JOHN PROCTOR IS THE VILLAIN and More Set for Goodman Theatre 26/27 Season
The season will feature the world premiere of The 7 Fingers’ The Attic; Things I’ve Seen While Lying on My Back created and directed by Shana Carroll, and more.
Goodman Theatre Artistic Director Susan V. Booth and Executive Director John Collins have revealed the 2026/2027 Season line-up, beginning this fall. With 12 productions—five world or Chicago premieres, a reinvestigated classic, a major musical revival of a generation-defining sensation, three long-running productions, plus two new plays for our youngest audiences (ages 0-5)—there is something for everyone, from longtime patrons to those discovering Chicago’s largest not-for-profit resident theater for the first time.
Opening the 26/27 Season in the 856-seat Albert Theatre is the world premiere of The 7 Fingers’ The Attic; Things I’ve Seen While Lying on My Back created and directed by Shana Carroll; next, Kimberly Belflower’s Broadway smash sensation John Proctor is The Villain makes its Chicago debut, directed by Marti Lyons, produced in partnership with The Guthrie Theater; then, Marsha Norman’s ‘Night Mother appears in a major revival starring stage and screen actor S. Epatha Merkerson, directed by Michael Pressman; and Susan V. Booth directs a major musical revival of Green Day’s American Idiot, music by Green Day, lyrics by Billie Joe Armstrong, book by Billie Joe Armstrong and Michael Mayer. The three-production series in the 400-seat flexible Owen Theatre begins with two world premieres: Dead Girl’s Quinceañera by Phanésia Pharel, directed by Melia Bensussen, produced in partnership with Barrington Stage and Hartford Stage, followed by Calamity West’s FEAST!, directed by Susan V. Booth; the Chicago premiere of Kemp Powers’ The XIXth (The Nineteenth) directed by Carl Cofield rounds out the series.
The 49th annual production of A Christmas Carol, directed by Malkia Stampley, sees a new Scrooge: Chicago titan Tim Hopper assumes the role for the first time. Building on its success, Theater for the Very Young will debut two new productions—created by Marisa Carr, Ellie Levine and Jamal Howard; and the New Stages Festival returns for its 22nd year, offering the first look at the newest plays. In addition, The Goodman proudly continues two highly acclaimed off-shoot enterprises—David Byrne and Mala Gaonkar’s immersive Theater of the Mind, directed by Andrew Scoville (333 N. LaSalle), and Dennis Watkins’ The Magic Parlour, heading into its 4th year in partnership with Petterino’s (50 W. Randolph).
The 2026/2027 Season begins September 2026 and continues through August 2027. Memberships, including flexible packages, are now available for purchase starting at just $54. Call 312.443.3800 or visit GoodmanTheatre.org/2627. Single tickets go on sale for select productions beginning next month.
About the Productions in Goodman Theatre’s 2026/2027 Season
Plays are listed in chronological order by venue
IN THE ALBERT THEATRE (856-SEAT PROSCENIUM STAGE)
The Goodman premieres The 7 Fingers’ The Attic, Things I’ve Seen While Lying on My Back
Written, Directed and Choreographed by Shana Carroll
September 5 – October 4 | A World Premiere
From the primal vista of her childhood bedroom springs Shana Carroll’s wildly imaginative, ground-breaking memoir that takes theater to new heights. Inspired by the Tony Award-nominated former trapezist’s mesmerizing life story, a company of fearless performers transforms memory into daring aerial feats that are as moving as they are breathtaking. In the air, on the floor and from the heart, Montreal’s multidisciplinary creative collective, The 7 Fingers, brings its “thrillingly modern brand of circus” (Time Out New York) to The Goodman in this moving new work that embraces the fear and courage of being human.
49th Annual A Christmas Carol
Adapted by Tom Creamer
Directed by Malkia Stampley
November 13 – December 31 | Starring Tim Hopper as Ebenezer Scrooge
“I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.”
Millions have rediscovered Dickens’ classic at The Goodman over the past five decades—and know why it’s “the best Christmas story ever told!” (Time Out Chicago). Follow the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge as ghostly intervention transforms his holiday disdain into delight one fateful Christmas night. Chicago favorite Tim Hopper—"for whom a furrowed brow and serious visage comes easily” (Chicago Tribune)—makes his debut as Scrooge. This timeless production, long heralded for its “first-rate cast and marvelous staging” (Chicago Sun-Times), is not to be missed.
