September – December 2013

The Pullman PorTer, on anD off The railS

WriTing The BlueS: an inTervieW WiTh PlayWrighT Cheryl l. WeST

imagining Smokefall: a Conversation with noah haidle

Celebrating latino Playwrights: New Stages returns to the owen!

Co-Editors | Lesley Gibson, Lori Kleinerman, Tanya PalmerGraphic Designer | Amanda GoodProduction Manager | Lesley Gibson

Contributing Writers/Editors | Nazihah Adil Siddiqui, Neena Arndt, Jeff Ciaramita, Lisa Feingold, Katie Frient, Lesley Gibson, Lori Kleinerman, Dorlisa Martin, Julie Massey, Tanya Palmer, Teresa Rende, Victoria Rodriguez, Denise Schneider, Steve Scott, Willa J. Taylor, Kate Welham.

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: Image design and direction by Jessica Siefert.

Goodman productions are made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Arts; the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency; and a CityArts grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events.

Written comments and inquiries should be sent to:The Editor, OnStage Goodman Theatre 170 North Dearborn Street Chicago, IL 60601or email us at: OnStage@GoodmanTheatre.org

September – December 2013

CONTENTSIn the Albert

2 The Pullman Porter, On and Off the Rails

6 Writing the Blues: An Interview with Playwright Cheryl L. West

In the Owen 8 Imagining Smokefall: A Conversation with Noah Haidle

12 Celebrating Latino Playwrights: New Stages Returns to the Owen!

At the Goodman11 Twenty Seasons with Chuck Smith

16 Insider Access Series

In the Wings 17 InterGens: The Collaboration of Two Generations

Scene at the Goodman 18 A Truly “Wild” Summer with The Jungle Book

19 Home/Land Sponsor Dinner

The 2013 Scene Soiree

20 Business Council Summer Reception

General Theater Studies Reception

For Subscribers 21 Calendar

Volume 30 #1

FROM THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Why Pullman Porter Blues?He was a symbol of elegance in a country hungry for them: the Pullman porter was impeccably and formally attired, unfailingly cordial, ready to cater to every need of the travelers for whom he cared. He carefully unpacked and arranged the clothes of his charges for the journey ahead; he kept the sumptuously appointed Pullman cars spotless; he oversaw the nightly preparation of sleeping berths with thorough efficiency and could even provide comfort for feverish children and their distraught parents. In the decades before the speed of air travel replaced the leisurely comfort of the rails, the Pullman porter was the provider of that comfort, at every hour of the day and night—the consummate servant and the genial, welcoming host.

The image of the Pullman porter still evokes nostalgic memories of the days when traveling was a pleasurable adventure rather than a harried series of checkpoints, lost luggage and endless rows of cramped seats. Yet the image of the unfailingly polite and immaculately dressed porter that lives on in our cultural memory belies both the reality of the porters’ lives (including impossibly long hours, demeaning duties and low wages) and the turmoil of the world outside the plush Pullman compartments. It is this conflict between image and reality that forms the heart of Cheryl L. West’s extraordinary new play Pullman Porter Blues. First seen (and rapturously received) by audiences last season in Seattle and Washington, DC, the play accomplishes the seemingly impossible: in a beautifully realized evocation of all that was seductive and fantastic about the Pullman experi-ence, the story is laced with an unflinching look at the harsh realities of the job as viewed by three generations of porters, all members of the same family. The vastly different views of their profession and their lives on dis-play through these characters provide an insightful glimpse not only into the specific experiences of the porters themselves but also into the quickly changing world of the African American in 1937. West places this journey on a night of incredible significance for the national African American community: the highly anticipated world heavyweight championship match between the reigning champion, James Braddock, and the “Brown Bomber,” Joe Louis, a symbol to many of the growing vigor and power of African Americans. And there is the music—the legendary Chicago Blues-style songs that the author includes comment on the pain of life as experienced by these characters and the incredible resilience and joy that keeps them moving forward.

Although it began its life elsewhere, Pullman Porter Blues is a quintessentially Chicago play—the train on which the story takes place begins its journey in Chicago, the characters are native-born Chicagoans and the Pullman Company itself was one of the great manufacturing empires that was spawned by the “can-do” spirit of the Windy City. There is no director better suited to bring this complex, vital play to the Goodman stage than Chuck Smith, a native Chicagoan himself, whose 20 years of work at the Goodman pulses with the muscularity and energy of his home city. Those qualities jibe perfectly with the exuberance of Cheryl’s play—and will, I am certain, provide a memorable opening production for our 2013/2014 Season.

Robert FallsArtistic Director

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When he titled his 1996 autobiography My Name’s Not George, Stanley G. Grizzle seemed to be stating the obvi-ous. But Grizzle, the child of Jamaican immigrants, had spent years working on trains as a Pullman porter, where he carried luggage, shined shoes and turned down beds as an employee of George Pullman. His white passengers consis-tently called him George, echoing the nineteenth-century practice of calling a slave by his master’s name—so Grizzle’s book title represents his objection to the demeaning tradition he endured for much of his working life. While he and his coworkers were not enslaved, their jobs required long hours and afforded little pay and less sleep. At all hours of the day, they tended to customers’ needs and whims, which ranged from benign tasks like fetching glasses of water, to more onerous ones like caring for and cleaning up after drunk, unruly pas-sengers. Pullman porters, immaculate in crisp jackets, performed their duties with dignified smiles, taking pride in their stately appearance despite their exhaus-tion and frustration.

In her play Pullman Porter Blues, Cheryl L. West depicts three generations of Pullman porters all working on the same train on a summer day in 1937; the family is fictional, but their cir-

cumstances are firmly rooted in history. These men, who range in age from 19 to 70, have vastly different experiences of the complex era they span: the century between slavery’s end and the civil rights movement. Monroe, the grandfather, works the rails stoically and proudly, ever grateful that he enjoys freedoms that previous generations of his family never knew. His son, Sylvester, expects more than liberty: he craves a bigger piece of the American dream, and campaigns adamantly for better working conditions and pay for Pullman porters. Both men have pinched pennies for years to fulfill their mutual dream of sending Monroe’s grandson (Sylvester’s son) Cephas to college and medical school. But Cephas, who at 19 can’t grasp the histori-cal forces that shape his father’s and grandfather’s insistence on education,

is enamored of the immediate paycheck and sharp uniform offered by his sum-mer job as a Pullman porter.

The men owe their livelihood, such as it is, to George Pullman, the nineteenth century entrepreneur who engineered the Pullman sleeping car and founded and operated the Pullman Company in Chicago. As railway companies laid tracks across the country, Americans were newly able to travel easily from region to region. And as demand for travel increased, entrepreneurs like Pullman saw a mar-ket for luxurious accommodations. The first Pullman car, which featured both daytime and nighttime configurations, debuted in 1864, and when President Lincoln was assassinated the following year, a Pullman car carried his body from Washington, DC, to Springfield, Illinois.

The Pullman Porter, On and Off the RailsBy Neena Arndt

SynopSiS It’s June 22, 1937, the night of the Joe Louis/James Braddock world heavyweight championship, and three generations of Sykes men—African American train porters—are heading from Chicago to New Orleans aboard the Panama Limited Pullman Train. Cephas is a 19-year-old college student working a summer job, a wide-eyed first-time traveler with a love of the rails. His father, Sylvester, is on a mission to create better working conditions for the porters by organizing a union. And his grandfather, Monroe, takes pride in his duties and attempts to keep his son and grandson out of trouble when their good intentions clash with the strict rules governing porters. Together the three men grapple with the changing times, as the train speeds South to the tunes of a live, onstage band.

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Crowds of mourners lined the streets to bid farewell to Lincoln; in this way the savvy Pullman advertised his car to thousands of Americans. From the late 1860s onward, the Pullman car became synonymous with luxury travel, appealing especially to middle and upper middle class customers, who could only afford such extravagance as an occa-sional treat.

The first-rate service on Pullman cars was provided almost exclusively by African American men—a popular say-ing of the day was, “Abe Lincoln freed the slaves, and George Pullman hired ’em.” In the years immediately following slavery, prejudice and lack of education barred blacks from many professions, and they often turned to service jobs. According to George Pullman’s reason-ing, African Americans were highly adept at service and willing to work for low wages, because many of them were recently freed slaves. Former porter and historian Greg LeRoy recounted, “A Pullman porter was really kind of a glorified hotel maid and bellhop in what Pullman called a hotel on wheels. The Pullman Company just thought of the porters as a piece of equipment, just like another button on a panel—the

same as a light switch or a fan switch.” As the decades passed, young Pullman porters no longer recalled the days of slavery, but they inherited some of its dynamics from their fathers. At its peak in the 1920s, the Pullman Company employed approximately 20,000 African American men. It also employed black women as Pullman maids; these women tended to the special needs of female passengers. They styled hair, assisted with bathing and looked after

children. Like their male counterparts, they earned little and excelled at their jobs in part because they had learned the finer points of servitude while they were still slaves.

