Stage Kiss - Goodman Theatre

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AT THE GOODMAN Asian, Native American). Among the theater’s Board of Trustees, 17 percent represent minorities, and of the 106 fulltime employees, 15 percent represent Chicago-area minority communities. These statistics suggest the Goodman is doing something right, keeping in mind that their approach to diversity has two prongs: the artistic and the administrative. You can’t really be successful in one unless you are successful in the other. Crisply put, if a large urban theater company expects to engage and hold a diverse audience—and it must if it expects to have a future—it must be pertinent to that audience not only in talking the talk but also in walking the walk, both onstage and backstage. A leadership theater needs to address racism, ageism, sexism, gender identification, spirituality, opportunity and much more, and it needs to do so in its corporate structure as well as its public product. of redemption and the human spirit. The terminology has evolved, too: color-blind casting has yielded to “non-traditional casting” which implies a variety of options beyond skin color. A female Scrooge? It hasn’t happened yet but it could, and the Goodman wants audiences to appreciate the possibilities. Of course, diversity today is measured by far more than race alone. A leadership theater needs to address racism, ageism, sexism, gender identification, spirituality, opportunity and much more, and it needs to do so in its corporate structure as well as its public product. Under Falls’ direction the Goodman has achieved truly structural diversity, which is apparent from the make-up of the Artistic Collective with which Falls creates artistic policy. The seven Collective members include men and women of various races, religions, ethnic heritages, ages and sexual orientations. Ditto the Goodman staff from department heads to those in the box office, the concession stands and at the security desk. The Goodman can throw figures at you to toot its horn. For example, the Goodman will employ 165 artists during the 2010 – 2011 Season (actors, designers, directors, musicians and so on) of whom 31 percent will be persons of color (black, Latino, The Goodman’s longstanding relationship with the late August Wilson is a good example of the theater’s commitment to walking the walk. Artistic Director Robert Falls first brought Wilson’s work to the Goodman in 1986 with a production of Fences, and fostered a 20-year relationship with the venerated playwright that resulted in the Goodman staging all 10 plays in Wilson’s Century Cycle—an impressive artistic achievement never before accomplished. A more recent example of the theater’s commitment to representing the contemporary experience of minorities onstage exists in the world premiere of Thomas Bradshaw’s Mary, which appeared in the Owen Theatre in February. The Goodman commissioned the play from Bradshaw and anticipated the controversy and commotion it raised in addressing racism, sexism, do-goodism and LGBT acceptance. That’s the social contract at its best: a work that stimulates discussion from many perspectives, rather than playing to an audience’s comfort zone. The Goodman also maintains a long tradition of showcasing smaller off-Loop theater companies, a history that began back in the 135-seat studio theater of the old Goodman where the then-young 12
DIVERSITY IN ACTION SILK ROAD THEATRE PROJECT Lookingglass and Remains companies were seen. In the wonderful new Goodman complex, partnerships have been forged with Albany Park Theatre Project, Congo Square Theatre Company, Teatro Vista, Silk Road Theatre Project and other outstanding off- Loop companies devoted to the stories and themes of particular racial or ethnic communities. Another obvious example of diversity is the biennial Latino Theatre Festival, curated by Artistic Collective member Henry Godinez, which has brought to the Goodman not only numerous Chicagobased artists but also outstanding Latino theater companies from throughout the Americas. Last summer’s Latino Theatre Festival presented a staged reading of a new play by Chicago author Tanya Saracho. Now Teatro Vista’s production of Saracho’s El Nogalar is being presented in association with the Goodman in a worldpremiere production in the Owen Theatre (March 26 – April 24). As for the administrative prong of the Goodman’s commitment to diversity, much of it was detailed in the third article (this is the fourth) in this series celebrating the 10th anniversary of the new Goodman Theatre Center on Dearborn Street. That article addressed education and community development, and highlighted such initiatives as the Student Subscription Series, the Cindy Bandle Young Critics program (for 11th grade girls), the General Theatre Studies program, the CONTEXT Series and GeNarrations, a new program designed to help seniors shape and perform their life’s stories. Broadly speaking, all of these programs embrace diversity as a means of developing not only the next generation of audiences, but also the next generation of artists, managers and even critics. With the continued commitment of its Board of Trustees, its staff and its audiences, the Goodman intends to make itself a model of diversity not just for Chicago, but for theater in America. OPPOSITE: Ivanesa Cabrera in Teatro Buendía’s La Visita de la Vieja Dama. Photo by Liz Lauren. LEFT: James Earl Jones in Goodman Theatre’s 1986 production of August Wilson’s Fences. Photo by William B. Carter. The Goodman Theatre first partnered with Silk Road Theatre Project in 2008 and then again in 2010. Such affiliations often extend beyond presenting a single show in the Owen. This June, for example, both the Goodman and Silk Road will cross-promote their simultaneous productions of works by Asian American playwright David Henry Hwang. The Goodman offers the world premiere of Chinglish (June 18 – July 24) while Silk Road presents the Chicago premiere of Yellowface (June 14 – July 17). Further, the Silk Road show will be directed by Goodman Artistic Collective member Steve Scott, who has directed several previous Silk Road productions. BELARUS FREE THEATRE In January and February the Goodman was one of several Chicago theater organizations to host a month-long visit by Belarus Free Theatre—political refugees from the oppressive regime in their native land. The troupe performed its award-winning piece, Being Harold Pinter, which has been staged previously in London and New York among other cities. The Belarus Free Theatre (BFT) does not directly represent a Chicago community; still, Goodman’s decision to support the company’s visit is another example of keeping the social contract alive and well by engaging Chicago audiences in a political debate at the very moment that unexpected freedom movements were exploding around the globe (“even in Wisconsin” as Robert Falls joked in speaking about the BFT). Photo of Yana Rusakevich in Being Harold Pinter by Liz Lauren. CONGO SQUARE THEATRE COMPANY Congo Square Theatre Company first mounted a Christmas show in the Owen Theatre in 2004—the poet Langston Hughes’ Black Nativity, offering an African American gospel holiday production at the same time as A Christmas Carol played in the Albert. Congo Square has returned with different versions of their concept each year (but one) since 2004, this year calling the show simply The Nativity. The Goodman is particularly pleased to have been able to partner with Congo Square again this past December as Congo Square emerged from nearly a year of major reorganization and inactivity, providing marketing and box office support along with the Owen Theatre, helping them remain part of the fabric of Chicago’s theater life. 13
Page 1 and 2: April - June 2011 A DECADE ON DEARB
Page 3 and 4: IN THE ALBERT FROM THE ARTISTIC DIR
Page 5 and 6: “She’s really trying to get at
Page 7 and 8: to me, because you don’t have tha
Page 9 and 10: cussed sequence takes place at the
Page 11 and 12: Sarah Ruhl’s Comedic Cocktail By
Page 13: Theater, Diversity and the Social C
Page 17 and 18: D HOT (adj. red-hot): ized by inten
Page 19 and 20: SETH BOCKLEY LAURA JACQMIN ROHINA M
Page 21 and 22: Mary Opens at the Goodman On Monday
Page 23 and 24: In the Albert STAGE KISS APRIL/MAY/

Stage Kiss - Goodman Theatre

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