Magnolia, atlanta and dr. Martin luther king jr. a ... - Goodman Theatre

March – May 2009
Magnolia, atlanta and
dr. Martin luther king jr.
A conversation with regina taylor,
playwright of magnolia
Interview: Ghostwritten Playwright
Naomi Iizuka and Director Lisa Portes

Goodman Theatre Artistic Director | Robert Falls
Goodman Theatre Executive Director | Roche Schulfer
March – May 2009
CONTENTS
Volume 24 #3
In the Albert
1 Why Magnolia?
2 Atlanta, 1963 and the Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
6 Where Peachtree Street Meets Sweet Auburn in 2009
7 An Interview with Playwright Regina Taylor
In the Owen
10 An Interview with Playwright Naomi Iizuka and Director Lisa Portes
12 A Taste of Truth: How Food Shapes Personal Identity
13 Once Upon a Time… The Story of “Rumpelstiltskin”
In the Wings
14 Little Village Lawndale High School Reflects Dr. King’s Legacy
15 Taking the Stage: A Celebration of Women in Theater
The Goodman Offers FREE Readings as Part of Science Chicago
Scene at the Goodman
16 A Desirable Evening
17 Ruined Opens at Manhattan Theatre Club
Desire Under the Elms Premiere Night
Off Stage
18 Celebrating an Historic Gift to the Goodman’s Future
19 The Goodman Receives Second Joyce Award
For Subscribers
21 Calendars
Co-Editors | Lara Ehrlich, Lori Kleinerman,
Tanya Palmer
Graphic Designer | Tyler Engman
Production Manager | Lara Ehrlich
Contributing Writers/Editors | Neena Arndt,
Jeff Ciaramita, Lara Ehrlich, Lisa Feingold,
Katie Frient, Kim Furganson, John Earl
Jelks, Lori Kleinerman, Julie Massey,
Elizabeth Neukirch, Tanya Palmer, Scott
Podraza, Victoria Rodriguez, Denise
Schneider, Steve Scott, Kim Swinton, Willa
J. Taylor, Chris Tiffany, Jennifer Whittemore
OnStage is published in conjunction with
Goodman Theatre productions. It is designed
to serve as an information source for
Goodman Theatre Subscribers. For ticket and
subscription information call 312.443.3810.
Cover: Photo of Annette O’Toole and John
Jelks by Brian Warling. Design/direction by
Kelly Rickert.
Goodman productions are made possible
in part by the National Endowment for
the Arts; the Illinois Arts Council, a state
agency; and a CityArts 4 program grant
from the City of Chicago Department of
Cultural Affairs.
Written comments and
inquiries should be sent to:
The Editor, OnStage
Goodman Theatre
170 North Dearborn Street
Chicago, IL 60601
or e-mail us at:
OnStage@GoodmanTheatre.org

IN THE ALBERT
From the Artistic Director
Photo by Eric Y. Exit.
Why Magnolia?
Regina Taylor’s magnificent new play, Magnolia, offers a look at a time of seismic change in American society, in
a city that was at the epicenter of that change. Atlanta in 1963 was in many ways typical of American cities of
the time: a thriving cultural and social center for both black and white Americans, but one in which those societies
existed steadfastly apart from each other in worlds that rarely intersected. When in January of 1963 the mayor of the
city erected a physical barricade meant to maintain racial separation, the ramifications in both the black and white
communities were immediate and unsettling, causing an inexorable change that epitomized the social revolutions that
would consume the rest of the decade—and beyond.
Although it is inspired in part by Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, Magnolia is the wholly American story of the families
and individuals who were forced to finally deal with generational, societal and political issues that had been brewing
for decades, through generations of genteel coexistence. As the world evolves, its inhabitants struggle to find their
own voices in the face of evolution, with results that are both devastating and triumphant. In doing so, each character
in the play must come to terms with the changes of the present as well as the issues of the past that have both
divided and united them. As she has done so eloquently in such other works as Crowns and The Dreams of Sarah
Breedlove, Regina imbues each of her characters with passion, grace and poetry, honoring their individual and collective
struggles with dignity and compassion.
It is a great pleasure for me to welcome Regina back to the Goodman where she has created some of our most distinguished
works, and to pair her with Anna Shapiro, one of our country’s finest directors. In the aftermath of one
of the most historic elections in America’s history, it is especially fitting that these artists and their gifted collaborators
can take us back to another time of unprecedented change and possibility, through the finely wrought language and
indelible images of Magnolia.
Robert Falls
Artistic Director
1

IN THE ALBERT
Atlanta, 1963 and the
Legacy of Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr.
By Tanya Palmer
2

OPPOSITE: Photo of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the
Vine City neighborhood in Atlanta, Georgia, while residents
protested their living conditions. Courtesy of the
Atlanta History Center, Bill Wilson Collection. RIGHT:
Photo of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia,
courtesy of photographer Stu Jenks. Photo of Peachtree
Street and Auburn Avenue courtesy of Geographic
Places, Lane Brothers Photographers Collection and
Tracy O’Neill Collection, Special Collections Department,
Georgia State University Library.
Set in Atlanta, Georgia, in early 1963,
Magnolia captures a place and time when
all assumptions were being reexamined
and the earth was shifting under people’s
feet. The impetus for the play came from
playwright Regina Taylor’s desire to honor
the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
She began her journey by studying the
people and history of King’s birthplace.
Born on January 15, 1929, King was the
eldest son of Alberta King (née Williams)
and the Reverend Mike King, who later
changed both his and his son’s name to
Martin Luther in honor of the 16th century
theologian. King’s maternal grandfather,
A.D. Williams, was a former slave
preacher who had worked his way up in
Atlanta’s black community to become the
preacher at Ebenezer Baptist Church. It
was this pulpit that King’s father would
assume in due time.
The Atlanta of King’s childhood suffered
from the same racist acrimony and violence
as the rest of the South, but what
set the city apart from its region was
its thriving black community. Auburn
Avenue, the street where King grew up
and Ebenezer Baptist Church stood, was
a lively strip of restaurants, offices, small
businesses and nightspots that came to
be known as Sweet Auburn.
In his historical narrative Where
Peachtree Meets Sweet Auburn journalist
Gary M. Pomerantz charts the parallel
histories of two Atlantas—one black and
centered around Sweet Auburn, the other
white, wealthy and centered around
Peachtree Street. In a telling episode,
Pomerantz describes a drive he took with
Maynard Jackson—the former mayor of
Atlanta and the first black mayor of a
Magnolia Synopsis
Atlanta, 1963. Even as Martin Luther King Jr. inspires Atlanta’s black citizens to fight
passionately for their civil rights, the new mayor erects “Peyton Wall” to restrict where
they can live. Amid these churning social currents, the Magnolia Estate faces foreclosure,
pitting the sensual, free-spirited heiress Lily Forrest against Thomas, a strong-willed businessman
who lays claim to the estate where his ancestors were slaves. As we welcome
the first African American president into the White House, this poignant and timely world
premiere by Regina Taylor reminds us how much of Dr. King’s dream has been realized—
and how much is yet to be achieved. Directed by Anna D. Shapiro, the Tony Awardwinning
director of August: Osage County.
major southern city—around Jackson’s
grandparents’ old neighborhood.
Jackson pointed to a street sign
and said, ‘What’s it say?’ ‘Glen Iris.’
Across the street, the street sign said
‘Randolph.’ You know why? Racial
living patterns. Whites didn’t want to
live on the same street as blacks. So
blacks lived on ‘Randolph Street’ and
whites lived on ‘Glen Iris.’
In 1895, Atlanta had played host to the
Cotton States and International Exposition
where Booker T. Washington delivered
a famous speech known as the “Atlanta
Compromise.” In this speech Washington
said, “In all things that are purely social,
we can be as separate as the fingers, yet
one as the hand in all things essential to
mutual progress.” This pragmatic, measured
approach to race relations became
central to Atlanta’s character and is
represented in Magnolia on both sides of
the racial divide. The character Thomas,
3