John Proctor is the Villain
By Kimberly Belflower
Directed by Marti Lyons
January 23 – February 21, 2027 | A Chicago Premiere
The kids are not only all right, they’re on fire.
Fueled by pop music, optimism and fury, five young women are about to light up some of the darkest secrets of their one-stoplight town. The Chicago premiere of the Tony Award nominated Broadway hit. Heroes, villains and who gets blamed when the hysteria starts are up for debate in this unflinching perspective of a generation staking its claim. A co-production with Guthrie Theater.
‘night, Mother
By Marsha Norman
Directed by Michael Pressman
March 27 – April 25, 2027
How well do we know the ones we love most?
Four decades after its astonishing debut, Marsha Norman’s Pulitzer Prize-winning darkly comic landmark drama returns in a new, of-the-moment production—starring Emmy- and Golden Globe-award winner S. Epatha Merkerson (Law and Order, Chicago Med, the HBO film Lakawanna Blues, Broadway’s Come Back Little Sheba). When a daughter makes a life-altering confession to her mother, their ordinary evening exchange gives way to a breathtaking roller coaster ride—gripping, profoundly relevant and “more harrowing than even its plot suggests” (The New York Times). With unblinking honesty, Emmy Award-winner Michael Pressman directs this profound reckoning about choice, care and what it means to be truly heard.
Green Day's American Idiot
Music by Green Day
Lyrics by Billie Joe Armstrong
Book by Billie Joe Armstrong and Michael Mayer
Directed by Susan V. Booth
June 18 – July 25, 2027
Tune in, wake up, fight back! With urgent new creative force, Green Day’s two-time Tony Award-winning smash sensation that defined a generation roars back to the stage—for the first time in Chicago in more than a decade—in Susan V. Booth’s major new production. Three lifelong friends search for meaning in a world that never stops demanding it, each pulled deeper into chaos—of war, of responsibility, of escape. Every song from the band’s eponymous Grammy Award-winning, multi-platinum album and hits from 21st Century Breakdown punctuate this high-octane, adrenaline-fueled experience about the ever-elusive promise of the American dream.
IN THE OWEN THEATRE (400-SEAT FLEXIBLE STAGE)
Dead Girl’s Quinceañera
By Phanésia Pharel
Directed by Melia Bensussen
September 26 – November 1, 2026 | A World Premiere
Detective skills: unverified. Determination: unmatched.
FACT: Maria was last seen at her Quinceañera. FACT: The party ended early due to an unknown emergency. FACT: Maria has not responded to any messages in 36 hours. Now, her three best friends—armed with confidence, questionable clues, and zero adult supervision—are on the case, racing against the clock to find out what happened. Half-baked theories, big feelings and the pressures of Latine girlhood punctuate this joy ride through the power and pleasure of adolescent friendships—a comic thriller of secrets, sisterhood and solving crime. A Collective World Premiere with Barrington Stage Company and Hartford Stage.
FEAST!
By Calamity West
Directed by Susan V. Booth
February 27 – March 28, 2027 | A World Premiere
Nothing spoils faster than pride.
Carol has just been fired. Meantime, her husband Michael has bought and paid for her company’s $12,000 dinner. Instead of canceling, they decide to go through with it to prove they still have a place at the table. But when no guests arrive, the evening unravels into a darkly funny collision of money and marriage that asks what we are prepared to normalize in exchange for belonging. Susan V. Booth directs this smart, searing new satire that serves up a slice of privilege and power from “one of the best playwrights in Chicago. Or maybe the country. Or the universe” (Chicago Reader). FEAST! is the recipient of the 2026 Laurents / Hatcher Foundation Award.
The XIXth (The Nineteenth)
By Kemp Powers
Directed by Carl Cofield
April 17 – May 16, 2027 | A Chicago Premiere
In Mexico City, 1968, courage comes with a price. When two Black American sprinters deliver a protest seen around the world, what followed was more complex—and far more dangerous. With a blend of sharp wit and searing emotion, Academy Award-nominee Kemp Powers explores what it truly costs to speak out when everyone is watching in this gripping Chicago-premiere production.
