The Prague SPring

TomአSTrauSSler, Tom SToPPard and Jan

a Conversation with rebecca gilman, Playwright of The Crowd You’re In With

may – June 2009

Co-Editors | Lara Ehrlich, Lori Kleinerman, Tanya PalmerGraphic Designer | Tyler Engman Production Manager | Lara Ehrlich

Contributing Writers/Editors | Neena Arndt, Jenny Brennan, Lara Ehrlich, Jeffrey Fauver, Lisa Feingold, Katie Frient, Lori Kleinerman, Julie Massey, Elizabeth Neukirch, Tanya Palmer, Scott Podraza, Victoria Rodriguez, Denise Schneider, Steve Scott, Willa J. Taylor, 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: 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 60601or e-mail us at: OnStage@GoodmanTheatre.org

may – June 2009

CONTENTS

In the Albert 1 Why Rock ’n’ Roll?

2 The Prague Spring

7 Icons in the World of Rock ’n’ Roll

8 Tomáš Straussler, Tom Stoppard and Jan

In the Owen 11 Interview with Rebecca Gilman

13 Don’t Leave It to Beaver: The American Family in Flux

At the Goodman 14 Announcing the 2009/2010 Season

Scene at the Goodman 16 Magnolia Blossoms

17 A Reason to Celebrate

Celebrating a Legacy of Support

Off Stage 18 Celebrating Diversity

19 5th Annual Estate Planning Seminar: Rockin’ Through the Years

The Goodman’s Annual Auction a Smashing Success

In the Wings 20 Young Critics Meet with O’Neill Exploration Artists

The Goodman Offers Free Science-Themed Readings in June

For Subscribers 21 Calendars

Volume 24 #4

Goodman Theatre Artistic Director | ROBERT FALLS Goodman Theatre Executive Director | ROChE SChuLFER

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FROM ThE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Why Rock ’n’ Roll?During a career that has now spanned more than half a century, Tom Stoppard has created a wide variety of plays that kaleidoscopically examine the major philosophical and political questions of our time. In his breakthrough work Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, he appropriates two of Shakespeare’s most minor characters to ruminate on the essential questions of existence and being. In Travesties, he pits the world of Oscar Wilde’s great comedy of manners The Importance of Being Earnest against the artistic and social revolutions fomented by Tzara, Joyce and Lenin—all told through the memory of an aging actor. In Arcadia, Stoppard uses theories of landscape gardening, literary criticism and chaos physics in a study of two 20th-century researchers and the real 19th-century events that they attempt to unearth. But while Stoppard’s themes are often dizzying in their implications, they are grounded by the very human passions which define his characters and the challenges that they face in dealing with their lives and pursuits—challenges which are at once recognizable and richly resonant.

Rock ’n’ Roll is one of Stoppard’s most ambitious and most heartfelt works. Set in the politically charged years between the demise of Czechoslovakia’s Prague Spring in the late 1960s and the Velvet Revolution, which two decades later sig-naled the end of Communist domination, Rock ’n’ Roll uses the philosophical conflicts between Marxism and democracy to explore larger, more personal topics: the relationships between generations and the changing value systems which inform them, the ways in which art both shapes and reflects the evolution of political and social thought and the ongoing tension between the intellectual investigation of political thought and the realities which that investigation sometimes ignores. Stoppard accomplishes all of this with his signature wit, erudition and theatricality, informed by a wellspring of character emotions that are nearly overwhelming in their immediacy and depth.

At once a deeply profound and vastly entertaining work, Rock ’n’ Roll is certainly one of Stoppard’s most brilliant and most personal achievements. To bring this enormously complex piece to our Albert stage, I am very happy to have enlisted the services of Charles Newell, the artistic director of Court Theatre, who through successful productions of such Stoppard works as The Real Thing, The Invention of Love and Arcadia, has been widely hailed as one of the author’s most accomplished interpreters. Smart, provocative and richly theatrical, Rock ’n’ Roll is one of the truly

great plays of the past decade—and one that I am honored to bring to our Goodman Theatre audiences.

Robert FallsArtistic Director

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ThePragueSpring

By Julie Massey

sk any American old enough to remember what happened during the first eight months of 1968 and the answers will include world-changing events: the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy; the devastating riots that erupted in Washington, D.C., and more than 100 other American cities following King’s murder; and the raucous Democratic convention in Chicago, culminating with violent clashes between police and thou-sands of anti-war protestors in Grant Park.