IN THE ALBERT
LEFT: Photo of Atlanta Mayor Ivan Allen Jr. and actress
Olivia de Havilland in a parade on Peachtree Street in
Atlanta, Georgia, celebrating the re-release of the motion
picture Gone with the Wind. Courtesy of the Atlanta
History Center, Joe McTyre Collection. OPPOSITE: Photo
of a line of mourners during the funeral procession for Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. in Atlanta, Georgia. Courtesy of the
Atlanta History Center, Floyd Jillson Collection.
a successful black real estate developer,
explains it this way: “Got my own colored
doctor, policeman, got Herndon for my
banker—I don’t need to sleep let alone
pee next to no white folk. Everything I
need I got, right here in Sweet Auburn.”
William, a white restaurant owner who
has recently desegregated his restaurant,
explains it like this: “Colored protest
is bad for business. Atlanta’s no Little
Rock…Myself, I’ll never drink from the
same fountain as a Negro.”
As the late 1950s and early 1960s
brought a tidal wave of change to the
established order in the South, Atlanta
promoted itself as “the city too busy
to hate.” Following the 1954 Brown v.
Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas,
decision, Washington pressured southern
cities to integrate their schools. Little
Rock, Arkansas, went first—and when
nine black students were admitted to and
attempted to enter Central High School,
the city erupted in violence that persisted
until President Eisenhower dispatched
the 101st Airborne Division to restore
order. When it came time for Atlanta to
integrate, Mayor William B. Hartsfield
vowed that “what happened in Little
Rock won’t happen here.” On August
30, 1961, nine children were peacefully
integrated into four Atlanta high schools.
Civic leaders boasted that it was “the
silence heard around the world.”
Though Martin Luther King Jr. initially
resisted following in his father’s footsteps,
he decided to enter the ministry
during his senior year at Atlanta’s
Morehouse College. He studied first at
Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester,
Pennsylvania, and then received a doctorate
at Boston University, where he
met and married Coretta Scott. After
graduation, he and Coretta traveled
south to Montgomery, Alabama, where
King served as the pastor at Dexter
Avenue Baptist Church. It was during
King’s five years in Montgomery that he
was catapulted to international fame for
his role in the burgeoning Civil Rights
Movement, beginning with his leadership
during the Montgomery bus boycott.
In 1959, King moved back to Atlanta
where he established the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference headquartered
on Auburn Avenue and joined
his father as co-pastor of Ebenezer
Baptist Church.
By 1963, the year in which Magnolia
is set, civic leaders were struggling to
maintain Atlanta’s image as “the city
too busy to hate,” but the strain was
starting to show.
By 1963, the year in which Magnolia
is set, civic leaders were struggling
to maintain Atlanta’s image as “the
city too busy to hate,” but the strain
was starting to show. In 1960, King
participated in a sit-in to protest segregation
at Rich’s Department Store in
downtown Atlanta. He was arrested and
sentenced to four months in Reidsville
Penitentiary. In 1961, Ivan Allen Jr.,
member of a prominent white Atlanta
family and president of the Atlanta
4

The Civil Rights Movement, 1954–1968
May, 1954 In Brown v. Board of Education
of Topeka, Kansas, The Supreme Court
unanimously rules public school segregation
unconstitutional.
August, 1954 In Mississippi, 14-yearold
Emmett Till is murdered for allegedly
whistling at a white woman.
December, 1955 In Montgomery,
Alabama, Rosa Parks is arrested for
refusing to give up her seat on the bus
to a white passenger. Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. leads a bus boycott that lasts
for more than a year.
February, 1957 In Greensboro, North
Carolina, four black students stage a
sit-in at a segregated lunch counter in
Woolworth’s.
September, 1957 In Little Rock,
Arkansas, President Eisenhower sends
federal troops and the National Guard
to escort the “Little Rock Nine” into
Central High School.
November, 1960 John F. Kennedy is
elected President of the United States.
1961 Students volunteer for bus trips
(“freedom rides”) through the South to
test the new laws prohibiting segregation
in interstate travel facilities.
October, 1962 President Kennedy sends
federal troops to the University of
Mississippi when riots break out over
the enrollment of the first black student,
James Meredith.
December, 1962 Atlanta mayor Ivan
Allen Jr. orders the erection of Peyton
Wall to separate a white neighborhood
from an adjacent black neighborhood.
1963 Regina Taylor’s play Magnolia
takes place.
April, 1963 While protesting in
Birmingham, Alabama, Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. is imprisoned and writes the
famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”
June, 1963 Mississippi’s NAACP field
secretary, Medgar Evers, is murdered.
August, 1963 In Washington, D.C.,
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his
famous “I Have a Dream” speech.
November, 1963 President John F.
Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas.
January, 1964 The 24th Amendment
abolishes the poll tax.
March, 1964 In Selma, Alabama, in
an incident the media dubs “Bloody
Sunday,” police use clubs, whips and
tear gas on black protestors.
July, 1964 President Johnson signs the
Civil Rights Act of 1964.
August, 1964 The Ku Klux Klan murders
three civil-rights workers in Neshoba
County, Mississippi.
December, 1964 Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr. is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
February, 1965 Malcolm X is assassinated
in Harlem, New York.
August, 1965 Congress passes the Voting
Rights Act of 1965.
September, 1965 President Johnson
issues Executive Order 11246, enforcing
affirmative action.
April, 1968 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is
assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.
Chamber of Commerce, negotiated a
peaceful desegregation of the city’s
lunch counters. That same year, Allen
ran for mayor and won, defeating Lester
Maddox, an Atlanta restaurant owner
who ran on a strong segregationist platform.
Despite his own segregationist
past, Allen had courted—and won—
the endorsement of The Atlanta Negro
Voters League, key to securing the support
of the city’s black community.
Like Mayor Hartsfield before him, Allen
saw the “race issue” in largely pragmatic
terms. During the summer of 1962, however,
less than a year into his first term as
mayor, Allen’s approach was sorely tested.
Although the city was in the midst of
an economic boom, the median income
of black families was less than half that
of white families. And although blacks
represented 40 percent of the city’s population,
they lived on only 24 percent of
the residential land. That summer, black
realtors had started to drive through the
Utoy-Peyton Forest subdivision of Cascade
Heights, a white upper-middle-class
enclave of Atlanta. The interest of black
realtors stirred the apprehension of white
residents determined to prevent blacks
from buying into their community. The
Cascade Heights residents turned to Ivan
Allen Jr. for help, asking that he close
the two roads that connected Cascade
Heights to an adjacent black neighborhood.
On December 19, with the support
of 13 members of the Atlanta Board of
Aldermen, Allen obliged.
There’s a story—perhaps apocryphal—
that as Mayor Hartsfield was handing
over the keys to the mayor’s office, he
advised his young successor “never [to]
make a mistake you can take a picture
of.” In erecting two wood and steel barriers,
each affixed with the sign “Road
Closed,” Atlanta’s new mayor had made
the city’s racial lines visible to the world.
Likened to the Berlin Wall, Atlanta’s
Peyton Wall generated unwanted attention.
It stood as Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. was arrested in Birmingham,
Alabama, for his part in a non-violent
protest conducted against segregation.
There he penned the famous “Letter from
Birmingham Jail” decrying the evils of
segregation and making an impassioned
argument for the need to resist injustice
now—and in the weeks and months following
the events in Birmingham, there
was an explosion of black protest on an
unprecedented scale.
Surprised by the force of the protests, the
Kennedy administration moved to pass
a sweeping Civil Rights Bill. Sensing an
opportunity to influence the federal government,
King and his fellow civil rights lead-
5