As Pullman porters, the men earned steady paychecks and the chance for extensive domestic travel. They were expected to keep their uniforms tidy, speak crisply and carry themselves elegantly—and therefore garnered more respect and prestige than did blacks who held manual labor or factory jobs. But as it became generally known among Americans that all Pullman porters were black, some white pas-sengers regarded them as a slave-like group. George Pullman’s hiring prac-tices capitalized on the residues of the master/slave relationship: accustomed to considering African Americans as slightly subhuman, many people took decades to adjust to conceptualizing black workers as citizens with jobs and rights, rather than as servile creatures who existed solely to do their bidding. Consequently, in addition to referring to porters as “George” or “boy,” some passengers asked porters to perform

tasks far outside their job descriptions. At least one porter recalled being asked to bark like a dog for his passengers’ amusement. Others were asked to sing, dance and allow children to ride on their backs. In response to such requests, porters were required to be obliging and docile, or they risked losing their jobs—or worse. An article in the New York Negro World, dated May 29, 1920, describes an incident in which a porter did not immediately kowtow to

his customer’s desires, with disastrous consequences. When a woman asked him to arrange her berth, the porter responded that he would do it as soon as he finished with the berth he was working on. The woman promptly sent a telegram to the next station, claim-ing the porter had insulted her. When the train arrived at the station, the porter was removed from the train by the town’s deputy sheriff; a mob then overpowered the sheriff and lynched the porter. While such incidents were rare, this man’s tragic fate exemplifies the powerlessness that dominated Pullman porters’ lives.

The porters also suffered from overwork and lack of rest—they labored up to 100 hours per week. On overnight runs, they were allowed three hours of sleep, but passengers’ needs and whims often prevented them from getting it. They had to sleep in the train’s smoking room, where customers could smoke and chat at any hour of the night. And before a train left the station porters spent three or four unpaid hours prepar-ing their cars. They had to account for every item on board—glasses, blankets,

Featured SponSor: ComedComEd is proud to be the Official Lighting Sponsor for Goodman Theatre. At ComEd, we believe it’s important to support arts and cultural organizations, which are integral to the vitality of the communities we serve. Local music and movie festivals, as well as theater productions and other artistic pursuits, enhance our understanding of other cultures and contribute to our education in fun and interactive ways. The arts bring us together. Enjoy the show!-Anne Pramaggiore, President and CEO, ComEd

“A Pullman porter was really kind of a glorified hotel maid and bellhop in what Pullman called a hotel on wheels.”

LEFT: Pullman porters. Pullman

Palace Car Company Collection,

Archives Center, National Museum

of American History, Smithsonian

Institution.

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silverware—and if a passenger stole an item, the Pullman Company deducted the cost from the porter’s already mea-ger paycheck. Therefore, they relied on tips to make ends meet. If a porter had an unlucky run with lots of troublesome, thieving passengers and low tippers, he might have arrived in his destination city with little money in his pockets, and desperate for sleep. Depending on the region, he might have had difficulty finding lodging and food, as many busi-nesses still refused to serve African Americans. And meanwhile, he spent significant time away from his fam-ily and home city, which often led to marital discord and disconnection from his community. These indignities were compounded by the lack of advance-ment opportunities for even the hardest-working porters; higher-level positions on the trains (such as conductor) were held by whites only.

As the twentieth century progressed and slavery receded further into the past, Pullman porters (like the fic-tional Sylvester in Pullman Porter

Blues) increasingly grew angered by their low pay and poor working condi-tions. While unionizing was a com-mon strategy for disgruntled workers in the early twentieth century, the mainstream labor movement largely excluded African Americans; their fight for higher wages was segregated from that of whites. In 1925, after several unsuccessful attempts at unionization, a group of Pullman porters approached A. Philip Randolph, an aggressive African American labor organizer. Randolph proved an adept leader of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters; however, he faced resistance not only from the Pullman Company but also from middle class blacks who feared antagonizing the company that employed so many members of their community. Still, Randolph built up support over time, especially in Chicago, where the Pullman Company was based and where most Pullman porters made their homes. His efforts were publicized through the Chicago Defender, the African American news-paper that, since 1905, had glamorized

northern life and spurred the Great Migration of African Americans from the South to the North. The paper called attention to labor efforts as well as countless other race issues, and gave blacks much-needed news, support and a national sense of community. Pullman porters themselves carried copies of the paper throughout the nation, including to southern states where its distribu-tion had been banned. This caused tension between porters who were pro-union (like Sylvester in Pullman Porter Blues) and porters who feared that efforts to unionize would backfire and worsen conditions for black work-ers. Meanwhile, porters’ wives back at home in Chicago lent their support to Randolph’s efforts, becoming members of his “Inside Committee.” Decades before the civil rights movement, these citizens primed the pump for the sweeping change that would come to fruition in the 1960s and beyond.

Despite Randolph’s best efforts, the Brotherhood ultimately wielded little power, and the Pullman Company resisted signing an agreement. After a difficult decade, the Brotherhood was on the verge of collapse when Congress passed the National Labor Relations Act of 1935. Also known as the Wagner

Featured SponSor: abbottThe Abbott Fund is pleased to continue its support of Goodman Theatre as a Corporate Sponsor Partner for Cheryl L. West’s Pullman Porter Blues. Our longstanding partnership reflects a shared commitment to continually enriching Chicago’s vibrant culture through world-class productions.-Elaine Leavenworth, Vice President, Government Affairs, Abbot; Goodman Trustee

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LEFT: A 1901 cartoon in support of

a Pullman porters union depicts a

frail, tattered porter—in contrast to

a plump, well-dressed porter “As we

used to know him”—demonstrating

a decrease in tips over time. Photo

couresy of the Library of Congress.

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Act, this statute guaranteed private sector employees the right to organize into trade unions, to engage in collec-tive bargaining and to strike. At last, the law was on the Brotherhood’s side. In 1937, the Pullman Company (by this time George Pullman himself was long dead) recognized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. The company reduced working hours from 100 per week to 60, and raised wages. For the first time in history, an African American union had successfully negoti-ated with a large, powerful company. For the next few decades, the new rules remained in effect. But eventually, with the increasing popularity of com-mercial aviation, demand for railway travel declined. By the 1960s, few passenger cars remained on the tracks. The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters eventually merged with the much larger Brotherhood of Railway, Airline and Steamship Clerks in 1978.

As the last generation of Pullman por-ters die off and their era fades rapidly into history, Cheryl L. West examines their importance in her masterful play Pullman Porter Blues. These men not only performed their jobs with tact and grace, but also successfully navigated a society that no longer enslaved them, but still overtly oppressed them; their experience represents and reflects

the reality of the black experience in early twentieth-century America. Many Pullman porters never lived to see the civil rights movement; very few survived to see an African American in the Oval Office. But their influence remains with us today as we navigate the still-chal-lenging waters of race in America.

Featured SponSor: allStateBlues legend Big Bill Broonzy once said, “Blues is a natural fact, is something that a fellow lives. If you don’t live it, you don’t have it.” Goodman Theatre’s Pullman Porter Blues is just one more example of its commitment to telling enlightening life stories through groundbreaking multicultural arts programming. Allstate is proud to be a sponsor of this produc-tion, which reflects its long partnership with the Goodman and our shared commitment to mak-ing diverse voices heard through the arts and to enriching “Sweet Home Chicago,” Allstate’s hometown for more than 80 years.-Patty VanLammeren, Senior Vice President of Agency Sales, Allstate Insurance Company; Goodman Trustee

The Brown Bomber and the Cinderella Man In an era of legendary boxing matches, the heavyweight champi-onship bout between Joe Louis and James Braddock on June 22, 1937, remains an iconic event. Louis, dubbed “the Brown Bomber” by the press, was the first African American in a generation to be a serious contender for the title; Braddock, whose unexpected defeat of Max Baer in 1935 had earned him the heavyweight title and the nickname “the Cinderella Man,” had been expected to take on Max Schmeling, the fierce German boxer who had handed Louis his first professional loss a year earlier. Anti-Nazi senti-ment (and the promise of a larger purse for Braddock) convinced his handlers to substitute Louis; and a capacity crowd of nearly 42,000 gathered to view the fight in Chicago’s Comiskey Park (joined by millions of radio listeners).

