SWING STATE contains some references to the COVID-19 pandemic, masks, and vaccines. Ultimately, though, SWING STATE is a pure character study with the notions of pandemic and extinction of the human race in the background, and notions of mortality and despair in the foreground. Yes, it’s a post-pandemic play, but really it’s just allowing us to peer into the lives of these characters at a moment in time. That’s not to say that Gilman’s play isn’t moving, but I found the overall execution to not be as overarching as the set-up purports.

On the heels of a standing-room-only opening night and wide critical praise for the world premiere of Rebecca Gilman's Swing State—a “riveting, deeply moving, empathy-generating, extraordinary new play (by) a great poet of the upper Midwest” (Chicago Tribune)—Goodman Theatre adds two performances to the final week of Tony Award-winning director Robert Falls' world-premiere production.

Plays by Rogelio Martinez, Ty Defoe, Jessica Bashline and Craig Thornton highlight Syracuse Stage’s 2022/2023 Cold Read Festival of New Plays, Oct. 18 – 23.

Studio Tenn – the Franklin-based professional theater company – launches its 2022-23 season in collaboration with Tennessee Performing Arts Center for a concert staging of Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida, playing for just two nights at TPAC’s James K. Polk Theatre September 30 and October 1. Under the direction of Studio Tenn artistic director Patrick Cassidy (who shares duties with co-director and choreographer Gerry McIntyre), Aida features a starry cast of actors with Broadway pedigrees (Jackie Burns and Rex Smith), along with some of Music City’s most beloved stage veterans (Bakari Jamal King and Mark Cabus) and featuring the stunning triumph of a young woman who audiences have watched grow up on Nashville stages (Maya Riley) in the title role.

Special Offer: Limited Tickets Available for Elton John & Tim Rice's AIDA: In Concert!

Pulitzer Prize-nominated playwright Rebecca Gilman will mark her 10th production at Goodman Theatre, her longtime creative home, with Swing State—directed by Tony Award-winner Robert Falls in their 6th collaboration over 35 years. Swing State appears October 7 – November 13 in the 350-seat flexible Owen Theatre.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre has announced casting for the world premiere production of the ripple, the wave that carried me home by Christina Anderson, directed by Jackson Gay, and produced in association with Goodman Theatre. 

Celebrated creative collaborators over two decades, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage and director Kate Whoriskey will return to Goodman Theatre with their latest Broadway production, Clyde’s, launching the Goodman’s 2022/2023 Season.

The Green Room 42 has announced their August line-up for in-person cabaret performances. L

Goodman Theatre announced that The Roy Cockrum Foundation will support productions in the 2022/2023 Season—the final slate of plays planned by its outgoing Artistic Director, Robert Falls—including Swing State by Rebecca Gilman and The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov.

The 2022/2023 Season marks Lyric Stage's 5th Season at the historic Majestic Theatre, located in downtown Dallas, and features five musicals by some of the most popular, award-winning, and cult-classic pop/rock composers Broadway has to offer, including Elton John, Phil Collins, ABBA, The Electric Light Orchestra (“ELO”), and Richard O'Brien. 

American Blues Theater, under the continued leadership of Artistic Director Gwendolyn Whiteside, will present a live, online reading of 17 MINUTES by Scott Organ, directed by Michael Cotey as part of “The Room” series. The reading will be live on Monday, June 27 at 7pm.

The Green Room 42 has announced their June line-up for in-person performances. Located inside YOTEL Times Square (570 Tenth Avenue, Fourth Floor), The Green Room 42 is Broadway's newest and most spacious cabaret club.

Out of the 330 total Chicagoland high school students who entered the 13th annual August Wilson Monologue and Design Competitions, Demi Davis from Senn High School prevailed, taking the first-place prize at the Chicago finals earlier this month for her 2-3-minute monologue performance.

Find out this year's nominees and winners for Drama League Awards. The 2022 Awards will recognize eligible Broadway and Off-Broadway (non-virtual only) productions that began preview performances between March 16, 2021, and April 23, 2022.

Westport Country Playhouse will present a Script in Hand playreading of “The Scream: A Musical Comedy Fantasy,” on Monday, June 13, at 7 p.m. The live performance will be captured on film for on-demand streaming, from Thursday, June 16 through Sunday, June 19. Script in Hand playreadings offer intimate storytelling as professional actors bring the words to life without sets or costumes.

In the opening number of Elton John and Tim Rice’s hit musical, AIDA, Princess Amneris sings - “Every story, tale or memoir, every saga or romance, whether true or fabricated, whether planned or happenstance….All are tales of human failing, All are tales of love at heart.” and with those opening lines, she encapsulates perfectly the touching (and heart wrenching) story that audiences are about to witness. And in its current production of this classic love story, The Henegar Center in Melbourne delivers an AIDA that is thrilling from its first moments to its last and features some of the most powerful, emotional, and polished performances I have seen on stage in a very long time.

Goodman Theatre announced casting for Life After by rising star writer/lyricist/composer Britta Johnson, directed by Annie Tippe. Leading the cast of nine is Samantha Williams as teenaged Alice—a young woman who, in search of facts, uncovers a more complicated truth as she pieces together events of the fateful night that changed her family forever.

The Drama League today announced the 2022 Drama League Awards Nominees and we've got all the nominations for for Outstanding Production of a Play, Outstanding Revival of a Play, Outstanding Production of a Musical, Outstanding Revival of a Musical, Outstanding Direction of a Play, Outstanding Direction of a Musical, and the much-coveted Distinguished Performance Award.

Tim Rice revealed in a tweet that he is set to fly to New York for discussions about Aida, and the Broadway revival of Chess.