IN THE ALBERT
ers organized the March on Washington—
an event which culminated in King’s
famous “I Have a Dream” speech:
We have also come to this hallowed
spot to remind America of the fierce
urgency of Now. This is no time to
engage in the luxury of cooling off
or to take the tranquilizing drug of
gradualism. Now is the time to make
real the promises of democracy. Now
is the time to rise from the dark and
desolate valley of segregation to the
sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the
time to lift our nation from the quick
sands of racial injustice to the solid
rock of brotherhood. Now is the time
to make justice a reality for all of
God’s children.
It would be fatal for the nation to
overlook the urgency of the moment.
This sweltering summer of the Negro’s
legitimate discontent will not pass until
there is an invigorating autumn of freedom
and equality. Nineteen sixty-three
is not an end, but a beginning.
On March 1, 1963, 72 days after Ivan
Allen Jr. erected the Peyton Wall barricades,
the Fulton County Superior Court
ruled the signs unconstitutional and
Atlanta’s city hall was granted four days
to remove them. Ivan Allen Jr. ordered
them removed 20 minutes later. That
same year, Allen moved to dismantle
other walls that divided his city: he lobbied
successfully for Atlanta’s first black
firemen, empowered black policemen
to arrest whites, desegregated Atlanta’s
baseball park, downtown theaters and
municipal swimming pools and requested
that downtown businesses desegregate to
“maintain the city’s healthy climate.”
Today, 40 years after Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr.’s death, as we welcome the first African
American president into the White House,
Taylor’s play reminds us how much of
Dr. King’s dream has been realized—and
how much is still left to be achieved.
LEFT: Photo of Peachtree Street courtesy of Geographic
Places, Lane Brothers Photographers Collection and
Tracy O’Neill Collection, Special Collections Department,
Georgia State University Library.
Where Peachtree Street
Meets Sweet Auburn in 2009
Although Atlanta was the birthplace of the
Civil Rights Movement and is known as the
capital of the New South, it is second only
to Chicago as the city with the most segregated
housing patterns in the United States.
During the period in which Magnolia takes
place, segregation was embodied by the
difference between the city’s two major
streets: Peachtree Street and Sweet Auburn.
Once the center of black life in Atlanta,
Sweet Auburn was—and still is—an innercity
neighborhood victim to inner-city problems.
In 1992, Sweet Auburn was named
one of America’s 11 Most Endangered
Historic Places, which prompted the creation
of the Historic District Development
Corporation (HDDC) to help preserve the
area’s cultural and political history, beginning
with the birthplace of Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. The HDDC has since
worked to develop the neighborhood while
constructing affordable housing to maintain
its lower-income residents.
Once the major street for Atlanta’s wealthy
white population, Peachtree has inspired
71 other ‘Peachtree’ streets throughout the
city. The original Peachtree Street has often
been compared to Broadway, even inspiring
Frank Sinatra to sing, “There’s nothing
can compare with/Strolling along Peachtree
Street with my baby on my arm.” Atlanta
developed around Peachtree Street, where
the majority of its municipal buildings and
historical landmarks were located, and it
continues to evolve today. In 2007, Mayor
Shirley Franklin made public a $1 billion,
20-year proposal to construct modern
architecture, restaurants, bars, shops and
apartments where some of Atlanta’s most
majestic homes once stood.
While Sweet Auburn and Peachtree once
represented two distinct Atlantas, today
both streets are developing into vibrant
commercial, residential and historic roads
that will one day lead to one integrated
city. While blacks and whites are not yet
neighbors in the capital of the New South,
the distance between them has been
steadily diminishing since Peyton Wall was
torn down more than four decades ago.
Peachtree Street today. Photo courtesy of Flip Chalfant.
6

An Interview with Playwright Regina Taylor
In a recent conversation with Goodman
Literary Manager Tanya Palmer, playwright
and Goodman Artistic Associate
Regina Taylor discussed her new play,
Magnolia, which is set in Atlanta, Georgia,
in 1962–1963, the year that Atlanta
mayor Ivan Allen Jr. erected a barrier
to slow the progress of integration.
Tanya Palmer: I understand that your
research for Magnolia involved conducting
first-hand interviews with people
in Atlanta about their memories of the
1960s. Was the story of Peyton Wall
part of the play from the beginning, or
did it come out of the interviews?
Dr. King’s dream has been fulfilled in
some ways? The presidential election of
a black senator from Illinois makes this
play wonderfully exciting to me right now,
especially to be presenting it in Chicago.
TP: One of the interesting things about
the play being set in Atlanta is that
while it is clearly a southern city, Atlanta
approached civil rights and desegregation
differently than other southern cities. Can
you talk a little bit about that difference?
REGINA TAYLOR
RT: Atlanta was known as the black
mecca of the South, just as Chicago
was considered the black mecca of the
North. Very clear lines separated the
races in both cities, but both Atlanta
and Chicago also had very prosperous
black communities with strong hierarchies
of people wielding power. Atlanta
had Daddy King [Martin Luther King Sr.]
and many other people who could wield
power on both sides of the line. It was
a city in which black people could own
Regina Taylor: I wanted to write a play
that could be produced in memory of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and honor his
dreams on the 40th anniversary of his
death, so I started by researching the
history of his birthplace, Atlanta. Peyton
Wall came up in my research, and I
thought ‘Oh! I didn’t know about that!’
The play takes place in 1963, during a
time of change and hope when the country
was on the precipice of Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr.’s mountain—dreaming about the
hopes and promises of the future. During
the previous year, John Glenn had orbited
the earth for the first time. When he
returned to earth and touched American
soil, he found the landscape shifting and
the times changing. America had elected
Kennedy the first Roman Catholic president
and during that time, the invisible
walls that had always divided the country
and Atlanta, specifically, were becoming
very visible and concrete.
Writing this piece about Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr.’s dream has been interesting,
because as I was writing Magnolia,
Barack Obama was elected president.
And that is what propels the piece as I
continue to work on it. How do we look
at Atlanta, Georgia, in 1963, now that
ANNA D. SHAPIRO received the 2008 Tony Award for Best Direction of a
Play for August: Osage County. Directing credits at Steppenwolf Theatre Company
(where she became an ensemble member in 2005) include The Pain and the Itch,
I Never Sang for My Father, Man from Nebraska, Until We Find Each Other, The
Drawer Boy and Side Man. Other credits include Our Town at Lookingglass Theatre
Company, A Number at A Contemporary Theatre, Iron at Manhattan Theatre Club,
A Fair Country at Huntington Theatre Company and Trafficking in Broken Hearts
at Atlantic Theatre Company. Ms. Shapiro is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama
and Columbia College and the recipient of a 1996 Princess Grace Award. She
joined the faculty of Northwestern University as head of the Graduate Directing
Program in 2002.
7

