Goodman Theatre News

Now celebrating its 20th year, id Theater returns to McCall, Idaho with the Seven Devils Playwrights Conference, with events from June 8 to 17 at McCall's Alpine Playhouse. This will be the 17th year for the Conference, which will host nine playwrights from all corners of the United States whose work will be developed and presented to the public free of charge during the Conference.

Cost of Living, the new play by Martyna Majok (Ironbound, Mouse in a Jar), directed by Jo Bonney (Father Comes Home from the Wars; By the Way, Meet Vera Stark), is currently in previews ahead of a Wednesday, June 7 opening night at MTC at New York City Center - Stage I (131 West 55th Street). BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

The Vineyard Theatre's Annual Emerging Artists Luncheon will take place on Tuesday, June 6 from noon-2:30pm at the National Arts Club (15 Gramercy Park South) in Manhattan. The event will feature the presentation of the 2016-2017 Paula Vogel Playwriting Award by Paula Vogel to Kate Tarker (THUNDERBODIES), who began her residency last fall.

Firebrand Theatre, the first musical theatre company committed to employing and empowering women by expanding opportunities on and off the stage, is pleased to announce casting for its inaugural production, the Chicago premiere of LIZZIE, the rock musical based on the true-life story of accused axe-murderess Lizzie Borden. LIZZIE will play November 11 - December 17, 2017 at The Den Theatre's Bookspan Theatre, 1333 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood. Single tickets for LIZZIE are currently on sale at firebrandtheatre.org. Season subscriptions (including 9 TO 5 THE MUSICAL) are currently available. 

Audiences now have eight more chances to see stage and screen star Stacy Keach in his tour-de-force performance as Chicagoland native son, Ernest Hemingway. Goodman Theatre announces that playwright Jim McGrath's newest work - Pamplona, which begins preview performances tomorrow - has been extended for one week, now closing on Sunday, June 25.

Mobile ticketing app TodayTix announced today that it will offer a digital lottery for the highly-anticipated Broadway Premiere of George Orwell's 1984 starring Tony® Award nominee Tom Sturridge, Olivia Wilde in her Broadway debut, and Tony® Award winner Reed Birney.  The entire front row of seats will be available via lottery for $19.84 each.  The entry period will begin each day at midnight, and continue until winners are notified via email and push notification 2-4 hours before the selected performance begins.  Winners will be offered the opportunity to purchase either one or two tickets, and lottery winners can pick up their purchased tickets from TodayTix concierge agents outside of the Hudson Theatre.  For tickets and info, download the TodayTix mobile app or visit www.todaytix.com.

???????Adventure Stage Chicago (ASC), the participatory arts program of Northwestern Settlement (the Settlement), announces its 14th season of programming for young audiences, exploring the theme of "Literacy" as the company applies its mission of telling heroic stories to the Settlement objective of disrupting generational poverty. ASC's "Literacy" season features the stage adaptation of Akeelah and the Bee; a commissioned work by Lucas Baisch, based on the Guatemalan myths of Popol Vuh and created in collaboration with community partners; and an original piece devised by ASC's Trailblazers youth mentorship program.  All performances take place at Northwestern Settlement's Vittum Theater, 1012 N. Noble St. Tickets are $17 for adults and $12 for youth aged 14 years and younger. Group tickets are $10 for ten or more guests. Student matinee tickets are $7 for CPS and $8 for non-CPS groups. Tickets may be purchased at adventurestage.org or by calling 773.342.4141.

The 2017 Hollywood Fringe Festival is proud to announce its partnership with TodayTix, the international ticketing app and website with nearly three million users. As the official marketing and ticketing platform available to all Festival productions, TodayTix is offering its ticket listing and marketing services, used by over 500 arts organizations worldwide, to all Fringe productions. TodayTix allows all Fringe productions to expand their reach and promote their shows to a rich database of culture-loving locals and tourists.

Steep Theatre plunges into the world of horror with their Midwest premiere of Lauren Yee's Hookman. The play, which has been described by Yee as an 'existential slasher-comedy', was directed by the Jeff Award-winner Vanessa Stalling (United Flight 232 - Best Play, Midsize). The production marks Stalling's Steep Theatre directorial debut. ??The cast of Hookman features Karen Rodriguez, Kiayla Ryann, Aja Wiltshire, Sasha Smith, James Doherty, and Mary Tilden.