The match would be one of the hardest-fought in recent history. The older Braddock, beset by chronic arthritis, was able to knock his opponent down in the first round, but Louis’ superior strength system-atically wore the champion down, resulting in an eighth-round knock-out. Some white fans decried the outcome, many remembering the controversial post-victory grandstand-ing of the first black champion, Jim Johnson, two decades earlier. But African Americans were jubilant; as author Langston Hughes noted, “No one else in the United States has ever had such an effect on Negro emotions—or mine. I marched and cheered and yelled and cried, too.” Louis would retain his title for nearly 12 years, defending it 25 times.

ABOVE: Labor organizer A. Philip Randolph. Photo cour-

tesy of AP Images.

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Writing the Blues: An Interview with Playwright Cheryl L. WestBy Lesley Gibson

Playwright Cheryl L. West is a Chicago native, born and raised in the city whose rich history she brings to light in Pullman Porter Blues. We talked to the award-winning playwright of Jar the Floor, Play On! and Before it Hits Home (among many others) about the legacy of Pullman porters, Chicago and the fascinating Blues music that amplifies this production.

lesley Gibson: What was the impetus for Pullman Porter Blues?

Cheryl l. West: My grandfather worked on the postal trains, and long after he retired he talked about his experiences traveling around the country on them. He had such a sense of romanticism and nostalgia. When I was a little girl I took an early train ride, and I always remembered the porters well—they seemed to be such happy men, always smiling. After I started reading about them I discovered that Pullman por-ters were the first labor union to be recognized for African Americans, and they did so much in terms of activism. It was such a compelling story, and offered me a chance to explore what was behind their smiles. lG: What did you discover? did it affect your romanticized idea of your grandfa-ther’s experience and your own on trains?

ClW: Before the union was established, these men worked 400 hours a month or 11,000 miles a month on the train to get full pay. Sometimes 20 hours straight without a rest, and when they did get a rest they had to be in the smoking car, where people came in and out all night to use the bathroom; if someone needed them they had to get up. But one thing that I noticed was that when people shared anecdotal sto-ries or memories of porters, they always came back to the sense that these were such dignified men. They were impeccably groomed, paid attention to detail and took great pride in their work. When you hear people tell stories about porter interactions, they always

comment on the incredible service. It certainly gave me awe and respect that there were so many things I didn’t know, and so many things that made me proud to be telling this story.

lG: What interested you about telling their stories through blues music?

ClW: There is a line in the play: “The Blues help you say what you feel and feel what you can’t say.” So often these men were silenced but that didn’t mean they didn’t feel what was happening. How did they override that, how did they survive and thrive, how did they continue to give such great service and yet be pretty much dead on their feet? And still contin-ue to smile and make passengers feel like they couldn’t wait to serve them? That’s amazing to me, and the music helps to explore these questions.

lG: but this play isn’t structured as a

musical; it’s more of a play with music. Why did you choose to punctuate the drama with occasional songs, rather than weave songs into the drama like in a full-blown musical?

ClW: At the heart I wanted to tell a very dramatic, complex story, and I thought that a musical could only skim the sur-face of that. I’m using the Blues to help tell the story, add context, and set the tone. Music transports you in a different way—a sensory way—and for people hearing that music behind or underneath a scene just transforms them on a senso-ry level. They feel it in their bodies, they tap their foot, and have the same feeling of when they first heard that song.

lG: Some of the songs performed in the play really illustrate that, and so many of them (“this train,” “panama limited blues,” “that lonesome train took my

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indiVidual Support For Pullman Porter BluesGoodman Theatre is proud to acknowledge the following individuals for their support of the 2013/2014 Season and Pullman Porter Blues.

The edith-marie appleton foundation/albert and maria goodman

Julie and roger BaskesJoan and robert Cliffordruth ann m. gillis and michael J. mcguinnisPrincipal Season Sponsors

Patricia CoxShawn m. Donnelley and Christopher m. Kellyandrew “flip” filipowski and melissa oliveralice rapoport and michael Sachs/Sg2merle reskinLeadership Season Sponsors

nancy lauter mcDougal and alfred l. mcDougalCarol Prins and John h. hartFemale Artists Season Sponsors

albert and maria goodmanProducer’s Circle Sponsors for Pullman Porter Blues

Susan and James annableDeborah a. BrickerJulie m. Danis and Paul f. DonahuePaul Dykstra and Spark CreminShaw family Supporting organizationDirector’s Society Sponsors for Pullman Porter Blues

Commitments as of August 13, 2013

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baby away”) are about trains. did you know there were so many blues songs out there about trains? ClW: [Laughs] Yes there are an incredi-ble amount of Blues songs about trains! There is just so much nostalgia about the trains—people talk about the trains taking you somewhere, taking your lover somewhere, all throughout American history. And then there are some very specific things that the great Blues sing-ers sing about. Music was so much a part of the journeys on the train; Sister Juba even has a line about “the tracks gave birth to the Blues, all up and down from the Delta to up North.”

lG: the play even opens with the rhyth-mic pounding of slaves in mississippi building the railroad tracks and singing a bluesy work song.

ClW: It’s so amazing how many African Americans worked on building these railroads. Back in the slavery days, plan-tation owners would lease their slaves to the railroad and make quite a bit of money to help build the tracks. So the play’s opening chant features Hezekiah—Monroe’s father—and his generation, who were still slaves, and who we don’t see in the play. They helped build tracks in Mississippi, and in the opening he’s singing about riding the train to freedom. Those field hollers eventually became the Blues when instrumentation was added. People had a way of singing the Blues to communicate, or just to emote in a way that they weren’t allowed. When people built the railroads and they would chant those rail songs, they were a precursor to the Blues.

lG: pullman porters have such a rich history in Chicago—why did you want to bring this story “home”?

ClW: So many Pullman porters lived in Chicago, and it is my hometown. One of the most important things I learned about the porters that I did not know was that they were early cultural conduits, they were taking newspapers from Chicago (the Chicago Defender) and getting them down to the South to let people know there were jobs up North. They were one of the major facilitators of the Great Migration in the 1930s and ’40s.

This play is also very decidedly “Chicago” and I’m so excited for it to be here. I think that local audiences will understand the language in a way that only someone from Chicago could. It’s very specific—every line has its own rhythm, and when I have a Chicago actor do my language it just rolls off the tongue, the cadence is so beautiful.

“The Blues help you say what you feel and feel what you can’t say.”

–Monroe, in Pullman Porter Blues

The Evolution of the Blues In the early twentieth century, scores of African Americans—propelled by stories in the Chicago Defender of better paying jobs and greater social freedoms—left rural southern communities and came to Chicago. They brought the melodies and stories from their lives in the bayous of Louisiana and the Mississippi Delta, and nestled in communities on Chicago’s South and West sides where these stories and traditions mixed. There, from the stages of neighborhood bars came America’s quintessential folk music: the Blues.

The Blues descends from slavery’s pain. Field laborers, denied instruments while laboring in the sun, created music that lived on the driving hum of a voice. As slavery vanished and Jim Crow laws took its place, guitars and pianos contrib-uted bluesy five-note scales and minor chords to songs that meditated on life in New Orleans and on the Delta. A new genre of music slowly took shape, but it needed freedom to fully form.

Chicago’s stockyards and steel mills, along with the perception that the city har-bored greater racial tolerance, made it a crucible of the new American experience as more families migrated North. But the new émigrés soon met James Crow, Jim Crow’s subtle cousin, upon arrival. After laboring in city factories, black com-munities came together in nightclubs to commiserate and share soothingly famil-iar tunes, played on electric guitars and microphones. A new, urbanized Blues that took inspiration from city life, thrived.

By the 1930s and ’40s, Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Muddy Waters and many other legends packed Chicago’s Grand and Monogram theaters. Capitalizing on the movement, music studios began releasing “race records” that spread this African American sound. Carrying subtle social messages within contemplative and sometimes raucously bawdy lyrics, the Blues became more than music. It became a social force, giving African Americans a voice that embodied the expe-rience of—and inspired—listeners.

LEFT: Cheryl L. West.

Photo by Nate Watters.