IN THE ALBERT
It was a city in which black people
could own their own: Atlanta’s black
community had its own doctors,
lawyers and bankers.
their own: Atlanta’s black community
had its own doctors, lawyers and bankers.
So a lot of black people flocked to
Atlanta for the freedom that they couldn’t
experience in other parts of the South.
Atlanta was built as a railroad town, so
it was very much centered on business.
One of the main characters in the play,
Thomas, is certainly part of that system
of commerce and believes in it. He feels
that as a black man in this country, he
can have control over his destiny and be
a part of the American dream. He feels
a great sense of freedom in his neighborhood,
Sweet Auburn, and as a realtor he
is a successful, profitable businessman.
So he does not see a need for change.
TP: Another critical character in the play is
Lily, who is on the verge of change in her
own life. Can you talk a little bit about Lily
and her relationship with Thomas?
RT: Both Thomas and Lily were born on
Magnolia Estate; both have escaped the
soil on which they were born to try to
create their own identities. Meanwhile,
the tide waters of change are flowing
across America, starting with the “Little
Rock Nine” and Brown v. Board of
Education. This tide is hitting Atlanta
and people want it to slow down. At
the time, Atlanta’s Peyton area was the
invisible line between black and white
Atlanta. Black realtors were circling
around this area, while the new mayor
Ivan Allen Jr. was saying, “We are not
ready for the first black family to move
onto this block. We need to slow down
a bit or there will be white flight across
America.” So he erected a barricade.
During this time, the rules of society
were changing—the lines that separated
black and white Atlanta were becoming
less defined.
As a white woman in this society, Lily
found her place becoming uncertain. So
she left her family’s patch of earth on
Magnolia Estate; she flew the coop, traveled
around the world and orbited further
and further out. Until the time when the
play begins, Lily has been living a bohemian
lifestyle, changing her name and her
identity, trying to find herself. But when the
play begins, she is suddenly called back
home, where she has to deal with the different
parts of herself that she thought she
had left behind. Both Thomas and Lily are
called back to Magnolia Estate, where they
have to deal with their roots.
TP: Another one of the source materials for
Magnolia is The Cherry Orchard, by the
great Russian playwright Anton Chekhov.
RT: Yes, the plot is inspired by The
Cherry Orchard, but the play is as
Magnolia Blossoms with Support from Target
Goodman Theatre is proud to salute
Target for its generous support as the Lead
Corporate Sponsor for Magnolia and returning
Lead Diversity Night Sponsor. With
Magnolia, Target continues its partnership
with the Goodman on plays that create a
cross-cultural experience for Chicago audiences
and inspire broad participation by a
diverse group of theatergoers.
“Target is thrilled to partner with the
Goodman to sponsor this world-premiere
production of Magnolia by Regina
Taylor and directed by Anna D. Shapiro,
two outstanding women in theater,”
said Laysha Ward, President, Target
Community Relations. “Productions like
Magnolia have the power to bring communities
together by creating experiences
that engage us in different perspectives,
enrich our lives and celebrate the enduring
spirit of humanity.”
The Goodman gratefully recognizes
Target’s longstanding commitment to
making the arts affordable and accessible
for children and families with
diverse partnerships nationwide. Since
1946, Target has given 5 percent of its
income to the communities it serves.
That adds up to more than $3 million
each and every week.
8

Suzanne Douglas and Jason Delane in Regina Taylor’s
Drowning Crow. Photo by Liz Lauren.
American as apple pie. Its roots lie deep
in the American psyche in terms of the
social changes happening in this country
during Dr. King’s time. The play owes
a great deal to Chekhov, but it owes as
much to August Wilson and Tennessee
Williams in themes and approach. Many
of my ideas coincide with theirs.
TP: Anna Shapiro is directing Magnolia—
why do you think she’s a good match for
this project?
RT: I saw August: Osage County and
loved the play and the production, so that
led me to Anna Shapiro. I thought she
could do a great job dealing with this big,
dysfunctional family in a rich and layered
way. She’s very smart, visceral and personal,
and it’s been wonderful putting the
pieces together with Anna to bring this
production to the Goodman.
TP: You have a long history with the
Goodman. Where do you see this play
fitting in with your previous work here?
Do you think Magnolia is a shift or
part of an ongoing conversation with
Goodman audiences?
RT: Magnolia certainly continues the dialogue
of finding an individual voice and
daring to make your own sound in this
world. Miles Davis’ performance of “Bye,
Bye Blackbird” is a riff on an old melody,
but he infuses it with his own history.
He creates a sound that comes from his
soul, drawing on African and European
and uniquely American melodies and
rhythms to create his own sound that
could not be contained or easily labeled.
To escape pre-ordained labels and to
dare to name yourself is the thread that
continues through my work.
TP: Could you talk about the title,
Magnolia?
RT: The magnolia tree is very connected
to the way that these characters feel
about the estate and the land where they
were born. The roots of the magnolia
tree are very deep and its blossoms are
red, yellow, white, pink and blue-black—
all of these colored blossoms come from
the same tree. Like the blossoms of the
magnolia tree, we are tied to our pasts.
Whether we chop up or burn down the
tree, the roots remain underneath and
the tree will shoot back up. This is what
we’re dealing with in America today: the
issues of our past. Although today and
tomorrow are filled with hope and promise,
we can’t escape our past and our
joined history. In America today, we have
many different hues; we’re all mixed, but
we all come from the same root ball of
American history.
Sponsors Bring
Magnolia to Life
Goodman Theatre thanks the following
generous individuals for sponsoring the
world-premiere production of Magnolia,
a poignant reflection on the struggle for
civil rights in 1963 Atlanta. Supporting
the development of new work is vital to
the continued advancement of the art
of theater.
Sondra and Denis Healy/Turtle Wax, Inc.
Nancy Lauter McDougal and Alfred L. McDougal
World Premiere Season Sponsors
Peter and Linda Bynoe
Joe and Palma Calabrese
Doris and Howard Conant
Brett J. Hart and Dontrey Britt Hart
Neal S. Zucker
Director’s Society Sponsors
Leslie Carey
Elizabeth Thompson
Women’s Board Consortium
Commitments as of February 16, 2009
9

IN THE OWEN
An Interview with Playwright Naomi
Iizuka and Director Lisa Portes
Best known for her plays 36 Views, Skin
and Polaroid Stories, Naomi Iizuka has
had her work staged at theaters around
the nation, including Guthrie Theater,
Public Theater and Actors Theatre of
Louisville. She is also an accomplished
educator and currently teaches at
University of California, San Diego. The
director of Ghostwritten, Lisa Portes,
heads the directing program at DePaul
University and frequently directs in
NAOMI IIZUKA
Chicago and throughout the country.
Shortly before rehearsals began, Ms.
Iizuka and Ms. Portes spoke with the
Goodman’s Neena Arndt.
Neena Arndt: You have worked together
on numerous projects. Tell me about
your creative relationship.
Lisa Portes: Naomi and I were in
graduate school during the same year
Ghostwritten Synopsis
In Naomi Iizuka’s world premiere Ghostwritten, 21-year-old Susan travels to Vietnam,
where her soldier father disappeared years earlier. There, Susan makes a deal with a
mysterious woman: the woman will teach Susan to cook magic food in exchange for
Susan’s firstborn child. Susan makes the deal believing she will never have children, but
eventually adopts a daughter, Bea, from Vietnam. Twenty years later, Susan is a thriving
Asian fusion chef and Bea is engaged to be married when the mysterious woman arrives
to collect on her debt. Susan must face her old promise and grapple with her family’s
thorny past as she strives to protect her daughter.
at UC-San Diego. We formed a theater
company in San Diego called Theatre
E precisely so I could direct her work.
There is no other writer whose body of
work has moved me so powerfully over
such a long time. We’ve seen each other
through our crazy experimental phases,
and we trust each other completely.
Naomi Iizuka: Lisa understands my work
in a way that amazes me every time I
work with her. It’s alchemical. I don’t
know how to do what she does. She
understands my plays in ways that even
I don’t. And then she takes what’s on
the page and communicates it to a
whole room full of collaborators who
create something beyond my wildest
imaginings. It’s a magical process, and
she’s incredibly gifted at it.
NA: Speaking of magic, Ghostwritten
involves a lot of fantastical elements:
some of the characters are realistic, but
the play is also heavily informed by the
story of “Rumpelstiltskin.” Naomi, in
what ways does your work fuse these
distinct storytelling styles?
NI: I’m fascinated by the collision of
the mythic and the quotidian. There
are universal human experiences that
are too large or too difficult to describe
completely in everyday language.
Throughout history, we have used a
more fabulistic or mythic language to
explain some of these life events, such
as death, the loss of a loved one, coming
of age and the recognition of a parent.
I think these pivotal moments in
our lives lend themselves to a mythic
or fairy-tale storytelling mode.
10

