Wendy C. Goldberg News

The Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC) has announced that its membership ratified several contracts at the union's annual membership meeting held this past month. Attended by over 75 directors and choreographers and presided over by Executive Board President Karen Azenberg and Executive Director Laura Penn, the meeting also included the announcement of executive board election results and the presentation of the Joe A. Callaway Awards.

The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust has granted The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center $40,000 to go toward the development of new plays at its 2010 and 2011 National Playwrights Conferences that take place every summer in at the theater in Waterford, Connecticut.

Animal Crackers runs through October 25, 2009 in the Goodman's Albert Theatre. Tickets are currently available by season subscription - www.ExploreTheGoodman.org or call 312.443.3800. Individual tickets ($25 - $83) are on sale now.

Brand-new plays from six contemporary, diverse voices of the American theater come together for two weekends in Goodman Theatre's 2009 New Stages Series, December 11 - 20, 2009. The series of script-in-hand staged readings takes place in the Goodman's Owen Theatre and is open to the public.

Animal Crackers runs through October 25, 2009 in the Goodman's Albert Theatre. Tickets are currently available by season subscription - www.ExploreTheGoodman.org or call 312.443.3800. Individual tickets ($25 - $83) are on sale now.

Animal Crackers runs September 18 - October 25, 2009 in the Goodman's Albert Theatre. Tickets are currently available by season subscription - www.ExploreTheGoodman.org or call 312.443.3800. Individual tickets ($25 - $83) are on sale now

'Hooray for Joey Slotnick!' Director Henry Wishcamper has tapped Chicago native Joey Slotnick for the lead role of the African explorer 'Captain Jeffrey T. Spaulding'-the heightened vaudevillian persona created by Groucho Marx for the 1929 stage and screen original-in Goodman Theatre's season opening musical Animal Crackers, written by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind, with music and lyrics by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby.

The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center has announced the start of its Open Submission Process for projects to be considered for development during the 2010 National Music Theater Conference and National Playwrights Conference.

The National Playwrights Conference (NPC) at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center concludes its 45th year with staged readings of Carthage by Emily Schwend on July 23 at 8:15 pm and July 24 at 7:15 pm and Bogwog by Abbie Spallen on July 25 at 8:15 pm and July 26 at 3:15 pm. The conference, founded in 1964 and led by Lloyd Richards from 1968-1999, is now helmed by Artistic Director Wendy C. Goldberg.

The National Playwrights Conference (NPC) at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center concludes its 45th year with staged readings of Carthage by Emily Schwend on July 23 at 8:15 pm and July 24 at 7:15 pm and Bogwog by Abbie Spallen on July 25 at 8:15 pm and July 26 at 3:15 pm. The conference, founded in 1964 and led by Lloyd Richards from 1968-1999, is now helmed by Artistic Director Wendy C. Goldberg.

The National Playwrights Conference (NPC) at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center continues its 45th year with staged readings of House of Gold by Gregory Moss on July 16 at 8:15 pm and July 17 at 3:15 pm and Spoon Lake Blues by Josh Tobiessen on July 18 at 8:15 pm and July 19 at 3:15 pm.

For the fifth consecutive summer, Goodman Theatre welcomes young people from the Chicagoland area as participants in its General Theater Studies program (GTS), a free, six week intensive introduction to the theater arts.

Goodman Theatre's Board of Trustees proudly announces Patricia Cox as the new Chairman-Elect. Cox, whose involvement with the Goodman spans two decades, is currently its Vice Chairman. A founding member of Chicago's legendary St. Nicholas Theatre Company (with Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet and actors William H. Macy and Stephen Schachter), Cox was among the city's first performing arts marketing, development and management leaders to emerge under the late, great Lyric Opera impresario Danny Newman. She has since worked with and consulted for a wide range of not-for-profit arts organizations in Chicago and across the country. Cox will assume chairmanship in the fall, as current Chairman Shawn M. Donnelley concludes her two-year tenure.

'Hooray for Joey Slotnick!' Director Henry Wishcamper has tapped Chicago native Joey Slotnick for the lead role of the African explorer 'Captain Jeffrey T. Spaulding'-the heightened vaudevillian persona created by Groucho Marx for the 1929 stage and screen original-in Goodman Theatre's season opening musical Animal Crackers, written by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind, with music and lyrics by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby.

Goodman Theatre is the proud recipient of an unprecedented $275,000 gift from the Shubert Foundation, marking the largest annual general operating support grant in the theater's 84-year history. The grant, which represents a $35,000 increase for the Goodman over last season, is part of a record $17.6 million funding that the Shubert Foundation announced for not-for-profit companies in 2009.

For the fifth consecutive summer, Goodman Theatre welcomes young people from the Chicagoland area as participants in its General Theater Studies program (GTS), a free, six week intensive introduction to the theater arts.

Goodman Theatre proudly concludes its 2008/2009 season with José Rivera's newest play, Boleros for the Disenchanted, 'an epic study of wedded life that is simply?and not so simply?marvelous' (Variety). A true love story inspired by Rivera's parents' courtship and eventual migration from Puerto Rico to Alabama, Boleros for the Disenchanted makes its Chicago premiere directed by Henry Godinez?the Goodman's Resident Artistic Associate who was named 2008 Latino of the Year by the Chicago Latino Network. Chicago actors Elizabeth Ledo and Sandra Marquez command the stage in the role of Flora, based on Rivera's mother, at various points in her life. Godinez's cast also includes Liza Fernandez, Joe Minoso, Rene Rivera and Felix Solis. Boleros for the Disenchanted is performed in English in the Albert Theatre June 20 ? July 26, 2009. Tickets are $25 ? $70. A complete performance schedule including dates, times and ticket prices appears at the end of this release. Meet the playwright and director at a free post-performance discussion on Thursday, June 25, moderated by Myrna Salazar of the International Latino Cultural Center. Tickets and information: 312.443.3800 or GoodmanTheatre.org. The Chicago Community Trust is the Major Production Sponsor.

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.

Goodman Theatre is proud to present the Chicago premiere of The Crowd You're In With by Rebecca Gilman. 'A delightfully funny and thought-provoking new play' (San Francisco Chronicle), The Crowd You're In With is directed by Wendy C. Goldberg, artistic director of the National Playwrights Conference at The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center and runs May 23 - June 21, 2009 in the Owen Bruner Theatre. Tickets are $10 - $39. The Sara Lee Foundation is the Owen Season Corporate Sponsor.

Chicago's most dynamic women come together June 9 for Goodman Theatre's annual Women's Night, a special evening to celebrate the city's powerful 'leading ladies' in the arts and business. The event begins with a 5:30pm networking reception at Petterino's and continues with a 7:30pm performance of The Crowd You're In With at the Goodman.