Other notable events during the same period include North Korea’s capture of the uSS Pueblo and its crew of alleged spies; the Battle of Khe Sanh, the Tet Offensive and the My Lai Massacre in Vietnam; the California farm workers strike led by Cesar Chavez; the shooting of pop artist and underground culture icon Andy Warhol; the first adult heart transplant surgery in the u.S.; the world premiere of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey; the publication of Eldridge Cleaver’s Soul on Ice and Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test; and the courtship of the widowed Jackie Kennedy and Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis. Rock ’n’ roll aficio-

nados might also recall the Broadway opening of Hair or the Beatles winning a Best Album Grammy Award for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Four thousand miles to the east, in Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic), “What happened in 1968?” is likely to elicit one response above all others: The Prague Spring. What began on January 5 with the election of Alexander Dubcek as First Secretary of Czechoslovakia’s Communist Party, then came to an abrupt halt with the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia on August 20, would later be regarded as a crucial tipping point in the country’s long and difficult history of repeated occupa-tion and repression. Sadly, it would take another 20 years to achieve true political freedom and autonomy, but by late August of 1968, virtually all of the

wheels required for that to happen had already been set in motion.

Not only in 1968, but throughout Czechoslovakia’s history, the greatest heroes have tended to be men of letters—philosophers and poets—rather than generals. Before he entered the political arena, Tomáš Masaryk, the country’s first president (1920-1935), had been a professor of philosophy, the author of several books and the founder of a popular magazine that chronicled Czech culture and science. An outspoken humanist and ethicist, Masaryk fled the country at the beginning of World War I to avoid being

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Rock ’n’ Roll takes place in Cambridge, England, at the home of staunch Communist Max Morrow and in various locations in Prague. Act I begins in August 1968, just after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. Max’s wife Eleanor has lost a breast to cancer and his 16-year-old daughter Esme is beginning to embrace hippie culture. Despite increas-ing Soviet aggression, Max defends his Marxist idealism, and his Czechoslovakian student Jan defends Dubcek as a reform Communist. Jan, a rock ’n’ roll enthusi-

ast, returns to Czechoslovakia, where rock music is censored. his defense of a local band called The Plastic People of the universe eventually lands him in prison. Meanwhile, Esme joins a commune, marries a journalist named Nigel and has a daughter, Alice. Still suffering from cancer, Eleanor gives a private tutorial to Jan’s old flame, Lenka, while Max looks on. It is clear that Max and Lenka are attracted to each other; Eleanor orders Lenka to keep her hands off Max until after she has died. A few months later, Nigel and Esme’s marriage turns sour and Eleanor dies.

Act II begins in 1987. Now a brilliant 16-year-old student, Alice helps her mother Esme study for the A-levels she never completed. Jan, reduced to working in a bakery in Prague, despairs for the future of Czech culture, which has been so long suppressed by censorship. Three years later, the family and friends unite in the Morrows’ garden, where old argu-ments re-emerge and transgressions are forgiven. Lenka decides to move in with Max while Esme goes to Prague with Jan. As the play ends, Esme and Jan savor the first notes of the Rolling Stones’ bound-ary-breaking 1990 concert in Prague.

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OPPOSITE: August 21, 1968, crowds surrounding Russian

tanks at Wenceslas Square in Prague. ABOVE: August 21,

1968, in front of the building of the Czechoslovak Radio.

Photos by Oldrich Skácha, www.skacha-foto.com.

ROCK ’N’ ROLL SYNOPSIS

arrested for treason. While in exile, he established an intelligence network that helped bring about the defeat and disso-lution of the Austro-hungarian Empire, from which Czechoslovakia had long sought independence.

Located in the center of Prague’s Wenceslas Square—where in 1968 thousands of Czech citizens confronted Russian tanks and soldiers with peace signs and shouts of “Socialismus ano, okupace ne!!” (“Socialism yes, occupa-tion no!!”)—is a statue of Jan hus, the brilliant 15th century scholar and cleric who dared to call for the reform of the Catholic Church, condemning such practices as the sale of indulgences to wealthy noblemen in exchange for funds

needed to wage holy wars. When hus refused to recant, he was convicted of heresy by papal authorities and burned at the stake. hus’ execution fueled long-standing resentments against the Church and corrupt nobility, and established a legacy of principled dissent that epito-mizes Czech society to this day. hus’ most famous dictum—“Search for truth, hear truth, learn truth, love truth, speak the truth, hold the truth, defend the truth ’til death”—still carries the weight of gospel.