NA: And is that mode more about heightened
language, or broader storytelling?
NI: I think it’s about the magic. There’s
something great about fairy tales and
myths that contain magic—some element
of the inexplicable, the unparaphraseable
and the uncanny. Magic
manifests to some degree in the language
of the play, but it’s also a key
part of the action. One thing that’s
both a challenge and a motivation is
how to take the magic in a script like
Ghostwritten and find an onstage vocabulary,
a playing style and a way of fully
embracing the magic.
LP: A play like this is a wonderful challenge
for a director. When Naomi pairs
the story of a runaway with the story of
Orpheus and Eurydice [as in Polaroid
Stories], she recognizes the epic in
a buried story. A common thread in
Naomi’s work is that she gives voice to
people you don’t normally hear from: a
runaway, or in the case of Ghostwritten,
a mysterious Vietnamese woman by the
side of the road. And then by marrying
that voice to a larger story, she shines a
high beam into a corner where we don’t
normally look.
OPPOSITE: Photo of Naomi Iizuka by Fred Hayes courtesy
of Sundance Institute Theatre Lab. THIS PAGE: Photo of
Lisa Portes by Fred Hayes courtesy of Sundance Institute
Theatre Lab.
NA: In that sense, then, Ghostwritten is
similar to many of your other plays. In
what ways is it a divergence from your
other work?
NI: I had my first child around the time
I started writing this play. This piece
is different for me because the circumstances
of my life crept into the writing
more than usual. Certain epiphanies and
anxieties informed the story in conscious
and unconscious ways. I also did a lot
of research about Vietnam, the Vietnam
War and fairy tales. When beginning to
write this play, I couldn’t have anticipated
that all of these elements would
come together in one story. This is a
personal story, but it’s also a sociopolitical
story and a fairy tale. It’s all of these
things at once—and that’s disorienting
and surprising and exciting for me.
Individual Support
for New Works
and Ghostwritten
Goodman Theatre expresses our sincere
gratitude to the following sponsors for
their support of Ghostwritten, Naomi
Iizuka’s new play about love, sacrifice
and facing the consequences of the past.
Ghostwritten is the second play in our
Strong Women, Strong Voices series,
showcasing the new work of women theater
artists in the Owen Theatre.
Contributing Sponsor for Ghostwritten
LISA PORTES
Sondra and Denis Healy/Turtle Wax, Inc.
Nancy Lauter McDougal and Alfred L. McDougal
World Premiere Season Sponsors
Roger and Julie Baskes
Patricia Cox
Eva and Michael Losacco
Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Foundation
Alice Rapoport and Michael Sachs, Sg2
Mr. and Mrs. Robert E. Shaw
Beth and Alan Singer
Orli and Bill Staley
Helen and Sam Zell
New Works Season Sponsors
Commitments as of February 16, 2009
11

IN THE OWEN
A Taste of Truth: How Food Shapes
Personal Identity By Elizabeth Neukirch
Bea: You always act like cooking
is this big mystical thing.
Susan: It is.
—Ghostwritten
In Naomi Iizuka’s Ghostwritten, Susan,
an American visitor in Vietnam, is brought
to tears when a mysterious woman offers
her a taste of the Vietnamese dipping
sauce Nuoc Cham. “It’s like the most
amazing thing in the world,” she says.
While Susan is not native to Vietnam, the
flavor of this traditional sauce will become
an inextricable part of her identity, leading
her to become a famous Asian fusion
chef in America.
Susan’s strong connection to Nuoc Cham
persists in her cooking, even after she
returns to America, because she identifies
the flavor with the life-changing
circumstances surrounding the moment
at which she first tastes it. Susan is
lost when she meets the Vietnamese
woman; the woman helps her find her
way. Susan is hungry; the woman cooks
for her. Susan lives alone in America; in
Vietnam, the woman tells her, “...nobody
lives alone. Everybody lives together,
mother, father, brother, sister, everybody
all together.” The woman provides
companionship—and thousands of miles
from her studio apartment in Illinois,
Susan feels at home. By association,
Nuoc Cham makes her feel at home.
It is believed that the way people experience
a meal for the first time determines
how they will experience that meal for
the rest of their lives. As scholar Michael
Owen Jones writes, “Who prepares the
food, serves it, and cleans it up; where
people take their meals; the shape of
a table; and who sits where and talks
about what—all these convey roles,
values, and ideas” that can shape not
only people’s diets, but also their belief
system and way of life. Susan’s experience
with Nuoc Cham leads her to
blend Asian flavors with staples of the
American tradition in her fusion cooking.
Almost magically, Susan transfers her
own memories and emotions through
her cooking to the people who taste
her food; her dishes are renowned for
imparting calm and well-being.
Fusion cooking “fuses” the culinary
flavors of a particular region with those
of an entirely different region. Fusion
chefs will often incorporate flavors from
regions or cultures they feel connected to
in some way, as Susan does with Nuoc
Cham. The Mexican-American fusion
chef Rick Bayless at Chicago’s Frontera
Grill says, “[What I create is] not concept
food. I’m not trying to create new
cuisine. I do food that comes from my
soul.” Other chefs do use fusion cooking
to create something new. Asian-American
fusion chef and television personality Ken
Hom aims to reinvent Asian cooking; he
says that people in Asia consider him a
chef “who has brought a new vision and
look, a new perspective of Asian foods
that might fit into modern Asia.”
In other cases, fusion dishes are created
one step at a time by people of many
different walks of life. For example,
the sweet potato pie that has become
a staple of the American Thanksgiving
feast combines European, Native
American and African American culinary
traditions: the crust is inspired by a
European pie shell, and the traditional
Native American pumpkin filling was
changed by African American southerners
to sweet potato. Such “accidental”
fusions have resulted in numerous dishes
that are enjoyed as part of the American
tradition today.
Regardless of its origin, food represents
a combination of traditions, individual
taste and unique life experiences. People
define and represent themselves through
what they eat.
ABOVE: Photo of fishing industry in Vietnam,
©www.pedaltours.co.nz.
12