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Noah Haidle’s latest play, Smokefall, examines life’s big questions through the prism of an ordinary Midwestern family. Inspired in equal parts by Thornton Wilder’s simple evocative humanity, Samuel Beckett’s bleak poetry and Haidle’s own wild theatrical imagination, it begins on an average morning as the family is getting ready for their day, and then telescopes in—and out—to look at both the minutia of daily life and the broader implications of choices made for the individual, the family and the community. Funny and painful, the play was first developed as part of the Goodman’s New Stages festival, and was subsequently featured in the prestigious Pacific Playwrights Festival at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, California, where it was produced this spring in a co-production with Goodman Theatre helmed by award-winning New York–based director Anne Kauffman. In a recent conversation with Tanya Palmer, the Goodman’s director of new play development, Haidle—whose work was last seen at the Goodman in 2006’s Vigils—spoke about the genesis of the play and where it fits into the trajectory of his own burgeoning career as a playwright and screenwriter.

tanya palmer: Can you talk a little bit about the origin and evolution of smokefall?

noah Haidle: The director of Smokefall, Anne Kauffman, says the big ques-tion of this play is: is life worth living? Smokefall is an incredibly personal play and while I don’t feel comfortable having people understand the exact life circum-stances, my circumstances, that inspired me to write a play about the meaning of existence, I can talk about it as a piece of writing.

It’s been around a long time. Act One and parts of Act Two were part of a much larger project that the Goodman was very supportive of, a project called Local Time, which consisted of 12 two-hour, real-time plays that took place over 24 hours in a Midwestern town. Each play was named for the time it took place, like 11am to 1pm or 5 to 7pm. The first act of Smokefall came from a part of one of those plays: 7 to 9am. The Goodman did a reading of that play five years ago. So it’s very strange to have been working on this over such a huge period of time. It’s not

exactly the same as that earlier play, but it has similar characters and situa-tions. One of the challenges is to have continuity between the beginning and the end. It’s something that has been with me for a long time, and now been with you and with Anne for a long time. My life has changed so much over those five years. Working on this play has been one of the only continuous activi-ties during that time.

In a lot of my work before now I’ve been hiding. Smokefall is less subterfuge. It’s set in a house in Grand Rapids. It’s a life. It’s a mom. It’s a daughter. It’s a son. It’s a family play set in my home-town. And there are very literal things, facts, names that only I really know about, but the people who lived it will

know as well. But, would you recognize my life? Probably not. Will I and others understand the emotional life that went into the thing? Absolutely.

tp: as you said, the play is set in Grand rapids, and it’s about a midwestern family. over the last several years you have lived on both coasts—and now you’re back in michigan, where you grew up. obviously the set-ting is personal to you, but was there something particular about the midwest or midwestern characters that you were interested in exploring or capturing in this play?

nH: I don’t think so, beyond the fact that I grew up in Midwestern culture and therefore am a Midwestern person.

SynopSiS Smokefall is staged in three short acts that introduce three different chapters of one Midwestern family’s life. The first act takes place on an autumn morning when Violet, pregnant with twins, impatiently waits for their arrival. Her husband pays her little attention and their daughter, Beauty, is a sweet girl but never speaks. In the second act, Violet’s twins contemplate life after birth, the fragility of love and the meaning of home. In the third act, one of the twins—now an old man—reflects on his life and family when an unexpected visitor arrives.

Imagining Smokefall: A Conversation with Noah Haidle By Tanya Palmer

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But then again I don’t think I could see the remarkableness or strangeness or unusualness of a Midwestern story. The writer Allan Seager, in his biography The Glass House about Theodore Roethke, a poet from Saginaw, Michigan, who’s one of my favorites, said, “There is no grass as green as the grass in your backyard.” I think of Grand Rapids not as a particularly literal place anymore. I mean, the stuff that happens in this play, and other plays that I set in Grand Rapids, ain’t possible, you know? They’re beyond the limits of reality. So Grand Rapids for me is like the land-scape of my imagination. When William Faulkner created Yoknapatawpha County, he drew a map of it and in the bottom right corner he wrote, “William Faulkner is sole proprietor.” And so, Grand Rapids, in a way, is that thing for me. It’s not a literal place anymore. It’s a mythological place in the way that all pasts, all origins, take on a mythology.

tp: you’ve been writing plays for sever-al years now. How would you character-ize this play in terms of how it fits into your body of work? do you feel as if it’s similar to your previous plays, or has your work changed over the years? is it a departure from your perspective?

nH: I think, I hope, that the emotional world I explore in this play—as opposed to some of my earlier plays—the despair and the hope and the joy are earned and are not just a young man’s supposi-tion, not just thought experiments to a degree. It feels like a totally new way of writing. It feels rawer to me. I feel more exposed and scared. More is on the

line. More is at risk. What it means to me, and how much it means to me. So, hopefully in turn it will mean a different thing to the audience.

tp: you’ve described thornton Wilder and Samuel beckett as being major influences on this play.

nH: Or sources to rip-off.

tp: or sources to rip-off—

nH: Well, you know T.S. Eliot said that minor poets borrow, major poets steal. And I am not in any way pretending that I didn’t. Or don’t. It’s an interest-ing question in terms of intellectual copyright, in terms of acknowledgement, in terms of the “originality.” Like, how many original thoughts have you had? Some people deny and pretend that their

gifts and talents and voices are entirely born out of nothing, or from the gases of the universe, but I can’t. At some level the influence of certain other writers—like Wilder and Beckett—on the play is unconscious, more an emotion or feeling that is identified with and internalized and then synthesized back out in the way that any feedback machine would do after enough input. But there’s also the question of why them—why those writers? And it’s the question that can never be answered. It’s like asking why you fall in love with who you fall in love with. You can’t explain why you love this person or thing that you love. It isn’t rational. Their writing feels true in a way that other people’s does not feel as true to me. And then I steal from them. So did I steal the narrator from Our Town? Yeah, I stole the narrator. But with Our Town, Thornton Wilder himself talked

LEFT: Noah Haidle. RIGHT: Johanna Day and Coburn

Goss in the Goodman’s 2006 production of Vigils. Photo

by Brian Warhling.

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about how he had read The Making of Americans by Gertrude Stein and Our Town was his response to that. So, is my lineage of thoughts and beliefs in stagecraft linked to him? Absolutely. Is it linked to Beckett? Absolutely. No ques-tion. But Beckett comes from his own lineage which I can point to. It’s kind of like finding your family tree.

tp: Hearing you talk about how writers influence you, and how they find their ways into the plays, seems connected to what you were saying about Grand rapids: that your depiction of that place comes from memory but it’s also a fictionalized space created out of your imagination. all of these writers that you love, they are as much a part of that imaginative landscape and how you process the world as the lived memories from your childhood. So it makes sense that they are all tied in together, that they’re not separate necessarily.

nH: Yes, that’s a good way to put it. I think of it as creating an imaginative real estate, that I own and that I under-stand the rules of. In my mind it’s not represented on this earth and it’s not in Grand Rapids. It’s not anywhere. But it is a space. I feel like there is an archi-tecture to narrative. And much like when you feel safe and cared for in a building that’s well designed, you can feel the same kind of safety and comfort inside of a narrative. Narrative creates space, and specifically a play is performed in time. And you are inside that structure of time, and so when you’re in a well-struc-tured, well-designed narrative, you are in a space. That’s what I want to create: an imaginative real-estate that exists in time as people come to it.

tp: you’re working with director anne Kauffman on this piece. Can you talk a little about what that collaboration has been like and what you feel she brings to the process?

nH: I can speak only in superlatives about Anne Kauffman. Stanley Kubrick said there are two types of artists: those who care and those who don’t. Anne cares about everything. In terms of my personal development as an artist, Anne has come along at kind of a liminal point in that construction, in that develop-ment. When we were at South Coast Repertory earlier this year and I was rewriting my face off she said, “Noah, you’re not a kid anymore. You are ready to be responsible for every moment that

happens on stage. This is important.” You know this is a personal business. It’s not fake, it can’t be—it’s authentic. And so my relationship with Anne, and my relationship with you, is real. I know you the person, and you know me as a per-son. But we are also collaborating on a piece of art. Those lines get real blurred at times. You know? And it’s hard to separate. So with Anne, as both an art-ist and as a friend, it’s the highest level of collaboration that I’ve experienced. I’ve experienced not lesser, but different levels of collaboration with other artists and this, this is remarkable. And it’s also that Anne is directing this play for the second time. I’ve never had a director come along on the ride with me to a dif-ferent production. I hope and trust that she will continue if we’re lucky enough to keep going.

