2018 New Stages Fest Lineup Announced

This fall, Goodman Theatre presents its New Stages Festival-a free annual celebration and discovery of new plays by some of the country's finest established and emerging playwrights. Audiences experience a first look at seven new works-including three fully staged developmental productions (performed in repertory) There's Always the Hudson by Paola Lázaro-Muñoz; Felons and Familias by Sandra Delgado; Graveyard Shift by Korde Arrington Tuttle. In addition, four staged readings appear during the last weekend of the festival (October 4-7) including The Wizards by Ricardo Gamboa; Between Covers by Sarah Schulman; Birthday Candles by Noah Haidle; and Cressida on Top by Paula Vogel.

New Stages Festival runs September 19 - October 7 in the 350-seat Owen Theatre; free reserved tickets will be made available August 17; call 312.443.3800, visit GoodmanTheatre.org/NewStagesFestival or the box office (170 N. Dearborn). For more information about "Industry Professionals Weekend," visit GoodmanTheatre.org/Professionals.

"We're thrilled to celebrate 15 years of developing new work by some of the most inventive and insightful storytellers in the American theater," said Tanya Palmer, Director of New Play Development and curator of the New Stages festival. "This season, five world premiere productions emerged from New Stages, which has become an essential pipeline for new play creation at the Goodman. The seven plays in New Stages 2018 provide a remarkable window into what it means to live in the present moment. I'm thrilled to share these imaginative and poignant new works with our audiences."

Since New Stages' inception, more than 80 plays have been produced as a developmental production or staged reading. More than 60% of all plays developed in New Stages have received a world premiere production at the Goodman or another leading U.S. theater. The 2018/2019 Season features five world premieres that originated in New Stages-We're Only Alive For A Short Amount of Time by David Cale, Lady in Denmark by Dael Orlandersmith, How to Catch Creation by Christina Anderson, Twilight Bowl by Rebecca Gilman and Lottery Day by Ike Holter.

The Goodman is grateful for the generosity of its New Work sponsors, including: the Time Warner Foundation, Lead Support of New Play Development; The Pritzker-Pucker Foundation and the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, Major Support of New Play Development; The Glasser and Rosenthal Family, Support of New Work Development; and The Joyce Foundation, Principal Support for Diverse Artistic and Professional Development.

About the 2018 New Stages Festival Lineup

There's Always the Hudson
By Paola Lázaro-Muñoz, directed by Jess McLeod
A Developmental Production; appears in repertory (September 19 - October 6)

Lola and T met in group therapy years ago, where they set a far-off deadline to be happier, or else. With that deadline suddenly near they'll meet on the George Washington Bridge for one last chance to turn the world upside down. Two half-broken souls are out for revenge on everyone who has hurt, stolen and talked shit about them in this foul and fearless adventure.

Felons and Familias
By Sandra Delgado, directed by Marcela Muñoz
A Developmental Production; appears in repertory (September 21 - October 7)

Like millions of Americans, Clara's days are consumed with juggling work and family. Recently divorced with a tween-age daughter and an ageing father, she finally has something to look forward to: a trip to Europe. In preparation, Clara, who immigrated to the U.S. as a child, decides to apply for full citizenship. When her application is flagged, an unfathomable series of events threaten to force her from the only home she's ever known.

Graveyard Shift
By Korde Arrington Tuttle, directed by Danya Taymor
A Developmental Production; appears in repertory (September 23 - October 7)

After receiving an exciting job offer, Janelle relocates to Texas with her partner, Kane. Meanwhile, the life of a small-town police offer is thrown into flux when the co-worker he's involved with decides she's leaving town. When their worlds collide, Janelle and Kane experience firsthand how dangerous power can be when met with bias. Inspired by real events, Graveyard Shift is an unflinching but big-hearted look at how we navigate a world full of fear.

The Wizards
By Ricardo Gamboa, directed by Azar Kazemi
A Staged Reading: Friday, October 5 at 10:30am

Amado and Sam, a brown and black genderqueer couple, relocate from New York to Chicago after surviving a hate crime following the 2016 presidential election. Settling into their new apartment in gentrifying Pilsen, they discover an Ouija board that connects them with The Wizards-a Mexican-American Motown cover band on the South Side during the 1970s. The Wizards is a supernatural thriller about the histories and people who haunt us.