Once Upon a Time…
The Story of “Rumpelstiltskin”
By Steve Scott
For Ghostwritten, Naomi Iizuka has
drawn upon a wide variety of influences
and sources. Among the most fascinating
is her reference to that most magical
and terrifying of folk tales, the story
of “Rumpelstiltskin”:
Once upon a time, there was a poor
miller who had a beautiful daughter.
Wanting to appear more important, the
miller told the king that his daughter
could spin straw into gold. The king
called for the girl and told her that she
must do her magical work for three
nights or face execution. Beside herself
with worry, the girl was about to give up
hope when a dwarf appeared, offering to
spin the straw into gold in exchange for
the girl’s necklace, and on the second
night, for her ring. On the third night,
left with nothing else to reward the
dwarf, the girl promised to give the dwarf
her firstborn child. He agreed, and the
next morning the king was so impressed
with the girl’s work that he asked for her
hand in marriage.
The next day, the queen told the dwarf
his name. Enraged, Rumpelstiltskin
stomped his foot so hard that he drove
his entire leg into the ground, then
pulled at his left leg so hard that he
tore himself in two.
A German folktale dating from the mid-
16th century, “Rumpelstiltskin” was
first published by the Brothers Grimm
in the 1812 edition of Children’s and
Household Tales. After numerous revisions,
the most enduring version (including
the violent fate of the title character)
appeared in 1857. Since then, the story
has been told in dozens of other countries
and languages; it has been lauded
as a cautionary fable against bragging,
condemned as evidence of medieval
German anti-Semitism and analyzed as
an instructive tale about value of household
skills for young housewives-to-be.
It has even been used to define the modern
psychological syndrome of superiors
who demand unreasonable efforts from
their workers.
Among the most potent explorations of
the collision between the worlds of magic
and reality in all of literature, the myth of
“Rumpelstiltskin” has inspired film and
dramatic versions, contemporary retellings
(Vivian Vande Velde’s young-adult story
collection The Rumpelstiltskin Problem
investigates the story from the dwarf’s
point of view) and a raft of psychological
treatises. The story’s depiction of human
greed, an otherworldly figure with both
magical and destructive powers and the
impending loss of a beloved child strikes
primal chords in all of us, and is echoed
to haunting effect in Naomi Iizuka’s
masterful play.
In time, the king and queen brought a
beautiful baby into the world, and the
queen forgot about her promise. But
one night the little man reappeared,
demanding the child. In desperation,
the queen offered the dwarf all of the
riches of the kingdom; he refused.
When she broke down in tears, the
dwarf reluctantly agreed that she could
keep her child if she could guess his
name in the span of three days. For two
days she failed; but just before the third
day, the queen’s messenger came upon
the dwarf in the forest, hopping around
his fire and singing,
Today do I bake, tomorrow I brew,
The day after that the queen’s child
comes in;
And oh! I am glad that nobody knew
That the name I am called is
Rumpelstiltskin!
Woodcut of “Rumpelstiltskin.”
NEA Brings Ghostwritten to Life
The Goodman is pleased to acknowledge
the National Endowment for the Arts as
a sponsor of the world-premiere production
of Naomi Izuka’s Ghostwritten. The
National Endowment for the Arts is a public
agency dedicated to supporting excellence
in the arts, both new and established;
bringing the arts to all Americans;
and providing leadership in arts education.
Production support from the National
Endowment for the Arts is vital to the
Goodman’s ability to present the highest
quality productions of vibrant classics,
richly diverse plays and exciting new work
from the country’s finest playwrights.
13

IN THE WINGS
Little Village Lawndale High School
Reflects Dr. King’s Legacy
Regina Taylor’s Magnolia is a powerful evocation of the spirit
of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement of
the 1960s. Fittingly, one of the Chicago Public Schools that
will be attending Magnolia as part the Goodman’s Student
Subscription Series—Little Village Lawndale High School—was
created out of the same tradition of nonviolent direct action
that King advocated.
In 1998, the Chicago Board of Education allocated funds to
construct three new high schools with the goal of having a
selective enrollment institution in each of the city’s six regions.
Within three years, two of those schools were open for business,
but the third site, located in the Mexican-American neighborhood
of Little Village, remained vacant. Here, on Mother’s
Day 2001, a group of neighborhood protestors went to work.
Gathering across from the planned site at 31st and Kostner,
they demonstrated against the overcrowded conditions of other
neighborhood high schools and called for a hunger strike.
In the ensuing 19 days, more than 500 people erected tents
and camped out at the site, garnering attention from local and
national media. Eventually, newly appointed Chicago school
chief Arne Duncan reallocated funds to permit construction,
and in the fall of 2005, Little Village Lawndale High School
opened its doors. Neighborhood activists continued their work,
going door-to-door soliciting input into the ideal school model.
The result was an innovative division of the campus into four
autonomous “small schools”: World Language High School,
emphasizing biculturalism; Multicultural Arts High School,
focusing on the arts; Infinity: Math, Science and Technology
High School, centered on technology; and The School for Social
Justice, commemorating peace and equity. Each school houses
approximately 400 students and is open to all students in the
Little Village neighborhood.
This spring marks the first graduating class for each of the
four schools at Little Village Lawndale, a school that stands as
testament to King’s struggles for social justice. We are proud
to include Little Village Lawndale High School as one of the
innovative schools now participating in the Goodman’s Student
Subscription Series, bringing the power of theater to the educational
community.
Photo courtesy of School of Social Justice.
14

Taking the Stage:
A Celebration of Women in Theater*
April 4–19, 2009
In conjunction with the female-focused season in the Owen
Theatre (and the premiere of Regina Taylor’s Magnolia in the
Albert), the Goodman will offer a series of conversations, workshops
and performances entitled Taking the Stage: A Celebration
of Women in Theater. This series will feature Goodman artists
as well as representatives of Teatro Luna, Rivendell Theatre
Ensemble and About Face Theatre, among many others.
Chicago’s women artists have been integral to the development
of our vibrant local and national artistic community since the
beginning of the “little theater” movement in the early 1900s.
Chicago writer Susan Glaspell was a founding member of the
Provincetown Players in Massachusetts, perhaps the most influential
of these “little theaters.” Similarly, Mary Aldis’ Lake Forest
Players became known in Chicago and elsewhere for their innovative
work in the years just prior to World War I. Today, women
artists and administrators are at the forefront of American
theater, and many of Chicago’s most celebrated theaters and
productions have been helmed by women.
We hope you will join us as we honor the importance of women’s
voices in contemporary theater.
Owen Season
Corporate Sponsor
Quincy Tyler Bernstine and Condola Phyleia Rashad in
Ruined. Photo by Liz Lauren.
Coming this Spring, the Goodman Offers
FREE Readings as Part of Science Chicago*
The Museum of Science and Industry is collaborating with more
than 100 local institutions, including the Goodman, to present
Science Chicago, a year-long celebration of science. The Goodman
is proud to present readings of three science-themed plays in the
spring and summer of 2009:
• Reykjavik, a new play by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard
Rhodes about the scientific and ethical questions raised at the
1986 summit between President Ronald Reagan and Soviet
General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev.
• Tom Stoppard’s Hapgood, concerning a female British spymaster
whose quest to discover the source of an information
leak to the Russians is hampered by the whirl of quantum
physics, double agents and triple-crosses.
All readings will be presented in the Owen Theatre and will be
followed by discussions featuring Goodman artistic staff and
noted experts in the fields of physics and bioengineering.
• Caryl Churchill’s A Number, in which three sons—two of
whom are clones of the first—confront their father with the
discovery of several genetically identical counterparts.
* Please check our website at GoodmanTheatre.org for upcoming details on specific times and locations.
15