Although Alexander Dubcek was a loyal member of Czechoslovakia’s Communist Party, he was also a political moder-ate and a pragmatist. By the time he succeeded Antonín Novotný as First Secretary, deep cracks had already formed in the Communist armor, vis-ible to anyone who dared look for them. Following Joseph Stalin’s death in 1953, some Communist officials acknowledged that the show trials and purges associ-ated with Stalin’s reign of terror were predicated on lies that sent thousands of men and women to prison or to their deaths for offenses they had not com-mitted—and that were seldom, if ever, explained to their families. Both outraged and emboldened by this information, which nervous officials tried without success to package as “rehabilitation,” citizens started asking hard questions,

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1848 The Communist Manifesto, co-authored by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, proposes that in a capitalist society, the state is primarily set up to protect the rights of propertied classes, guaranteeing an endless struggle between rich and poor that can only be resolved by overthrowing the government, abolishing private property and establishing a classless society.

1917 The October Revolution begins when Bolshevik workers and soldiers in Petrograd (St. Petersburg), inspired by the Marxist teachings of Vladimir Lenin, rise up against Russia’s imperialist government.

1939 Germany invades Czechoslovakia.

1945 World War II ends.

1945–1948 In the Battle of Prague, the Russian army defeats German forces that occupy Czechoslovakia’s capital city.

Czechoslovakia comes under the control of the Soviet Union.

1951 The term “rock ’n’ roll” is used on the radio for the first time by Cleveland disc jockey Alan Freed.

1953 Joseph Stalin dies, ending a 30-year reign of terror that claimed an estimated 15 million lives.

1955 The Warsaw Pact is signed by Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania and the Soviet Union. Officially called “The Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance,” it is actually a military agreement.

1956 Soviet-backed secret police and troops crush the Hungarian Revolution. Imre Nagy, Hungary’s Prime Minister, is subsequently executed for treason.

1959 In an effort to contain the spread of Communism in Southeast Asia, the United States enters the Vietnam War.

Dubcek cracked open a door of opportu-nity that had been sealed since the end of World War II, when Czechoslovakia suffered the cruel irony of being freed from Hitler’s jaws only to be gobbled up by its liberator, Stalin.

From revoluTion To Freedom

BOTTOM: President Václav havel in his office at the

Prague Castle (2002). RIGhT: Dissident Václav havel

writing a letter to President husák criticizing the state

of human rights in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic

(1975). his friends warned him that if he sent this letter

he would be imprisoned. he sent the letter and went to

prison. Photos by Oldrich Skácha, www.skacha-foto.com.

not just about the miscarriage of justice, but also about fundamental tenets of Socialism as it had been defined and promulgated by Russian Marxists. Why, they asked, is our economy failing? Why are there no jobs, why is there no food on store shelves? Or, as university stu-dents asked, Why is there no electricity, no light for us to study by? Why are we not allowed to read certain books and plays, or listen to music that we like—rock ’n’ roll, for instance? Why are we being watched by the secret police?

Dubcek recognized that the tide of civil discontent was gathering momentum—not only in Czechoslovakia, but also in other Soviet Bloc countries that were experiencing economic strife. Soon after taking office, he attempted to institute reforms that came to be known as “Socialism with a human face.” These reforms included easing restrictions on publication, speech and travel, and partially decentralizing the economy to incentivize production and stimulate the flow of resources. In effect, Dubcek cracked open a door of opportunity that had been sealed since the end of World War II, when Czechoslovakia suf-fered the cruel irony of being freed from hitler’s jaws only to be gobbled up by its liberator, Stalin.

