goodman theatre
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For the Culture: Spend This Long Weekend With Some of Our Greatest Authors and Artists
Right about now, you’re hopefully on your third (or fourth) round of leftovers, giving new meaning to the term “comfort food”—and no judgments, since we can use all the comfort we can get as this tortured year comes to a long-awaited close. But as you’re feeding your body, don’t forget to nurture your mind and…
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Speak on It! Fannie Lou Hamer's Legacy Takes the Chicago Stage With a 9-Venue Outdoor Run—and a Voting Drive
To vote or not to vote this November seems a fairly absurd question to many of us facing what is likely the most crucial election of our lifetimes. But if you’re still on the fence about participating in our (admittedly problematic) electoral process at this point, may I, in all irony, quote the Oompa Loompa-in-Chief…
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'There Is Rhythm in the Language': Actress Christiana Clark Finds the 'Jazz' in Shakespeare in The Winter's Tale
There’s a moment during Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale when pivotal character Paulina pauses in the midst of imploring an obstinate king for compassion to roar at the lords attempting to restrain her, “What needs these hands?” before resuming her pleas. As played by Christiana Clark (opposite Dan Donahue as King Leontes) in the Goodman Theatre’s…
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Playing the Gentrification Game: In Ike Holter's Lottery Day, the Audience Wins
Gentrification continues to redistrict the boundaries of traditionally black and brown neighborhoods in urban cities across America—inevitably, pushing longtime residents and their stories to the fringes in favor of glossier, more palatable facades and narratives. Those stories have been the focus of playwright Ike Holter’s stunning seven-play “Rightlynd Saga,” focusing on the inhabitants of Chicago’s…
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‘Racism Is a Soft Target’: Pulitzer Prize-Winning Playwright Lynn Nottage on the Prescient Moment That Became Sweat
With the endless amount of political rhetoric currently in our orbit, it’s often easy to forget about the people behind it—not just the politicians themselves, but the countless people whose fears make their power possible. It’s the grim reality we faced in 2016 when fear became the battle cry fueling the ascendancy to the presidency.…
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Infinite Possibilities: Black Love Matters in Christina Anderson's How to Catch Creation
It’s impossible to talk about award-winning playwright Christina Anderson’s How to Catch Creation without talking about love; specifically, black love. In its world premiere at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre on Monday, Anderson’s multigenerational drama introduced six black characters whose love stories span almost a half century and explore the myriad and unique ways in which we…
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Review: Dael Orlandersmith's Lady in Denmark Bears the Strange Fruit of Billie Holiday's Legacy
When Dael Orlandersmith said she wanted to write a play about a Danish white woman who loved Billie Holiday, people balked. Why would a black female playwright who has been a Pulitzer Prize finalist for her meditations on race, colorism and culture want to … well, write outside of her race? “I said, ‘Why can’t…
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Telling Untold Stories: Playwright and Performer Dael Orlandersmith Gets Under Our Skin
A community in the aftermath of unrest. The painful legacy of abuse, as experienced by black boys and men. The intimately insidious effects of colorism. The remembrance of a life lived and love lost, inspired by a chance encounter with a famously tragic jazz singer. Playwright and actor Dael Orlandersmith’s particular skill is to tell…
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A Hero’s Journey: Father Comes Home From the Wars Is a Reckoning with American History
A war. A hero. A conflict. A journey. These are the components of any timeless tale, dating as far back as the ancient Greeks. In fact, they are the prototypical “hero’s journey,” as epitomized by the second-oldest known Western text in history, well-known to many high school and college literature students as Homer’s The Odyssey.…