Featured SponSor: banK oF ameriCa Bank of America believes the arts have a unique capability to connect people, communities and cultures and help economies thrive. Our support of the arts engages individuals, organizations and cultures in creative ways to build mutual respect and insight. By investing in the arts, we help create experiences that challenge, educate, inspire and motivate. We hope you share in our passion and enthusiasm for Goodman Theatre’s 2013/2014 Season. -Tim Maloney, Illinois President, Bank of America

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“Much like when you feel safe and cared for in a building that’s well designed, you can feel the same kind of safety and comfort inside of a narrative.”–Noah Haidle

LEFT: Anne Kauffman.

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With the season-opening production of Pullman Porter Blues, Chuck Smith kicks off his 20th season as a resident director at the Goodman. Already one of Chicago’s most respected directors when he joined the Goodman’s Artistic Collective in 1993, Chuck’s remarkable array of acclaimed productions here has made him a true national icon. Along the way, he has amassed credits as a highly regarded educator, television director and author, won numerous local theater awards, and was named a “Chicagoan of the Year” by the Chicago Tribune. It’s not a stretch to say he has created some of the most riveting Goodman productions of the past two decades. Among them are:

tHe amen Corner James Baldwin’s vibrant study of a Harlem minister who must confront the ghosts of her past featured powerhouse performances and soaring gospel-infused musical sequences. Chuck’s acclaimed staging was subsequently produced at the Huntington Theatre Company in Boston, where he received the Independent Reviewers of New England Award for best direction.

tHe GIFt Horse Among the many gifted writers champi-oned by Chuck Smith through the years is Lydia R. Diamond, whose contemporary comedy The Gift Horse was a Theodore Ward Prize winner in 2001. The story chronicled the romantic crises of a group of young urban dwellers portrayed by an entergetic and engaging cast.

a raIsIn In tHe sun Lorraine Hansberry’s classic portrait of a family’s attempts to transcend their impoverished surroundings received an eloquent, highly charged production from Chuck, whose own childhood was spent in the same South Side neighborhood as the characters. With blistering perfor-mances, the work received unanimously glowing notices from Chicago’s critics.

aIn’t mIsBeHaVIn’ The classic tunes of the incomparable Fats Waller laid the groundwork for one of the Goodman’s most irresistible musi-cal entertainments. Chuck’s incisive direction turned an often-underrated musical revue into a colorful portrait of the joys and sorrows of the African American experience, and provided a showcase for the talents of such mas-terful performers as E. Faye Butler and John Steven Crowley.

ProoFChuck cast a powerful quartet of African American actors in this story of a young woman’s struggle to deal with the after-math of her father’s death. Featuring indelible portrayals by Karen Aldridge (as the haunted Catherine) and Ora Jones (as her overbearing sister), Proof was rapturously received by audiences in its extended Owen Theatre run.

CrumBs From tHe taBle oF JoYThe Goodman’s first collaboration with future Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage came with Chuck’s warmly sympathetic chronicle of a 1950 Brooklyn family in transition. Nambi E. Kelley and Bakesta King played the adolescent daughters struggling to deal with the arrival of a white stepmother, played by Karen Janes Woditsch.

raCeDavid Mamet’s controversial examina-tion of racial and sexual politics was the basis for one of Smith’s most successful Goodman productions, and one of its most discussed. Although audiences disagreed as to the intentionally ambig-uous events of the play, no one disputed the power of Chuck’s interpretation, which many critics noted as far superior to the play’s Broadway premiere.

Twenty Seasons with Chuck Smith

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RIGHT: Pat Bowie and Phillip Edward VanLear in The

Amen Corner. Photo by Eric Y. Exit. Antoine Roshell and

Brent Jennings in A Raisin in the Sun. Photo by Tom

Lascher. John Steven Crowley and E. Faye Bulter in Ain’t

Misbehavin’. Photo by Liz Lauren. Bakesta King, Ella

Joyce and Nambi E. Kelley in Crumbs from the Table of

Joy. Photo by Liz Lauren. Tamberla Perry in Race. Photo

by Eric Y. Exit.

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THIS DECEMBER, THE GOODMAN’S OWEN THEATRE WILL ONCE AGAIN BE A HOTBED FOR INNOVATIVE NEW WORK WHEN IT PLAYS HOST TO THE 10TH ANNUAL NEW STAGES FESTIVAL, A CELEBRATION OF NEW PLAYS DESIGNED TO GIVE PLAYWRIGHTS AN OPPORTUNITY TO TAKE RISKS AND ExPERIMENT. THIS YEAR’S FESTIVAL WILL FEATURE TWO FULLY STAGED WORKSHOP PRODUCTIONS AND THREE STAGED READINGS OF NEW PLAYS IN DEVELOPMENT, ALL CELEBRATING THE WORK OF LATINO PLAYWRIGHTS.

The Owen was designed to be a flexible space that can transform to accommodate the unique needs of a wide range of productions and staging configurations, and in the 13 years since the new Goodman Theatre opened its doors in 2000 it has staged some of the Goodman’s most adventurous and inventive productions. The space has introduced Chicago to new and exciting voices just launching their playwriting careers, and has also been home to the work of some of our country’s—and the world’s—most influential dramatists. With the return of New Stages this winter, the Owen will once again give our audiences a taste of some of the most exciting new plays in development while allowing them the opportunity to be an integral part of the creative process as plays move from initial conception to full realization.

Since it began in 2003, the New Stages festival has grown exponentially in size, ambition and complexity—and in its importance as an engine for bring-ing new work to the Goodman’s stages. Approximately one third of the plays developed in the festival have gone on to receive full productions as part of the

Goodman’s regular season, and many others have been produced and devel-oped at leading theaters around the country. Playwrights featured in the fes-tival have included Pulitzer Prize win-ners like Lynn Nottage, Quiara Alegría Hudes and Nilo Cruz, as well as artists just beginning to garner a national rep-

utation, like Tanya Saracho and Thomas Bradshaw. The festival has also served as an important entry point for young Chicago actors and directors looking to build a relationship with the Goodman: director Joanie Schultz, who is mak-ing her Goodman mainstage debut this season directing the sexy and hilarious Venus in Fur, made her first forays into directing for the Goodman through readings and workshops in New Stages. With the expansion of the festival in 2011 to include fully staged workshop productions as well as staged read-ings—an unprecedented investment in new plays that provides writers with three weeks of rehearsal, pared down design elements and nine public performances—we’ve been given the chance to deepen our collaboration with Chicago’s remarkable pool of talented young designers as well.

All of the offerings in New Stages—including the workshop produc-tions—are entirely free of charge. But reservations are required, so call 312.443.3800 to secure your seats.

Celebrating Latino Playwrights: New Stages Returns to the Owen! deCember 7 – 22, 2013

Goodman tHeatre Would liKe to tHanK all neW WorK donorS For tHeir Help in maKinG produCtionS liKe smokeFall and FeStiValS liKe new staGes poSSible inCludinG tHe eliZabetH F. CHeney Foundation and tHe prtiZKer puCKer Family Foundation, SupporterS oF new staGes; time Warner Foundation, major Supporter oF neW play deVelopment; and tHe GlaSSer and roSentHal Family and tHe Harold and mimi SteinberG CHaritable truSt, SupporterS oF neW WorK deVelopment. tHe edGerton Foundation HaS Granted a neW ameriCan playS aWard For luna Gale. tHe joyCe Foundation iS tHe prinCipal Supporter oF artiStiC deVelopment and diVerSity initiatiVeS.

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all new stages performances and readings are free, but tickets are required. to reserve your seat call the box office at 312.443.3800.

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NEW STAGES DECEMBER 2013In the Owen

UC The Upstairs ConciergeSS The Solid Sand Below

neW WorK FaSt FaCtFor more than a decade, world premiere productions have made up an average of 44 percent of the theater’s subscription season. This year, world premiere subscription productions include Smokefall, Luna Gale and Ask Aunt Susan.

indiVidual Support For smokeFall and new staGesGoodman Theatre is proud to acknowledge the following individuals for their support of New Work, including Smokefall and New Stages:

Catherine mouly and leroy T. CarlsonShaw family Supporting organizationorli and Bill StaleyNew Work Season Sponsors

Cindy and andrew h. Kalnowlynn hauser and neil rossDirector’s Society Sponsors for Smokefall

Commitments as of August 19, 2013

WorKSHop produCtionSthe upstairs Conciergedecember 7 – december 22

the solid sand Belowdecember 8 – december 22

Workshop productions will be per-formed on alternating evenings in the owen. Kristoffer Diaz—whose play The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Diety took the theater world by storm after it pre-miered at Victory Gardens Theater in 2009—will return to Chicago with his latest work, The Upstairs Concierge, a contemporary farce about celebrity and baseball. Chicago-based writer Martín Zimmerman will return to New Stages with The Solid Sand Below, a visceral examination of the intoxicating nature of war, which was first developed as part of the Goodman’s Playwrights Unit—a season-long residency program for Chicago-based playwrights—and which was featured as a staged reading in last year’s festival.

