Bert Kalmar News

Goodman Theatre will present the Chicago premiere of Dael Orlandersmith's Stoop Stories, September 12 - October 11, 2009 the Goodman's 400-seat flexible Owen Bruner Theatre. Tickets are $10 - $40 and go on sale Friday, August 7 at GoodmanTheatre.org.

On Friday, September 18, 'Laughter, merriment, and general carrying-on is expected and encouraged...in honor of Goodman Theatre's production of Animal Crackers,' wrote Mayor Richard M. Daley, proclaiming this day 'Laugh Out Loud Day' in Chicago. '(I) urge all Chicagoans to take a moment to laugh out loud as they reacquaint themselves with the Marx Brothers and the Goodman's madcap musical.'

Goodman Theatre is proud to present the Chicago premiere of Dael Orlandersmith's Stoop Stories, September 12 - October 11, 2009 the Goodman's 400-seat flexible Owen Bruner Theatre. Tickets are $10 - $40 and go on sale Friday, August 7 at GoodmanTheatre.org.

Today Goodman Theatre announced a change in its upcoming 2009/2010 season lineup. Artistic Director Robert Falls has canceled the previously scheduled Joan D'Arc, directed by Aida Karic, and in its place selected Stoop Stories, an explosive solo piece by Dael Orlandersmith. A Chicago premiere, Stoop Stories will run September 11 - October 11 in the Goodman's 400-seat flexible Owen Bruner Theatre.

Goodman Theatre launches its new 2009/2010 Season with tap dancing, acrobatics, tumbling, guitar- and ukulele-playing in an original take on the rarely-produced Marx Brothers classic musical ANIMAL CRACKERS, written by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind, with music and lyrics by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars. 'A Little Night Music,' '101 Dalmations,' 'Animal Crackers' and more....

Goodman Theatre welcomes children of all ethnicities to audition for this year's production of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol adapted by Tom Creamer and directed by William Brown. Performers aged 5 to 17 are needed for several roles-including the role of Tiny Tim and the Cratchit children.

Goodman Theatre launches its new 2009/2010 Season with tap dancing, acrobatics, tumbling, guitar- and ukulele-playing in an original take on the rarely-produced Marx Brothers classic musical Animal Crackers, written by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind, with music and lyrics by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby

Tickets for Goodman Theatre's production of Animal Crackers go on sale today, August 14. They may be purchased at GoodmanTheatre.org. Beginning August 17, tickets may be purchased by phone at 312.443.3800.

Goodman Theatre welcomes children of all ethnicities to audition for this year's production of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol adapted by Tom Creamer and directed by William Brown. Performers aged 5 to 17 are needed for several roles-including the role of Tiny Tim and the Cratchit children.

Goodman Theatre is proud to announce the complete creative team for the 2009/2010 season opening musical Animal Crackers, written by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind, with music and lyrics by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby. Director Henry Wishcamper taps Tony Award-nominee John Carrafa (Sex and the City; Broadway's Urinetown, Into the Woods) to choreograph the cast of nine, including the four roles originated by the Marx Brothers, joined by Chicago favorites, Clowning Director Paul Kalina (500 Clown's Elephant Deal and Macbeth) and Music Director Doug Peck (Court Theatre's Carousel; Caroline, or Change).

The City of Chicago's Outdoor Film Festival (COFF), in partnership with the Goodman Theatre, invites you to break a Guinness World RecordTM. Be part of the largest group of people ever to wear Groucho Marx's iconic look-black glasses, bushy eyebrows, greasepaint mustache, and signature schnoz- at the same time at Tuesday's (7-21-09) presentation of the American classic movie Duck Soup in Grant Park.

Goodman Theatre is proud to present the Chicago premiere of Dael Orlandersmith's Stoop Stories, September 12 - October 11, 2009 the Goodman's 400-seat flexible Owen Bruner Theatre. Tickets are $10 - $40 and go on sale Friday, August 7 at GoodmanTheatre.org.

The City of Chicago's Outdoor Film Festival (COFF), in partnership with the Goodman Theatre, invites you to break a Guinness World RecordTM. Be part of the largest group of people ever to wear Groucho Marx's iconic look-black glasses, bushy eyebrows, greasepaint mustache, and signature schnoz- at the same time at Tuesday's (7-21-09) presentation of the American classic movie Duck Soup in Grant Park.

On Monday, June 29, Goodman Theatre Outgoing Board Chairman Shawn M. Donnelley and Artistic Director Robert Falls were honored with stars bearing their names as part of the Goodman's 'Walkway of Stars.' The stars were presented in appreciation and gratitude for their achievements and service to the theater, and commemorated Donnelley's leadership gift of $1 million to Goodman Theatre's endowment. A ribbon cutting and unveiling of the two stars followed brief remarks by Executive Director Roche Schulfer during an afternoon ceremony on the theater's black granite entryway beneath the 73-foot Goodman marquee at 170 North Dearborn Street. Present were members of the Goodman's Board of Trustees as well as friends of the theater, including: Chairman-Elect Patricia Cox; Goodman Resident Artistic Associate Henry Godinez; Academy Award-nominated playwright José Rivera; Goodman Trustees Sherry Barrat of Northern Trust, Ruth Ann Gillis of Exelon Corporation, Vikki Hood of Kirkland & Ellis; Goodman Scenemakers Council members Shannon Kinsella and Cheryl McPhilimy; Premiere Society Donors Robert Kohl and Clark Pellett; and classics scholar Dr. Christopher Kelly, Donnelley's husband.

Today Goodman Theatre announced a change in its upcoming 2009/2010 season lineup. Artistic Director Robert Falls has canceled the previously scheduled Joan D'Arc, directed by Aida Karic, and in its place selected Stoop Stories, an explosive solo piece by Dael Orlandersmith. A Chicago premiere, Stoop Stories will run September 11 - October 11 in the Goodman's 400-seat flexible Owen Bruner Theatre.

For the fifth consecutive summer, Goodman Theatre welcomes young people from the Chicagoland area as participants in its General Theater Studies program (GTS), a free, six week intensive introduction to the theater arts.

Goodman Theatre's Board of Trustees proudly announces Patricia Cox as the new Chairman-Elect. Cox, whose involvement with the Goodman spans two decades, is currently its Vice Chairman. A founding member of Chicago's legendary St. Nicholas Theatre Company (with Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet and actors William H. Macy and Stephen Schachter), Cox was among the city's first performing arts marketing, development and management leaders to emerge under the late, great Lyric Opera impresario Danny Newman. She has since worked with and consulted for a wide range of not-for-profit arts organizations in Chicago and across the country. Cox will assume chairmanship in the fall, as current Chairman Shawn M. Donnelley concludes her two-year tenure.

'Hooray for Joey Slotnick!' Director Henry Wishcamper has tapped Chicago native Joey Slotnick for the lead role of the African explorer 'Captain Jeffrey T. Spaulding'-the heightened vaudevillian persona created by Groucho Marx for the 1929 stage and screen original-in Goodman Theatre's season opening musical Animal Crackers, written by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind, with music and lyrics by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby.

Goodman Theatre is the proud recipient of an unprecedented $275,000 gift from the Shubert Foundation, marking the largest annual general operating support grant in the theater's 84-year history. The grant, which represents a $35,000 increase for the Goodman over last season, is part of a record $17.6 million funding that the Shubert Foundation announced for not-for-profit companies in 2009.