Between Covers
By Sarah Schulman, directed by Wendy C. Goldberg
A Staged Reading: Friday, October 5 at 2pm

This savage and provocative dark comedy takes place between three sets of "covers": romantic sex farce, the masks we all wear and the book each character dreams of writing. Jamie, a mildly successful author with financial woes, joins the faculty at an MFA writing program that accepts anyone willing to pay. There, he finds his colleagues are all driven by fear. What happens when institutional panic gets control of people's lives? Who is the actual abuser, and who is the more convenient target?

Birthday Candles

By Noah Haidle, directed by Vivienne Benesch
A Staged Reading: Saturday, October 6 at 10:30am

In her youth, Alice was a self-declared rebel against the universe, determined to travel the world, until Matt came along. Soon she was headed down the path she'd most dreaded: marriage and family. Has she wasted her life? Delightful and moving, this kaleidoscopic view of one woman's life demonstrates how the everyday choices we make lead us into ecstasy and misery, often all at once.

Cressida on Top
By Paula Vogel, directed by Shana Cooper
A Staged Reading: Saturday, October 6 at 2pm

A time traveling narcissist with a healthy libido, Don Juan appears every time war emerges. He's left behind a trail of lonely widows, housewives and young girls -- and he won't stop until he meets a woman who can overcome him. Women love a man in uniform, but what happens when the women are in uniform too? When their bodies are on the line just like men? When Captain Don Juan of the U.S. Marines meets Sgt. Cressida Morrison, U.S. Army, the calculus of who's on top begins to change.

About Goodman Theatre

AMERICA'S "BEST REGIONAL THEATRE" (Time magazine), Goodman Theatre is a premier not-for-profit organization distinguished by the excellence and scope of its artistic programming and civic engagement. Led by Artistic Director Robert Falls and Executive Director Roche Schulfer, the theater's artistic priorities include new play development (more than 150 world or American premieres), large scale musical theater works and reimagined classics (celebrated revivals include Falls' productions of Death of a Salesman and The Iceman Cometh). Goodman Theatre artists and productions have earned two Pulitzer Prizes, 22 Tony Awards, over 160 Jeff Awards and many more accolades. In addition, the Goodman is the first theater in the world to produce all 10 plays in August Wilson's "American Century Cycle" and its four-decade annual holiday tradition A Christmas Carol, which has created a new generation of theatergoers. The Goodman also frequently serves as a production partner with local off-Loop theaters and national and international companies by providing financial support or physical space for a variety of artistic endeavors.

Committed to three core values of Quality, Diversity and Community, the Goodman proactively makes inclusion the fabric of the institution and develops education and community engagement programs that support arts as education. This practice uses the process of artistic creation to inspire and empower youth, lifelong learners and audiences to find and/or enhance their voices, stories and abilities. The Goodman's Alice Rapoport Center for Education and Engagement is the home of such programming, most offered free of charge, and has vastly expanded the theater's ability to touch the lives of Chicagoland citizens (with 85% of youth participants coming from underserved communities) since its 2016 opening.

Goodman Theatre was founded in 1925 by William O. Goodman and his family in honor of their son Kenneth, an important figure in Chicago's cultural renaissance in the early 1900s. The Goodman family's legacy lives on through the continued work and dedication of Kenneth's family, including Albert Ivar Goodman, who with his late mother, Edith-Marie Appleton, contributed the necessary funds for the creation of the new Goodman center in 2000.

Today, Goodman Theatre leadership also includes the distinguished members of the Artistic Collective: Brian Dennehy, Rebecca Gilman, Henry Godinez, Dael Orlandersmith, Steve Scott, Chuck Smith, Regina Taylor, Henry Wishcamper and Mary Zimmerman. David W. Fox, Jr.is Chair of Goodman Theatre's Board of Trustees, Denise Stefan Ginascol is Women's Board President and Megan McCarthy Hayes is President of the Scenemakers Board for young professionals.