Goodman to Offer Free NOURISH Workshops for Community Leaders, Activists

This summer, Goodman Theatre and the Center for Performance and Civic Practice (CPCP) present four one-day capacity building workshops focused on creative change tactics for members of Chicago's communities. These sessions are part of NOURISH-a multi-year initiative between the Goodman and CPCP to develop a greater capacity for arts-based community-led transformation-led by Walter Director of Education and Engagement Willa J. Taylor (Goodman Theatre) and Michael Rohd (Founding Artist/Director of CPCP/Sojourn Theatre).

Offered free of charge, each workshop is tailored to a particular group, including leaders of community organizations (July 19); staff/administrators of community organizations (July 20); independent activists/movement workers (July 21); and educators (July 22). Note: Artists interested in change-based work should consider the Sojourn Theatre Institute, SojournTheatre.org/Training.

NOURISH workshops take place July 19-22 in the Alice Rapoport Center for Education and Engagement at Goodman Theatre (170 N. Dearborn); to apply, visit GoodmanTheatre.org/Nourish.

"We believe in the power of creative strategies to problem-solve, build intersectional coalitions and envision inclusive futures. NOURISH supports and increases community organizations' ability to imagine and collaborate towards racially equitable and economically just communities," said artist, educator and activist Willa J. Taylor. "We are proud to deepen our partnership with Michael and the CPCP to participate in and promote authentic, lasting solutions to Chicago's most challenging issues."

NOURISH aims to leverage engaged artistic practice to mobilize:

- The capacity of non-arts partners to collaborate with artists to solve community-identified problems
- Approaches for grassroots workers in leadership development, community organizing and movement sustainability
- The capacity of classroom teachers to introduce creative social justice pedagogy into their teaching spaces

"NOURISH is for you if you envision a more functional, healthy and inclusive organization, neighborhood and city-and if your need is to develop more leadership tools, collaboration approaches, problem-solving strategies and collective visioning techniques," said Michael Rohd. "Willa and her team at the Goodman are committed to issues of equity, access and social justice. We at CPCP are excited at the opportunity to expand our work with them to impact Chicago neighborhoods and residents."

Goodman Theatre's Alice Rapoport Center for Education and Engagement ("the Alice") is a new addition that expands the theater's ability to use its practice of "arts as education"-utilizing the artistic processes of creating theater to stimulate learning and affect social change. The Goodman was the first theater in Chicago to establish a facility expressly dedicated to education and engagement initiatives-efforts which evolved when Robert Falls became Artistic Director in 1986, and exponentially expanded during the past 10 years under Taylor's leadership. With the 2016 opening of the Alice, the acclaimed Center for Performance and Civic Practice (CPCP) began a three-year residency. The CPCP, led by Rohd, is a national resource supporting artists and communities working together to build civic health, equity and capacity. Civic practice is an approach in which artists use their core skills-such as design, collaboration and expression-to help communities address needs they have identified for themselves. Through this residency, the Goodman aims to expand its own capacity for community-based engagement towards social change, and establish a template for other U.S. arts institutions to emulate.

Now in her 10th year at Goodman Theatre, artist, educator and activist Willa J. Taylor oversees the theater's Education and Engagement programs. In her leadership role over the past decade, Taylor and her team have expanded and deepened the these programs, which demonstrate what the arts can be when a not-for-profit institution committed to art and community redefines the intersection of art, community and change. Taylor began her career in arts education at Arena Stage (Washington, D.C.) where she established the Allen Lee Hughes Fellows Program-one of the first theater-run apprenticeships designed to increase participation by people of color in professional theater-followed by Lincoln Center Theater (New York City). There, she created The Urban Ensemble-a multidisciplinary project servicing at-risk youth that was cited by President Clinton's Council on the Arts and Humanities in its 1996 report, Coming Up Taller. She also consulted for New Victory Theatre, where she designed the arts education program for their inaugural season.Taylor has also served as cultural director for Gay Games IV, where she oversaw the production of more than 200 cultural events, including the Broadway production of Sir Ian McKellen's A Knight Out. For 12 years she served as a Russian and Arabic linguist in the US Navy. While overseas, she oversaw productions for the United Service Organization in Greece and managed Armed Forces Radio and Television in Turkey, where she created the Profiles in Black history series. Following her graduation from Kendall College's culinary program in 2001, Taylor opened Taylor-Made Cuisine, a gourmet catering company as well as Home Café, a neighborhood bistro. In 2005, she helped open and served as the catering chef for EatZi's Easygoing Gourmet, a chain of gourmet bakeries, take out markets and restaurants.

Michael Rohd is founding artistic director of Sojourn Theatre. He recently accepted a professorship at Arizona State University's Herberger Insititute for Design and Art, where he leads the think tank/action space The Ensemble Lab with Liz Lerman and Daniel Bernard Roumain. He is author of the widely translated book Theatre for Community, Conflict and Dialogue. Mr. Rohd also directs the Center for Performance and Civic Practice, where current projects include The Catalyst Initiative, a national program supported by The Andrew Mellon Foundation, and Learning Labs, through which he is currently collaborating with Arts Councils at the state and local levels around the U.S. In 2015, he received an Otto Rene Castillo Award for Political Theater and The Robert Gard Foundation Award for Excellence. He was the 2013-2016 Doris Duke Artist-in-Residence at Lookingglass Theatre Company. Recent and current projects include leading a two-year Sojourn artist-in-residence collaboration with Catholic Charities USA poverty reduction sites around the U.S.; collaborations with Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Bush Foundation, Lincoln Center Theater, Singapore Drama Educators Association and Americans for the Arts; and working with theaters and universities around the country to mount locally specific projects based on Sojourn's model performance/engagement process/production How To End Poverty in 90 Minutes.

Goodman Theatre is a not-for-profit organization distinguished by the quality and scope of its artistic programming and civic engagement. Founded in 1925, the Goodman is led by Robert Falls-"Chicago's most essential director" (Chicago Tribune), who marks 30 years as Artistic Director this season-and Executive Director Roche Schulfer, who is celebrated for his vision and leadership over nearly four decades. Dedicated to new plays, reimagined classics and large-scale musical theater works, Goodman Theatre artists and productions have earned hundreds of awards for artistic excellence, including: two Pulitzer Prizes, 22 Tony Awards, nearly 160 Jeff Awards and more. Over the past three decades, audiences have experienced more than 150 world or American premieres, 30 major musical productions, as well as nationally and internationally celebrated productions of classic works (including Falls' productions of Death of a Salesman, Long Day's Journey into Night, King Lear and The Iceman Cometh, many in collaboration with actor Brian Dennehy). In addition, the Goodman is the first theater in the world to produce all 10 plays in August Wilson's "American Century Cycle." For nearly four decades, the annual holiday tradition of A Christmas Carol has created a new generation of theatergoers.

The 2016 opening of the Alice Rapoport Center for Education and Engagement ("the Alice") launched the next phase in the Goodman's decades-long commitment as an arts and community organization dedicated to educating Chicago youth and promoting lifelong learning. Programs are offered year-round and free of charge. Eighty-five percent of the Goodman's youth program participants come from underserved communities.

Goodman Theatre was founded 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 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. Joan E. Clifford is Chair of Goodman Theatre's Board of Trustees, Cynthia K. Scholl is Women's Board President and Justin A. Kulovsek is President of the Scenemakers Board for young professionals.

Visit the Goodman virtually at GoodmanTheatre.org-including OnStage+ for insider information-and on Twitter (@GoodmanTheatre), Facebook and Instagram.