SCENE AT THE GOODMAN
A Desirable Evening
On January 26, Goodman Theatre’s sponsors and guests
celebrated the opening of Eugene O’Neill’s Desire Under the
Elms after attending a special dinner at the Renaissance Hotel.
Artistic Director Robert Falls’ presentation of this American
classic was the centerpiece of an international exploration of
O’Neill’s work.
We would like to thank the sponsors who helped make this
bold undertaking possible: UBS, Illinois Arts Council, The John
D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Allstate, Motorola
Foundation, The Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation, American
Airlines, Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands,
I amsterdam, Joan and Robert Clifford, Marcia S. Cohn, Patricia
Cox, Leon and Joy Dreimann, Ruth Ann M. Gillis and Michael
McGuinnis, Richard and Mary L. Gray, Anne and Burt Kaplan,
M. Ann O’Brien, Carol Prins and John H. Hart, Merle Reskin
and Alice and John J. Sabl.
RIGHT (top to bottom):
Head of Public Affairs Midwest for UBS and Goodman Trustee Dr. Patrick M. Sheahan and
Dr. Seamas O’Driscoll. UBS was the Lead Corporate Sponsor for A Global Exploration:
Eugene O’Neill in the 21st Century.
Vice President, Corporate Relations for Allstate Insurance Company Sari L. Macrie with her
husband Robert Macrie. Allstate was the Corporate Sponsor Partner for Desire Under the Elms.
Motorola Foundation Manager Matthew Blakely and Motorola, Inc. Director, Corporate
and Foundation Philanthropic Relations Eileen A. Sweeney. Motorola Foundation was the
Corporate Sponsor Partner for A Global Exploration: Eugene O’Neill in the 21st Century.
Producer’s Circle Sponsors Robert and Joan Clifford. Joan is a Goodman Trustee and 2nd
Vice President, Membership for Goodman Theatre Women’s Board.
Co-Trustee of The Elizabeth Morse Charitable Trust James L. Alexander, Mr. Curtis Drayer,
Richard Pigott and the Women’s Board President Karen Pigott.
Photos by Mike Greer.
16

Ruined Opens at
Manhattan Theatre Club
On February 10, 2009, Lynn Nottage’s Ruined opened off-
Broadway at Manhattan Theatre Club, where it transferred after
its critically acclaimed world premiere at Goodman Theatre in
November. This Goodman commission is a co-production with
Manhattan Theatre Club. Goodman Theatre Executive Director
Roche Schulfer was in attendance for the opening night.
RIGHT: Playwright Lynn Nottage, Goodman Theatre Executive Director Roche Schulfer and
Director Kate Whoriskey at Manhattan Theatre Club Ruined opening night.
Desire Under the Elms
Premiere Night
On January 28, Premiere Society members were invited to dinner
at Club Petterino’s, followed by a performance of Desire
Under the Elms. Premiere Night celebrates the generosity of our
loyal donors by treating them to an evening with the artists and
the productions they support.
Our Premiere Society members and Annual Fund members are
the core of our giving family. Without our members, we would
not be able to bring productions like Desire Under the Elms to
our stage.
For information about joining the Goodman’s Premiere Society, contact
the Manager of Individual Giving Melissa Hard at 312.443.3811
ext. 597 or e-mail MelissaHard@GoodmanTheatre.org.
RIGHT (top to bottom):
Premiere Society Members Russell Johnson and Mark Hudson.
Premiere Society Members Edward and Priscilla Bruske.
The MacArthur Foundation Helps Make
International Connections
Goodman Theatre is proud to recognize The John D. and Catherine
T. MacArthur Foundation for its support of the international
productions in A Global Exploration: Eugene O’Neill in the 21st
Century. Through the Foundation’s Chicago International
Connections Fund, the Goodman presented the works of two
international companies: the Brazilian company Companhia
Triptal’s production of Homens ao Mar (Sea Plays) and Toneelgroep
Amsterdam’s production of Rouw siert Electra (Mourning Becomes
Electra). The Goodman salutes the MacArthur Foundation’s
commitment to encouraging this exciting international collaboration
based on shared artistic experiences with a single playwright.
For more than 20 years, the John D. and Catherine T.
MacArthur Foundation has provided unwavering support of
Goodman Theatre. Through invaluable multi-year support
for general operations as well as special project grants, the
MacArthur Foundation’s commitment to the Goodman and
the wider cultural community has made a lasting impact on
the arts in Chicago.
17

Off Stage
Celebrating an Historic Gift
to the Goodman’s Future
On November 5, Executive Director Roche
Schulfer announced that Susan Annable
and Life Trustee James E. Annable have
made a $2 million testamentary gift to
Goodman Theatre. This planned gift is
unprecedented in Goodman Theatre history
and will directly impact the theater’s
long-term well-being. We extend a tremendous
thank you to Susan and Jim for
their extraordinary commitment, which
will help ensure that the Goodman’s productions
and programs continue as vital
community resources for generations
to come.
Jim Annable joined the Goodman Board
of Trustees in 1989 and served as
Chairman from 1992 to 1994. He was a
founding Co-Chair of the Spotlight Society
and is a valuable member of the theater’s
executive committee. Susan Annable has
been an enthusiastic supporter of the
Goodman for more than 20 years. She
and Jim have provided sponsorships for
many productions and were instrumental
in relocating the Goodman to its new
home at 170 North Dearborn Street.
The Annable’s gift was announced to the
public during a Board Appreciation event
which was hosted by Goodman Theatre’s
Spotlight Society committee. We thank
Goodman Trustee and Spotlight Society
Chair Linda Hutson, Trustee and Vice
Chair Joe Calabrese, and the entire committee
for planning this wonderful tribute.
The Spotlight Society is comprised of
individuals who have designated a special
gift in their estate plans to benefit
the Goodman’s artistic vision. Planned
gifts of all sizes will help to establish
an endowment for Goodman Theatre.
For more information on the Goodman’s
Spotlight Society, please contact Kim
Swinton at 312.443.3811 ext. 575.
ABOVE: Susan and Jim Annable pictured at a Board
Appreciation event, where their historic gift was announced.
Illinois Arts
Council Supports
International
Exploration
Goodman Theatre recognizes the Illinois
Arts Council for its generous support of
A Global Exploration: Eugene O’Neill in
the 21st Century with a grant from the
Governor’s International Arts Exchange
Program. The program is designed to
develop exemplary international arts
projects and innovative partnerships
that increase Illinoisians’ access to
international arts activities. This grant
supported Homens ao Mar (Sea Plays)
from the Brazilian company Companhia
Triptal and Rouw siert Electra (Mourning
Becomes Electra) from Toneelgroep
Amsterdam. Incorporating the international
work of these companies into
a theater festival is an unprecedented
undertaking, and Goodman Theatre
salutes the Illinois Arts Council’s support
of this brave effort.
18