22nd Annual New Stages Festival
December 5 – 13
Offered free of charge, the annual New Stages Festival is designed to give playwrights an opportunity to experience their work in front of an audience. New Stages offers Chicago theatergoers a first look at dozens of plays, many of which have gone on to become successful full productions—including three plays featured in the Centennial season, Ashland Avenue, Revolution(s) and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao—as well as Noah Haidle’s Smokefall, Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Ruined and more.
HERE, AROUND THE CORNER AND IN THE COMMUNITY
Theater for the Very Young Productions
In the Loop
Created and Directed by Jamal Howard and Ellie Levine
Co-Produced by The Wirtz Center for the Performing Arts, Northwestern University
January 30 – February 28, 2027 | Performed in the Alice Center and at locations citywide
Set aboard Chicago’s trains and buses, In the Loop invites audiences on a playful journey across the city celebrating the sights, sounds and communities that connect our city’s neighborhoods. In the Loop will also include a multi-week tour to classrooms and early childhood spaces across the city. On the heels of their successful collaboration with Splish Splash: A Day on the Lake, Jamal Howard and Ellie Levine reunite to create and direct this interactive production, developed in collaboration with Northwestern undergraduate students and 2- to 5-year-olds from Total Child Preschool in Evanston.
A World Premiere “Theater for the Very Young” production
By Marisa Carr
Summer 2027 dates TBA
Next summer, The Goodman expands its investment in “Theater for the Very Young” with its first direct commission—a new production by award-winning playwright Marisa Carr, alum of The Goodman’s 2020/2021 Playwrights Unit.
Theater for the Very Young (TVY) programming offers immersive theatrical experiences—produced and performed by professional artists—designed for children ages 0–5 years old to experience alongside the grown-ups in their lives. Created in 2023 by Goodman Walter Artistic Director Susan V. Booth in response to research demonstrating the profound impact the arts can have on early childhood development and long-term learning outcomes, TVY introduces Chicagoland’s youngest audiences to live theater through storytelling, music, movement and sensory-rich play produced and performed by professional artsts. Curated by Clifford Director of Education and Engagement Jared Bellot, TVY productions support early literacy, creativity and social-emotional learning while aiming to initiate a lifelong love of the arts. Over the past three years, TVY has served thousands of children and families in Chicago parks, theaters, schools and community spaces with productions of the plays Splish Splash: A Day on the Lake (2026); Book Up! (2025); The Lizard y El Sol (2024); and Pearl Cleage’s In My Granny’s Garden (2023). Schools, daycares and community organizations interested in bringing “Theater for the Very Young” programming to their spaces are invited to contact education@goodmantheatre.org for pricing, scheduling and more information.
Theater of the Mind
Created by David Byrne and Mala Gaonkar
Directed by Andrew Scoville
Produced by Goodman Theatre at the Reid Murdoch Building (333 N. LaSalle)
TheaterOfTheMindChicago.com
Co-created by Academy, Grammy, and Tony Award-winning artist David Byrne and writer Mala Gaonkar, Theater of the Mind is an only-in-Chicago theatrical experience you’ll see, feel, taste and hear. Already a hit cultural attraction, Theater of the Mind is a 75-minute mind-bending sensory journey for 16 audience members at a time. Led by a Guide whose stories are inspired by the creators' lives, audiences explore how they perceive the world through sensory experiments derived from both historical and current neuroscience research that reveal the inner mysteries of the brain. Theater of the Mind debuted in March 2026 as a centerpiece of The Goodman’s Centennial 25/26 Season and continues to amaze audiences at its River North location in the Reid Murdoch Building.
Dennis Watkins’ The Magic Parlour
Produced by Goodman Theatre and Petterino’s (50 W. Randolph)
Step into The Magic Parlour, where the impossible becomes reality, right before your eyes—and sometimes in your own hands. Join award-winning magician Dennis Watkins as he delivers his signature blend of sharp sleight-of-hand, sophisticated mind-reading and personal storytelling to rekindle your sense of wonder. Now in year three at our cozy speakeasy theater, the premiere show offers brand new magic along with the return of Watkins’ The Spirit Cabinet Halloween event, and some of the nation’s greatest magicians as guest artists-in-residence.
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