StaGed readinGS the three staged readings will take place over one intensive weekend, december 13 – december 15, and will offer audiences an opportunity to see up to five new works in less than 72 hours, and engage in conversations with the artists about the process of creation. Keep an eye out for an announcement of the three plays that will receive read-ings over that weekend.

We hope you will join us for this remarkable celebration of new work—and watch as the Owen transforms into a laboratory of creative innovation.

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New Stages Workshop Production The Upstairs ConciergeBY KriStoFFer diaZ | DIRECTED BY eriC tinGdeCember 7 – 22, 2013

When we describe a poorly handled election, a political snafu or a particu-larly taxing family get-together, we might use the word “farcical.” We’re saying, of course, that the people involved were inept, that the task at hand was bungled and that chaos ruled the day when order should have reigned. When we see a farce on stage, we expect similar things—trousers dropped, doors slammed, spouses cuckolded—but we also know that creating the illusion of chaos requires precision from the per-formers, the director and the playwright. Comedy is intensely difficult and labori-ous, and farce—the subgenre of com-edy that relies on unlikely, exaggerated scenarios, broad characters, physical comedy and rapid repartee—requires the most meticulousness, or else it can be “farcical” in the worst sense of the word.

Playwright Kristoffer Diaz, best known for his masterful play The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, takes on the task of writing farce with his new work The Upstairs Concierge. In the play, Ella works as the titular employee at a hotel that caters to celebrities. Fresh out of grad school and new at her job, she

tries to please everyone, but finds that it’s hard to keep track of who’s in what room, who’s famous for doing what, and who has a tendency to strip naked. In the midst of all its humor, the play examines how new media can make a celebrity out of anyone—and the result-ing frenzy, combined with the all-too-human desire to make a quick buck, can result in “farcical” behavior.

Farce has antecedents as far back as Plautus (ancient Rome) and Aristophanes (ancient Greece); broad comedy has retained its popularity through the rise and fall of countless empires. While it remains an oft-pro-duced genre, most popular stage farces, such as What the Butler Saw, Lend Me a Tenor and Noises Off, are at least several decades old. But few young writ-ers have successfully delved into farce, in recent decades, perhaps considering it old hat, or lacking in gravitas. Instead of backing away, Diaz embraces these challenges, creating a work that uti-lizes all the conventions of the genre, but remains firmly set in contemporary times. Director Eric Ting, who helms the workshop production for the New Stages

festival, will work with Diaz to find the rhythms and nuances of this challeng-ing comedic form. In the theater, many workshops focus primarily on developing the text of a play; in this workshop, Diaz will continue to refine the text, but Ting and the actors will find the physicality and tone of the piece—aspects of the production that are just as important as the words. The result will be a fast-moving, if-you-blink-you-miss-it comedy that affectionately critiques the YouTube generation—but also revels in the rapid pace of new media.

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KriStoFFer diaZ (Playwright, The Upstairs Concierge) Mr. Diaz’s full-length plays include The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity (2011 New York Times Outstanding Playwright recipient, Pulitzer Prize finalist, Lucielle Lortel Award, Obie Award, Drama Desk nominee and Jeff Award winner for Best Production and Best New Work), Welcome to Arroyo’s and #therevolution, among others, and have been produced and developed all over the country. He is a playwright-in-residence at Teatro Vista; a recipient of the Jerome Fellowship, the Future Aesthetics Artist Regrant, and the Van Lier Fellowship (New Dramatists); and a former member of the Ars Nova Play Group. Mr. Diaz is currently working on commissions for the Goodman/Teatro Vista and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

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New Stages Workshop Production The Solid Sand BelowBY martín Zimmerman | DIRECTED BY jonatHan berrydeCember 8 – 22, 2013

The Solid Sand Below tracks the radical transformation of Private Julian Flores from decidedly reluctant recruit to enthu-siastic and disciplined soldier. Inspired by a news story about a soldier who continued to reenlist because his tour of duty in Iraq had given his life a sense of purpose he’d never experienced before, playwright Martín Zimmerman was intrigued by the question of why cer-tain people find meaning in chaos and violence. Beginning with Flores’ 2007 arrival in Diyala Province at the height of insurgent violence in Iraq, the play offers us a fascinating window into the experi-ence of combat, capturing the boredom, anxiety and camaraderie that come from waiting for inevitable danger.

The play also explores another phenom-enon that Zimmerman uncovered in his research into the US Military’s involve-ment in the most recent Iraq war—the granting of so-called “conduct waivers,” allowing the military to recruit men and women with felony or misdemeanor convictions. This practice increased dramatically in 2007 as the military struggled to attract enough recruits dur-ing the protracted conflicts in Iraq and

Afghanistan. Zimmerman was intrigued by this practice and decided to make it part of his central character’s back story. “A lot of people who were offered alter-natives to felony charges by enlisting led very troubled lives prior to entering the army. But many of them turned out to be some of the best and most disciplined soldiers,” explains Zimmerman. “The idea of seeing Flores transform in that way was really compelling to me.”

The other thing that drew Zimmerman to this story was the sheer difficulty of finding a vocabulary for presenting war on stage. “I really enjoy trying to put things on stage that are incredibly dif-ficult to realize. But I want to try and do them simply, without a lot of technical fanfare but rather to theatricalize them within the bodies of the actors. That is one of my biggest questions about this play—how to create moments of combat on stage simply and economi-cally while allowing them to have the particular emotional impact that I imag-ined.” Acclaimed local director Jonathan Berry will be working with Zimmerman to solve some of those theatrical chal-lenges, using the New Stages festival

as a laboratory for exploring how spar-ingly this world can be rendered on stage. This will be the culmination of two years of development for the play, which Zimmerman wrote as part of the 2011/2012 Goodman’s Playwrights Unit. The play went on to receive a public reading as part of the Goodman’s 2012 New Stages festival, and was recently included in the prestigious National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Connecticut. It also kicks off an excit-ing year for Zimmerman, a young playwright who has been garnering attention from artistic directors around the country. His play Seven Spots on the Sun will premiere at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park this fall, and White Tie Ball will be part of the 2013/2014 Season at Teatro Vista, the acclaimed Chicago-based Latino theater company where Zimmerman is a newly named resident playwright.

martín Zimmerman (Playwright, The Solid Sand Below) Mr. Zimmerman’s plays include White Tie Ball, The Making of a Modern Folk Hero and Seven Spots on the Sun. His work has been produced or developed at The Kennedy Center, The Playwrights’ Center, Victory Gardens Theater, ACT (Seattle), Chicago Dramatists, American Theater Company, PlayPenn, Icicle Creek Theatre Festival, the Alliance Theatre, Primary Stages, Seven Devils Playwrights Conference, Theatre Row, Borderlands Theater, the Source Festival, Illinois Shakespeare Festival, The Gift Theatre, Red Tape Theatre, The University of Texas at Austin and Duke University. He is a recipient of the Sky Cooper New American Play Prize, the Jerome Fellowship, the Carl Djerassi Playwriting Fellowship, the National New Play Network’s Smith Prize and a Core Apprenticeship at The Playwrights’ Center. Mr. Zimmerman has also been a finalist for the Kendeda Competition, the Heideman Award and the Bay Area Playwrights Festival. He holds an MFA in playwriting from The University of Texas at Austin and a BA in theater studies and a BS in econom-ics from Duke University.

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Our renowned Resident Director Chuck Smith hits a very special milestone this year—20 years at the Goodman—and we’re giving his friends and fans a special opportu-nity to mark the occasion. Tip your cap to Chuck by mak-ing a gift of $200 or $400 in his honor, and have your name listed on a special lobby display throughout the run of Pullman Porter Blues, as well as on the Goodman website. Donors at the $400 level will also receive a spe-cial Pullman Porter Blues gift! To make your gift, visit our website at Goodmantheatre.org/Chucktribute, or contact the Development Office at 312.443.3811 ext. 566 or development@Goodmantheatre.org.