The Goodman Receives
Second Joyce Award
Goodman Theatre commissioned Naomi
Iizuka’s Ghostwritten through a 2004
Joyce Award presented by The Joyce
Foundation. The Joyce Awards support
Midwest cultural institutions to commission
works by artists of color. Launched
in 2004 as an annual competition, the
Joyce Awards target cultural organizations
in Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit,
Indianapolis, Milwaukee and St. Paul/
Minneapolis. The Goodman thanks The
Joyce Foundation for its generous support
and is proud to present this worldpremiere
production.
On January 27, 2009, Goodman Theatre
was honored to receive a second Joyce
Award to commission Quiara Alegría
Hudes, a formidable young playwright
who wrote the book for the Tony Awardwinning
musical In the Heights. Through
this commission, Hudes will develop a
new play exploring the intersection of
music, culture and political revolution in
the Puerto Rican community.
The Joyce Foundation has enabled
Goodman Theatre to develop and expand
a host of diversity efforts. The Joyce
Foundation’s long history of support has
been integral to our ability to attract
new, diverse audiences to the Goodman
while producing world-class theater for
the Chicago community.
President of The Joyce Foundation Ellen S. Alberding
with playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes and Goodman
Theatre Artistic Director Robert Falls. Ms. Hudes and the
Goodman received a 2009 Joyce Award.
Save the Date!
The annual Goodman Theatre Gala
Featuring Mandy Patinkin in concert with Paul Ford on piano
Saturday, May 30, 2009
The Fairmont Chicago
Cocktails at 6:30pm
Performance at 7:30pm
Dinner and dancing to Gentlemen of Leisure
Black tie
Sondra A. Healy
Cynthia Scholl
Gala Co-Chairs
Keith Green
Corporate Chair
Individual tickets are $500 and $1,000. Tables of 10 are $5,000, $10,000, $15,000
and $25,000. For more information, please contact Katie Frient at 312.443.3811 ext.
586 or KatieFrient@GoodmanTheatre.org.
The Edith-Marie Appleton Foundation/
Albert and Maria Goodman
Joan and Robert Clifford
Shawn M. Donnelley
Sondra and Denis Healy/Turtle Wax, Inc.
Karen and Dick Pigott
Alice and John J. Sabl
Gala Sponsor Partners
Gala Sponsor Partners
Commitments as of February 16, 2009
19

For subscribers
You’ll Be the First to Know!
Sign up at Goodmantheatre.org to learn about the
09/10 season and to renew early.
In early March, the Goodman will announce its thrilling 09/10 season. As you’ve come
to expect, we will be offering a wide range of productions, from musicals to dramas,
classic to contemporary, timeless favorites to electrifying world premieres. We look
forward to sharing these exciting productions with you when we announce our new
season in March. Stay tuned—Goodman Subscribers who have elected to receive
e-mail will learn about the 09/10 season first and will get the opportunity to renew
online before anyone else!
If you don’t already receive Goodman Theatre e-mail, please add your e-mail address
when logging in at GoodmanTheatre.org or call 312.443.3811.
Dine After the Show at
Petterino’s—and Park for Free
When you dine at Petterino’s after the theater and valet your car after 7pm—
your parking is FREE—a $14 value!*
*Valid for evening performances Monday-Saturday only. Patron must arrive at 7pm or later and dine after the show
to receive free parking. Simply have the host or hostess validate your ticket when dining in the restaurant.
Save Year-Round at Your
Favorite Downtown Hot
Spots with Culture & Cuisine
The Goodman is thrilled to introduce a new, complimentary e-publication, Culture &
Cuisine.* Five times a year, you will receive this exclusive newsletter filled with special
discounts, prix fixe menus, exclusive packages and exceptional events at your favorite
downtown restaurants, caterers, bars and hotels.
For more information on our existing preferred partners, please see the “Visit Us” link
at GoodmanTheatre.org.
If you don’t already receive Goodman Theatre e-mail, please add your e-mail address
when logging in at GoodmanTheatre.org or call 312.443.3811.
20

Goodman
Preferred
Hotel: Hotel
Sax Chicago
The Goodman announces Hotel Sax
Chicago as our new Preferred Hotel.
Energetic, sensuous and inspiring, Hotel
Sax Chicago is an urban resort located in
the Marina City Complex of Downtown’s
River North district. Each room includes
a 42" HDTV, Egyptian cotton linens
and Italian marble; the hotel amenities
include a complimentary fitness center
and an entertainment lounge powered by
Microsoft. Hotel Sax is a restful oasis in
the middle of our busy windy city.
Make your reservations now! Goodman
patrons pay $149 for rooms through
March 31, 2009; $209 from April 1 –
December 31, 2009.
Magnolia
2:00pm
7:30pm
2:00pm
7:30pm
2:00pm
7:30pm
2:00pm
7:30pm
2:00pm
2:00pm
sun Mon tue wed thu fri sat
3/15
$31-46
$25-25
3/22
$38-57
$25-25
3/29
$44-60
$25-25
4/5
$44-60
$25-25
4/12
$44-60
4/19
$44-60
OPENING
7:00pm
3/16
3/23
Sold Out
3/30
4/6
4/13
ghostwritten
2:00pm
7:30pm
2:00pm
7:30pm
2:00pm
2:00pm
7:30pm
2:00pm
4/5
$10-24
$10-24
4/12
$10-24
$10-24
$15-29
$15-29
$15-29
$15-29
OPENING
7:00pm
Sold Out
7:30pm
7:30pm
7:30pm
3/17
3/24
3/31
4/7
$44-57
4/14
$15-29
$15-29
7:30pm
7:30pm
7:30pm
7:30pm
7:30pm
7:30pm
7:30pm
7:30pm
7:30pm
3/18
$31-46
3/25
$44-60
4/1
$44-60
4/8
$44-60
4/15
$44-60
4/8
$10-24
$15-29
$15-29
$15-29
7:30pm
2:00pm
7:30pm
2:00pm
7:30pm
2:00pm
7:30pm
7:30pm
7:30pm
7:30pm
7:30pm
7:30pm
3/19
$31-46
3/26
$31-46
$44-60
4/2
$31-46
$44-60
4/9
$31-46
$44-60
4/16
$44-60
4/9
$10-24
$15-29
$15-29
$15-29
8:00pm
8:00pm
8:00pm
8:00pm
8:00pm
8:00pm
8:00pm
8:00pm
8:00pm
in the albert
March/april
3/20
$38-57
3/27
$44-60
4/3
$44-60
4/10
$44-60
4/17
$44-60
$15-29
$15-29
$15-29
PREVIEWS
8:00pm
8:00pm
8:00pm
2:00pm
8:00pm
2:00pm
8:00pm
2:00pm
8:00pm
PREVIEWS
8:00pm
4/10
$10-24 8:00pm
2:00pm
8:00pm
2:00pm
8:00pm
2:00pm
8:00pm
3/14
$31-46
3/21
$38-57
3/28
$55-70
4/4
$31-57
$55-70
4/11
$31-57
$55-70
4/18
$31-57
$55-70
sun Mon tue wed thu fri sat
4/4
$10-24
4/19
4/26
5/3
4/6
4/13
4/20
4/27
4/7
4/14
4/21
4/28
4/15
4/22
4/29
4/16
4/23
4/30
4/17
4/24
5/1
in the owen
april/May
4/11
$10-24
4/18
$15-29
$20-39
4/25
$15-29
$20-39
5/2
$15-29
$20-39
Located at 333 N. Dearborn Street,
Hotel Sax Chicago is just steps from the
Goodman. For more information or to
make reservations, call Hotel Sax toll
free at 877.569.3742 and request the
“Goodman Theatre Preferred Rate” or
visit www.hotelsaxchicago.com.
21

A World of
Possibilities The World
Travel Raffle
Support the Goodman by purchasing
raffle tickets and you will have a chance
to win a trip of a lifetime!
The raffle drawing will take place at Goodman Theatre’s annual
Gala, featuring Mandy Patinkin, on Saturday, May 30, 2009.
For additional information about the event, please contact Katie
Frient at 312.443.3811 ext. 542.
Don’t miss out. Look for the World Travel Raffle
brochure inside this issue of OnStage.
Exclusive Airline of Goodman Theatre
WHAT GREAT THEATER SHOULD BE
170 North Dearborn
Chicago, Illinois 60601
Non-profit Org.
U.S. Postage
P A I D
Chicago, IL
Permit No. 2546