Manhattan Theatre Club's New York premiere of Cost of Living, the new play by Martyna Majok (Ironbound, Mouse in a Jar), directed by Jo Bonney (Father Comes Home from the Wars; By the Way, Meet Vera Stark), begins performances tonight, Tuesday May 16, at MTC at New York City Center - Stage I (131 West 55th Street).

Artistic Director Wm Bullion has announced the 2017 DirectorsLabChicago to be held Sunday, August 20, through Friday, August 26, 2017, primarily at Victory Gardens Theater on Chicago's north side. The theme for this year's Lab is Director­-Audience: Engaging and Challenging a Distracted World.

Gloucester Stage Company kicks off its 38th season of professional theater on Cape Ann with the New England Premiere of John Kolvenbach's Bank Job from May 19 through June 10 at 267 East Main Street, Gloucester, MA. For two brothers, Russell and Tracey, new to the armed robbery industry, what seems like easy money turns out to be a lot more difficult than it looks in the movies in John Kolvenbach's hilarious Bank Job. When heist plans A and B (and C through F) fail, the brothers find themselves locked in the executive bathroom with no way out and no choice but to depend on a brave bank teller, a guileless cop, and the man in the shadows who put them up to the whole thing. A fun comedy, Bank Job is about the holes we dig ourselves into-and the unexpected comrades we trust to dig us out. Directed by GSC Artistic Director Robert Walsh and featuring GSC veterans Johnny Lee Davenport, Nael Nacer, Richard McElvain and Paul Melendy and GSC newcomer Shuyi Jia..

Court Theatre, under the leadership of Marilyn F. Vitale Artistic Director Charles Newell and Executive Director Stephen J. Albert, concludes the 2016-2017 Season with the Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy Harvey by Mary Chase, directed by Devon De Mayo. Harvey runs May 11 - June 11, 2017 at Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Avenue in Chicago. The Press Opening is Saturday, May 20 at 8:00 p.m.

Geva Theatre Center closes the 2016-2017 ESL Wilson Stage Season with Million Dollar Quartet with book by Floyd Mutrux and Colin Escott, based on an original concept by Floyd Mutrux and inspired by the music of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins. Million Dollar Quartet is directed by Hunter Foster and will be performed in the Elaine P. Wilson Stage from May 30 to June 25.

Abingdon Theatre Company presents its first musical with the New York premiere of THE BOY WHO DANCED ON AIR, with music by Tim Rosser and book and lyrics by Charlie Sohne, winners of 2015 Jonathan Larson and Mary Rodgers/Lorenz Hart awards. Directed by Abingdon Theatre Company Artistic Director Tony Speciale, THE BOY WHO DANCED ON AIR plays four weeks only, tonight, May 15, through June 11, at the June Havoc Theatre (312 West 36th Street). Opening night is Thursday, May 25 at 7PM.

Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) announces the cast and creative team for the summer family musical production Madagascar - A Musical Adventure, at the Theater's home on Navy Pier, July 13-August 27, 2017. Newly announced, Rachel Rockwell will take the helm as the production's director and choreographer. Based on the DreamWorks Animation motion picture, this wild and wacky musical is written by Kevin Del Aguila-the Emmy Award-winning writer of the animated PBS hit Peg Cat-with original music and lyrics by creative duo George Noriega and Joel Someillan, who have developed music for popular children's series, including Dora the Explorer and Go Diego Go.

The Old Globe today announced the complete cast and creative team of the Globe-commissioned world premiere adaptation of The Imaginary Invalid written by Moliere and reinvented by the acclaimed theatre group Fiasco Theater. Fiasco last delighted Globe audiences with their inventive reimagining of Into the Woods in 2014. This new take on the hilarious classic tale is directed by Fiasco Co-Artistic Directors Jessie Austrian and Noah Brody.

After a grueling $1.5 million, 18 month capital campaign, the sale and subsequent closure of The Venetian Theatre, moving one show to a library, canceling the largest show in the company's history, and seven months of construction, Bag&Baggage Productions has weathered the storm and proudly announces the inaugural season in their permanent new home.

Ghostlight Records will release the Original Broadway Cast Recording of the new musical War Paint - starring two-time Tony Award winners Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole - in digital formats on Friday, May 26. The CD version will be available online and in stores in mid-July. Watch a teaser for the album's single 'Back on Top' below, and for more information on the album, visit www.sh-k-boom.com/war-paint!

Broadway shows are made, not born. Though the polished final product of a Broadway show seems to land before our very eyes as if put there by some divine circumstance, the life of the average show before it makes its way to New York is long.