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Want to Learn More About What Inspires the Work on Our Stages?GET INSIDER ACCESS TO THESE PUBLIC PROGRAMS.

Pullman Porter Blues

artiSt enCounter: Pullman Porter Blues Featuring playwright Cheryl l. West, director Chuck Smith and musical director jmichaelSunday, September 22 | 5 – 6pm Healy Rehearsal Room

Join us for an intimate discussion with the creative team behind Pullman Porter Blues about the making of this fascinating play.

Free for Subscribers, donors and students with id. $5 for the general public. reservations are required. Call 312.443.3800 to reserve your seats.

playbaCK: Pullman Porter BluesFollowing each Wednesday and Thursday performance of Pullman Porter Blues, Albert Theatre audiences are invited to attend free PlayBacks—post-show discussions with members of the artistic team.Free

Pullman Porter Blues pre-SHoW diSCuSSionSBefore select performances of Pullman Porter Blues, members of the Goodman’s artistic staff will host pre-show discussions 45 minutes prior to curtain, in the upper lobby. join us for these free interactive conversations on September 27, october 4, october 11 and october 18.Free

SubCriber breaKFaSt CelebratinG direCtor CHuCK SmitHSaturday, September 219:30 – 10:30am: breakfast in the Goodman lobby10:30 – 11:30am: program in the owen

Join us for a celebration in honor of Goodman Resident Director Chuck Smith’s 20 years at the Goodman! This exclu-sive Subscriber-only event will kick off with breakfast in the lobby, followed by a performance of several musical numbers from the cast of Pullman Porter Blues and a lively conversa-tion with Artistic Director Robert Falls and Chuck Smith. this event is Free but availability is limited and may sell out. reserve your seats by calling 312.443.3810 today!

smokeFall

artiSt enCounter: smokeFall Featuring playwright noah Haidle and director anne KauffmanSunday, october 13 | 5 – 6pm Polk Rehearsal Room

Join us for an inside peek into the creation of Smokefall, with Playwright Noah Haidle and Director Anne Kauffman. Free for Subscribers, donors and students with id. $5 for the general public. reservations are required. Call 312.443.3800 to reserve your seats.

playbaCK: smokeFall Following Wednesday night performances of Smokefall, Owen Theatre audience members are invited to attend free PlayBacks—post show discussions with members of the Goodman’s artistic staff.

Hats off toCHuCk

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InterGens: The Collaboration of Two GenerationsBy Teresa Rende

“Justice looks like a cake Its frosting painted in shades Of red white and blue It sits prideful on the middle Of the kitchen table Men stand in aprons and hats Ooing and awing as they Look at their masterpiece…”

Above: A verse from General Theater Studies Teaching Artist Vanity Robinson. This appears as part of the group-derived intergenerational poetry piece entitled “Justice at 4am.”

Each summer, Goodman Theater becomes a home for budding young artists via our General Theater Studies (GTS) program. Open to all 14- to 19-year-old students in the Chicago metropolitan area, GTS gives students the opportunity to learn from local theater professionals skills that are instantly applicable not only to the world of theater, but also in the world at large. The six-week summer intensive is designed to validate the voices of its participants, get them to examine their own potential for creativity and introduce them to all elements of the creation of theater, both on stage and behind the scenes, by using personal history and storytelling techniques.

In the non-summer months, the Goodman hosts another performa-tive storytelling program with a dif-ferent demographic: senior citizens. Participants in the GeNarrations writing program develop personal narrative performance pieces based on themes raised by Goodman productions, which they are then invited to perform in a public forum. The Goodman offers at least two six-week GeNarrations sessions per season, with about 30 participants

in each. This program is presented in collaboration with the City of Chicago’s Department of Family and Support Services as well as session-specific com-munity based organizations.

In our continued efforts to engage community members in discourse and discussion, not only with us but one another, we brought these two groups together for the second summer in a row. Members of the GeNarrations writ-ing program joined GTS for intergenera-tional storytelling and interview sessions. Students then incorporated the seniors’ stories and interview content with their own writing for their final performance, bringing important voices of the past to bear on this summer’s theme, “Remixing the March,” which concluded our year-long celebration of the 50th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

“GTS is about using theater to develop engaged, socially conscious individuals who learn the powerful influence the arts have on daily life,” said Willa J. Taylor, the Goodman’s director of Education and Community Engagement. “The March on Washington was one of the largest politi-cal rallies for human rights in United States history; by engaging in conversa-tion with our GeNarrations participants, people who lived through this landmark event, our GTS young people use the-atrical techniques to understand and respond to events of the world in which we live.”

In addition to the content generated for and intergrated into the final GTS per-formance, a select group of GTS alumni, GTS teaching assistants and members of GeNarrations have met every Friday to devise intergenerational spoken word poetry based on the “Remixing the March” theme. Teaching artists develop-ing this new work included former GTS students Vicky Giannini, Brandi Lee, Emily Nelson, Elizabeth Nungaray and Vanity Robinson, with GeNarrations par-ticipants Annette Britton, Velma Gladney, David Nehkimken, Terry Rainere and Dion Walton. Their work debuted on August 12, 2013, as the opening act before GTS’s closing performance of its 2013 production, Remixing the March.

Goodman tHeatre Would liKe to tHanK all eduCation and Community enGaGement donorS, inCludinG tHe Field Foundation oF illinoiS, tHe GenarrationS eduCation partner, For tHeir Help in maKinG proGramS liKe interGenS poSSible.

ABOVE: GTS Teaching Artist, Vanity, partners with

GeNarrations participant, Inara, at an earlier intergenera-

tional workshop.

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Summer at Goodman Theatre celebrated all things Jungle Book. We toasted the spectacular production with a very special series of events, including Diversity Night on June 28, Jungle Brunch on June 30, Opening Night on July 1 and Community Days on July 23 and August 13.

A Truly “Wild” Summer with The Jungle Book

1 Diversity Night Host Committee Members Anuradha Behari and Anjan Asthana with guests Amish Tripathi, Sudeep Charavarti, fellow Host Committee Member Sanjoy Roy, and Mridula

Behari. 2 Goodman Trustee Tom Aichele and wife Pat with fellow representative of American Airlines Franco Tedeschi and wife Tina, together with Shere Khan from The Jungle Book. 3 Kids

from the Chicago Park District pose with Shere Khan before the free performance of The Jungle Book on Community Day. 4 The Jungle Book sponsors Elissa Efroymson and Trustee Adnaan

Hamid with their son at the Goodman’s Jungle Brunch. 5 Women’s Board member Barbara Stone Samuels and Richard Samuels. 6 Trustee Neal Zucker with Desiree Rogers. 7 Trustee Tony

Maggiore, Indian dance consultant Hema Rajagopalan and husband Raja. 8 Jungle Brunch guests practice their tiger growls with Shere Khan and dancers from Kalapriya Center for Indian

Performing Arts. 9 A student from After School Matters dances to the music with Shere Khan at The Jungle Book Community Day. 10 Steve Smart, Trustee Jill Smart, Composer Richard

Sherman and Imran Qureshi (Towers Watson). All photos by John Reilly Photography.

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Home/Land Sponsor DinnerOn Wednesday, July 24, guests celebrated the final produc-tion of the Goodman’s 2012/2013 Latino Theatre Festival with a special performance of Albany Park Theater Project’s Home/Land. Attendees enjoyed cocktails and dinner at Petterino’s followed by the play in the Owen Theatre. The Goodman gratefully acknowledges The Chicago Community Trust for its support of Home/Land, and all of the Latino Theatre Festival sponsors that made this production possible. Additional thanks to our 2012/2013 Principal Sponsors The Edith-Marie Appleton Foundation/Albert and Maria Goodman, Julie and Roger Baskes and Ruth Ann M. Gillis and Michael J. McGuinnis, as well as 2012/2013 Leadership Sponsors Patricia Cox, Andrew “Flip” Filipowski and Melissa Oliver, Sondra and Denis Healy/Turtle Wax, Inc., Carol Prins and John H. Hart, Alice Rapoport and Michael Sachs/Sg2 and Merle Reskin; and 2012/2013 New Work Season Sponsors Catherine Mouly and LeRoy T. Carlson, Jr., Shaw Family Supporting Organization and Orli and Bill Staley.

RIGHT (top to bottom): Goodman Trustee Maria Green, Michael McGuinnis and

Chairman of the Board Ruth Ann M. Gillis. Producing Artistic Director of Albany Park

Theater Project David Feiner with Suzanne Connor (Chicago Community Trust). Goodman

Trustee and Latino Theatre Festival Sponsor Sunny Chico with guest Nely Bergsma.

