CHICAGO: Goodman Theatre has announced its 2021 season, featuring four world premieres, including its postponed adaptation of The Outsiders. All productions for the season were announced in alphabetical order with no dates as the theatre looks to schedule the start of its eight-play season when it is safe to return to theatres.
“We can’t wait to welcome back our audiences for our dynamic 2021 season that exemplifies the very best of our art form,” said artistic director Robert Falls in a statement. “As we continue to prioritize the health and safety of our artists and audiences, we remain flexible in our planning and will share production dates when the time is right.”
The below productions are listed in alphabetical order by playwright:
The world premiere of the ripple, the wave that carried me home, by Christina Anderson, will be co-produced with Berkeley Repertory Theatre. The play follows Janice, who has to reckon with a past she has tried to forget when she’s asked to speak at a ceremony honoring her activist father.
The season will also see the return of the postponed production of Jocelyn Bioh’s School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play. Directed by Lili-Anne Brown, the play takes place at Ghana’s most exclusive boarding school as the reigning queen bee sets her sights on the Miss Universe pageant.
Also returning following a postponement is A Paris Love Story, written and performed by Hershey Felder and featuring the music of Claude Debussy. Trevor Hay will direct as Felder explores the life and music of composer Claude Debussy.
José Cruz González’s American Mariachi, also postponed, is slated to return in 2021. This music-filled comedy about a woman who forms an all-female mariachi band will be co-produced with Dallas Theater Center and directed by Henry Godinez.
The world premiere of The Outsiders, based on the novel by S.E. Hinton and Francis Ford Coppola’s motion picture, with book by Adam Rapp and music and lyrics by Jamestown Revival and Justin Levin, will be choreographed by Lorin Latarro and directed by Liesl Tommy. The musical takes places in 1967, following Ponyboy Curtin, Johnny Cade, and their band of greasers in their fight for a purpose and quest for survival.
The season will also include the world premiere of Cheryl L. West’s Fannie, directed by Henry Godinez. An immersive call to action, the play is inspired by the life of Civil Rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer.
Leigh Silverman will direct the world premiere of Doug Wright’s Good Night, Oscar. Emmy winner Sean Hayes will star in this play about character actor, pianist, and wild card Oscar Levant as he guests on a late-night talk show and proceeds to erase the line between genius and insanity.
Finally, the season will include Mary Zimmerman‘s adaptation of The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci. This production, composed entirely of words from da Vinci’s notebooks and treatises and highlighting his ideas on mathematics, anatomy, engineering, philosophy, love, and the human spirit, will be directed by Zimmerman.
Information on the theatre’s 43rd annual production of A Christmas Carol will be announced at a later date.
Founded in 1925, the Goodman Theatre produces new plays, reimagined classics, and large-scale musical theatre works for Chicago-area audiences.
