Goodman Theater's MAGNOLIA Opens 3/23

Magnolia, Artistic Associate ReGina Taylor's world premiere about possibility in the face of seismic social change, takes root at the Goodman with an official opening tonight, March 23rd, Magnolia runs through April 19, 2009.

Directing for the first time at the Goodman, Tony Award winner Anna D. Shapiro helms a cast of 12 led by Academy Award nominee Annette O'Toole (Smallville, A Mighty Wind, 48 Hours) and Tony Award nominee John Earl Jelks (August Wilson's Radio Golf and Gem of the Ocean) in the leading roles of Lily and Thomas. Tickets to Magnolia are $25 - $70.

"Regina has created some of the Goodman's most distinguished works, and her magnificent new play Magnolia is no exception," said Artistic Director Robert Falls. "As she has done so eloquently in Crowns and The Dreams of Sarah Breedlove, Regina imbues her characters with passion, grace and poetry, honoring their individual and collective struggles with dignity and compassion. I'm thrilled to couple her with the immensely gifted Anna Shapiro and this outstanding cast."

A member of Goodman Theatre's Artistic Collective, ReGina Taylor is a playwright-director-actor whose work has been described as "bold and thoughtful" (Newsday) and "strikingly theatrical" (Associated Press) with a "sense of authenticity; you feel that you've been transported to someplace real and welcomed there" (The New York Times).

"For me, Magnolia is a wholly American story that continues the dialogue of finding an individual voice, daring to make your own sound in this world-more important in our current world, than ever," said Taylor. "The roots of the magnolia tree are very deep, and its blossoms are red, yellow, white, pink and blue-black-many different colored blossoms all from the same tree. Whether we chop up or burn down the tree, the roots remain underneath, and the tree will shoot back up. We are many different hues, all mixed; but we come from the same root."

Magnolia takes place in Atlanta, 1963. As Martin Luther King Jr. inspires Atlanta's black citizens to fight passionately for their civil rights, the new mayor erects "Peyton Wall" to restrict where they can live. Amid these churning social currents, Magnolia Estate faces foreclosure-pitting the sensual, free-spirited heiress Lily (O'Toole) against Thomas (Jelks), a strong-willed businessman who lays claim to the estate where his ancestors were slaves.

"Both Thomas and Lily were born on the Magnolia Estate, but both have escaped that soil to try to create their own identities. Meanwhile, the tide waters of change are flowing across America, starting with the 'Little Rock Nine' and Brown v. Board of Education," said Taylor. "The rules of society are changing-the lines that separate black and white Atlanta are becoming less defined-and these two people are called back to face the parts of themselves they thought they had left behind."

A member of Goodman Theatre's Artistic Collective, ReGina Taylor authored and directed The Dreams of Sarah Breedlove, which premiered at Alabama Shakespeare Festival and was produced at the Goodman in June 2006. Drowning Crow, her adaptation of Chekhov's The Seagull, premiered at the Goodman and was produced on Broadway at Manhattan Theatre Club's Biltmore Theatre. Taylor wrote the award-winning Crowns, first produced at McCarter Theatre and at Second Stage in New York, and has subsequently become the most performed musical in America; Taylor also directed the production to critical acclaim. Her other plays include Oo-Bla-Dee, which premiered at the Goodman and won the 2000 American Theatre Critics/Steinberg New Play Award; Escape From Paradise, a one-woman show; Watermelon Rinds; Inside the Belly of the Beast; Mudtracks; Love Poem #97; and she curated Urban Zulu Mambo, an evening of plays by Adrienne Kennedy, Ntozake Shange, Suzan-Lori Parks and Kia Corthron. Acting credits include roles on Broadway, off-Broadway and in numerous resident theaters. Her film credits include Clockers, Losing Isaiah, Lean on Me, A Family Thing, Courage Under Fire with Denzel Washington, and The Negotiator with Samuel L. Jackson. For her role as Lilly Harper on the television series I'll Fly Away, Taylor won an NAACP Image Award, was nominated for an Emmy Award and received the Golden Globe Award for Best Leading Dramatic Actress. She currently portrays Molly on CBS' The Unit, written and produced by David Mamet and Shawn Ryan (2008 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama).

Anna D. Shapiro received the 2008 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play for August: Osage County. Directing credits at Steppenwolf Theatre Company (where she became an ensemble member in 2005) include The Pain and the Itch, I Never Sang for My Father, Man from Nebraska, Until We Find Each Other, The Drawer Boy and Side Man. Other credits include Our Town at Lookingglass Theatre Company, A Number at A Contemporary Theatre, Iron at Manhattan Theatre Club, A Fair Country at Huntington Theatre Company and Trafficking in Broken Hearts at Atlantic Theatre Company. Ms. Shapiro is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama and Columbia College and the recipient of a 1996 Princess Grace Award. She joined the faculty of Northwestern University as head of the Graduate Directing Program in 2002.

Photo by Liz Lauren