Goodman Resident Artistic Associate and Albany Park Theater Project Board member

Henry Godinez, daughter Gaby Godinez and New Work Season Sponsors/Latino Theatre

Festival Sponsors Charlene and Robert Shaw. Photos by John Reilly Photography

The 2013 Scene SoireeOn June 15, the Goodman Scenemakers Board hosted the second annual Scene Soiree, an evening of fun and fashion in support of the Goodman’s General Theater Studies (GTS) pro-gram. More than 250 guests gathered at Ignite Glass Studios and were treated to fashion presentations by Chicago design-ers JToor, Crystal B. Designs and Borris Powell. This fantastic evening featured a fabulous silent auction and raised more than $43,000 in support of GTS.

The Scenemakers Board gratefully acknowledges event Premiere Sponsors Clifford Law Offices, Katz & Stefani, LLC, Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated and Social Media Makers; Principal Sponsor Pedersen & Houpt; Media Sponsor Cheeky Chicago; Culinary Sponsor Paramount Events and UBER for being the Official Ride of the Scene Soiree.

RIGHT (top to bottom): Scenemakers Board Fundraising Chair Justin Kulovsek with

Scenemakers Board Secretary Elizabeth Balthrop. Scenemakers Board member Kelli

Garcia and guest Vadim Shifrin. Scene Soiree guests Gina Barge and David Wheeler with

Scenemakers Board President Lauren Blair.

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On Wednesday, July 17, Goodman Business Council members, Trustees and guests gathered for cocktails and hors d’oeuvres in the Goodman Lounge prior to a performance The Jungle Book. Goodman Associate Director Steve Scott offered behind-the-scenes insight into the creation of and inspiration behind the world premiere play. Chairman of the Board Ruth Ann M. Gillis (Exelon Corporation) welcomed the newest Business Council members, including Marsha Cruzan (U.S. Bank), Kate Gaynor (Marsh Private Client Services), Joe Learner (Studley, Inc.), Dana Rice (Grosvenor Capital Management), Marsha Serlin (United Scrap Metal, Inc.) and Anne Talluto (Towers Watson). We were also pleased to welcome Marshall Peck of InterPark, a valued partner of the Goodman.

LEFT (top to bottom): Scott Lockard and Business Council member Marsha Cruzan

(U.S. Bank) with Goodman Trustee Anthony Maggiore (JPMorgan Chase). Marshall

Peck (InterPark LLC) and wife Nancy, Goodman Trustee Rodney L. Goldstein (Frontenac

Company) and wife Keith. Willie Fields (WSF Associates & Partners, LLC) and wife

Diane, Goodman Trustee Lamont Change (Change Advisory Group), and Willard S. Evans

(Peoples Gas).

Over 20 Goodman Theatre donors, patrons and volunteers joined Goodman Education Co-Chairs Sunny Chico and Lorrayne Weiss at a reception preceding the August 12 final performance by the students of General Theater Studies (GTS). GTS is a six-week summer intensive in which over 80 Chicagoland students learn all aspects of the dramatic arts, entirely free of charge. Guests enjoyed refreshments and meeting with teaching art-ists from the 2013 GTS class, as well as remarks by Director of Education and Community Engagement Willa Taylor and Associate Producer Steve Scott.

LEFT (top to bottom): Goodman Trustee and Chair of the Education and Community

Engagement Committee Sunny P. Chico, with Goodman Artistic Director Robert Falls.

Women’s Board Education Co-Chair Linda Krivkovich and Goodman Trustee Susan

Wislow. Women’s Board members Joan Clifford, Education Co-Chair Joan Lewis, Lorrayne

Weiss and Renee Tyree.

General Theater Studies Reception

Business Council Summer Reception

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PULLMAN PORTER BLUES SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2013

In the Albert

BY CHERYL L. WESTDIRECTED BY CHUCK SMITH

Center StaGe

memorial giving and the Power of Social media

Amid the fast-paced, blogged-down world we live in, it’s worth noting when someone shares a story that can reach the hearts of millions, inspire them to pause and reflect on their lives and hold their loved ones a little tighter. National Public Radio host Scott Simon used his Twitter account (@nprscottsimon) and blog, Simon Says, to share the deeply personal thoughts and emotions he felt while spending his last moments with his mother, Patricia Lyons Simon Newman. In his tweets and posts, he captured his mother’s essence—her humor, her generous spirit and her love for Chicago’s wide array of arts and cultural institutions.

Dan Salera, an independent consultant from Massachusetts, knew Mr. Simon through his work with public radio and follows Scott through social media. He was moved by his friend’s story and decided to make a donation to Goodman Theatre in Patricia’s memory. “I never had the chance to meet Scott’s mom, but feel like I knew her through the stories Scott shared over the years and, especially, over the last month. The reason I gave to the Goodman is because it’s clear that it was one of her favorite arts outings, according to Scott.”

“A gift to the Goodman was a fitting way to remember Patricia, her love of the Goodman and the works it pro-duced. For me, it made sense to honor and remember her by helping an organization she loved deliver on its mission. It was also an opportunity to let Scott and his family know that I was thinking of his mom.”

“My mother loved the Goodman. She went to her first production (and how I wish she was still here to remind me of the name) when she and the theater were both teenagers, and brought me to see my first real stage production (this I remember: Morris Carnovsky as Galileo) when I was 10 or 12,” shared Mr. Simon. “She loved it all—from A Christmas Carol to Mamet—and thought that in recent years Artistic Director Robert Falls had helped make the place especially innovative and bold. I was so glad when I learned of Dan’s thoughtful gift. My mother believed that great theater is a powerful force for empathy, enlightenment and joy.”

“The arts, in general, provide communal moments for our citizens and can help define our communities. And, to tie it back to the Simon family—no better tribute to Scott and his mom than to help an organization that has helped define their beloved city of Chicago,” added Dan.

We graciously thank Dan for this wonderful contribu-tion. If you’d like to give to the Goodman in honor or memory of a loved one, contact the Development Office at 312.443.3811 ext. 566, or give online at goodmanTheatre.org.

monday niGHt liVe at petterino’S!Join cast members from Pullman Porter Blues at Petterino’s on Monday, September 30 for socializing and performances from some of their favorite pieces out of their personal repertoire. Monday Night Live is FREE in Petterino’s upstairs lounge, where you can enjoy appetizers and drinks from the fully stocked bar! Reservations are recommended, so call 312.422.0150 to secure your spot. There is no cover charge, but a $15 food/bar minimum. Petterino’s is located at 150 N. Dearborn, next door to Goodman Theatre.

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SMOKEFALL OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2013In the Owen

BY NOAH HAIDLEDIRECTED BY ANNE KAUFFMAN

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GOODMAN THEATRE SEASON OPENING N IGHT CELEBRAT ION

ByCheryl l. WeST

DIRECTED ByChuCK SmiTh

TuESDAy, SEPTEMBER 24, 2013

Non-profit Org.U.S. PostageP A I DChicago, ILPermit No. 2546

170 NORTH DEARBORNCHICAGO, ILLINOIS 60601

WhaT greaT TheaTer ShoulD Be

Save the Date

Exelon is a Guarantor for the Season Opening Night Celebration and ComEd is the Official Lighting Sponsor for Pullman Porter Blues

Abbott is a Sponsor Partner for the Season Opening Night Celebration and Abbott Fund is a Corporate Sponsor Partner for Pullman Porter Blues Commitments as of August 20, 2013

Exclusive Airline of Goodman Theatre

The edith-marie appleton foundation/albert and maria goodmanJoan and robert Cliffordruth ann m. gillis and michael J. mcguinnis

Opening Night Celebration Sponsor Partners

Tickets start at $500For more information contact Katie Frient at KatieFrient@GoodmanTheatre.org or 312.443.3811 ext. 586.

Sponsor Partner for the Season Opening Night Celebration

robert FallS roCHe SCHulFer rutH ann m. GilliS leSter n. Coney elaine leaVenWortH SHerry joHn lauren blair Artistic Director Executive Director Chairman, Board of Trustees Season Opening Chair Season Opening Corporate Chair President, Women’s Board President, Scenemakers Board

5pm CoCKTailS anD Dinner The Standard Club

8pm PerformanCeGoodman Theatre

HonoreeS

roChe SChulferExecutive Director

ChuCK SmiThResident Director

Media Sponsor