Steve Scott to Direct AH, WILDERNESS! This Spring at Goodman Theatre

Goodman Theatre Artistic Director Robert Falls announced today that his longtime creative collaborator, Artistic Associate and Producer Steve Scott, will direct the theater's production of Eugene O'Neill's Ah, Wilderness! this spring. Scott assumes this responsibility from Falls, who was originally announced as the production's director.

"Ah, Wilderness! is a classic family comedy by one of my favorite playwrights. Steve Scott has established an extraordinary, wide-ranging directing career in Chicago for well over three decades, and I know this production is in gifted hands," said Robert Falls. "In making this decision, I found that my responsibilities as the artistic leader of Goodman Theatre-responsibilities that include planning our upcoming 2017/2018 Season at a challenging time in our society-required my full attention in the next few months, making it necessary for me to step aside from this production."

Falls continues to direct the Chicago premiere of Annie Baker's adaptation of Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya in the Owen Theatre, February 11 - March 12, 2017. The plays selected for Goodman Theatre's 2017/2018 Season, which begins in September, will be announced thereafter.

"I am thrilled and honored to have the opportunity to bring Ah, Wilderness! to the Albert stage," said Steve Scott. "It's a play that I've loved for a long, long time for its warm good humor, its beautifully wrought characters, and its celebration of the healing power of family and community-which is perhaps even more essential today than it was when O'Neill first envisioned it."

Ah, Wilderness! is O'Neill's heartfelt salute to youthful indiscretion and small town life. For the shy and scholarly Richard Miller, fireworks aren't the only flames burning on the Fourth of July-this 16- year-old has started going steady with his beautiful young neighbor Muriel. Her father, however, disapproves of their relationship, and forbids the couple to see each other. Spurred by this obstacle, Richard embarks on an evening of unexpected rebellion. Ah, Wilderness! captures the rush of excitement, torment, emotional confusion and bliss that accompanies first love and growing up. Ah, Wilderness! appears June 17 - July 23, 2017 in the 856-seat Albert Theatre. Tickets are available now on subscription; individual tickets go on sale March 24, 2017.

As Producer of Goodman Theatre, Steve Scott has overseen more than 200 productions and is a member of Goodman's Artistic Collective. His Goodman directing credits include the 2015 critical and popular hit, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike by Christopher Durang; Horton Foote's Blind Date; Rabbit Hole; Binky Rudich and the Two-Speed Clock and No One Will Be Immune for the David Mamet Festival; Dinner With Friends; Wit; the world premiere of Tom Mula's Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol; A Midsummer Night's Dream (co-directed with Michael Maggio); and the 2011 and 2012 editions of A Christmas Carol.

His additional recent directing credits include Rose for the Greenhouse Theatre; Chewing on Beckett for Artemisia Theatre; Yellow Face, The DNA Trail, and Yohen at Silk Road Rising; American Myth at American Blues Theatre; The Mandrake at A Red Orchid Theatre; Death of a Salesman, The Seedbed, Clybourne Park, Elemeno Pea, Elling, A Delicate Balance, Lettice and Lovage and Shadowlands for Redtwist Theatre; Mothers and Sons, Souvenir and Black Pearl Sings at Northlight Theatre; The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Buried Child and Dealer's Choice for Shattered Globe Theatre; Frozen for The Next Theatre Company; A Midsummer Night's Dream and Much Ado About Nothing for the St. Lawrence (Ontario) Shakespeare Festival; The Teapot Scandals of 1923 and Falsettos for Porchlight Theatre; Angels in America, You Can't Take It with You, The Grapes of Wrath, A Streetcar Named Desire, Execution of Justice, Ah, Wilderness!, God's Country, and Judgment at Nuremberg for the Theatre Conservatory at Roosevelt University's College of Performing Arts (where he is a faculty member); and a number of productions for the Eclipse Theatre (where he is an ensemble member), including Stephen Adly Guirgis's The Little Flower of East Orange, Terrence McNally's The Lisbon Traviata, Lynn Nottage's Intimate Apparel, Alan Ayckbourn's Woman in Mind, Arthur Miller's After the Fall, John Guare's Six Degrees of Separation, Rebecca Gilman's Boy Gets Girl, Keith Reddin's Big Time, Neil Simon's Plaza Suite, and Lanford Wilson's The Moonshot Tapes.

He has directed for a variety of other companies, including Theatre Wit, the Buffalo Theatre Ensemble, National Jewish Theatre, Theater at the Center, Lifeline Theatre, Organic Touchstone Theatre, and the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists. Scott has served on panels for Theatre Communications Group, the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, United States Artists, the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center, the Chicago Council on Fine Arts, the Illinois Arts Council, National Endowment for the Arts, and the Pew Charitable Trust/Philadelphia Theatre Initiative. He is a member of the Jeff Committee's Artist and Technical Team, a board member of Season of Concern, artistic advisor for Silk Road Rising and an associate artist with Chicago Dramatists and Collaboraction Theatre companies. He was one of six resident directors for WBEZ's series Stories on Stage, and has contributed articles to a variety of publications, including the Encyclopedia of Chicago. Scott is the recipient of six Jefferson Award nominations, an After Dark Award, the Illinois Theatre Association's Award of Honor and Eclipse Theatre Company's Corona Award. As an actor, he most recently appeared in The Next Theatre's production of Are You Now or Have You Ever Been...? (Jeff Award for Outstanding Ensemble).

America's "Best Regional Theatre" (Time magazine) and "Chicago's flagship resident stage" (Chicago Tribune), 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 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 funds necessary to create 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 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.