For a few months in early 1968, Czechoslovakia enjoyed its first breath of fresh air in more than 20 years. The change was especially apparent in Prague, the cultural heart and soul of the country—home to Charles university, one of Europe’s oldest, most highly regarded and most progressive academic institutions, as well as to a vibrant the-

atrical, literary and film community. The previous year, in June 1967, several outspoken participants in the Fourth Congress of Czechoslovak Writers had dared to challenge the government open-ly by demanding, in playwright Václav havel’s words, “spiritual conditions needed for the progress of literature.” In June 1968, journalist Ludvík Vaculík drafted “Two Thousand Words,” a mani-festo signed by more than 60 intellectu-als, artists and ordinary workers express-ing concern about conservative factions in the Czech government. The document called for public support of the move-ment toward greater personal freedom and democratic decision-making within the framework of Socialism; it was pub-lished and widely disseminated, both within and outside of Czechoslovakia. In this way, the pen took on the sword.

Dubcek hoped that the Soviet union and its leader, Leonid Brezhnev, would view his brand of Socialism as the inevitable consequence of economic and social contingencies unique to Czechoslovakia. Instead, Brezhnev became alarmed by what appeared to be a calculated chal-lenge to his authority and a direct threat to the integrity of the Warsaw Pact, a military agreement signed in 1955 by Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, hungary, Poland, Romania and the Soviet union. As efforts to clamp down on dissident segments of Czech society escalated, along with pressure on Dubcek’s government from fellow Warsaw Pact members, so did resistance. In August 1968, Brezhnev and Dubcek met on the border between their two countries to discuss a pos-sible resolution of differences. When

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1961 Construction begins on the Berlin Wall.

1964 Hard-liner Leonid Brezhnev succeeds Nikita Khrushchev as First Secretary of the Soviet Union’s Communist Party.

1968 January 5—Alexander Dubcek becomes First Secretary of Czechoslovakia’s Communist Party. His introduction of “Socialism with a human face” inspires the Prague Spring. Throughout the spring and early summer, student protestors stage sit-ins and seize buildings at colleges and universities in the U.S., England and France.

August 20—Brezhnev orders Warsaw Pact forces to invade Czechoslovakia. Soviet tanks roll into Prague on August 21 and lay siege to the city for six days.

In Prague, four young rock musicians decide to form a band called The Plastic People of the Universe.

1969 On January 16, university student Jan Palach sets himself on fire in Prague’s Wenceslas Square to protest the Soviet occupation of his country; he dies three days later.

Soviet-backed hard-liner Gustáv Husák succeeds Dubcek and introduces a program of “normalization” that reverses reform efforts.

1970 The Czech government announces plans to conduct loyalty checks.

Deemed an “undesirable element,” The Plastic People of the Universe loses its professional license to perform in public.

1972 A group of 35 writers, including playwright Václav Havel, petitions for the release of Czech political prisoners.

1973 U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War ends in January.

1974 In March, more than a thousand fans on their way to a Plastic People of the Universe concert are confronted by police and beaten with truncheons.

1976 Several members of Prague’s rock ’n’ roll underground, including members of The Plastic People of the Universe, are tried and sentenced to prison for “spreading anti-Socialist ideas” with their music.

1977 Charter 77, a manifesto prepared by a small group of prominent dissidents that includes Havel, is secreted out of Czechoslovakia to a West German newspaper and published in January. The document protests the unjust arrest and prosecution of Czech citizens and is signed by 243 Czechs representing a cross section of occupations, religions and view-points. It gains wide attention and is immediately condemned by Czech officials.

1979 Margaret Thatcher, leader of Britain’s Conservative Party, is elected Prime Minister.

these talks failed to yield the desired result—restoration of strict government controls—Brezhnev bowed to proponents of military action and ordered the imme-diate invasion of Czechoslovakia. Soviet and other Warsaw Pact troops in tanks crossed the frontier into Czechoslovakia on the night of August 20 and entered Prague on August 21. The six-day siege of the capital left more than 70 dead and 500 wounded.

Superior military strength, coupled with all too familiar methods of physical and psychological intimidation, enabled Brezhnev to clean house, which con-sisted mainly of removing Dubcek from office and purging the top levels of gov-ernment. Dubcek was hastily replaced by Communist Party hard-liner Gustáv husák, who instituted a program of “nor-

malization” that restored the old order by mandating docile compliance. Rather than eradicating Prague’s dissident ele-ments, however, husák’s program simply drove them underground, where they continued to survive and to produce music, literature and art that served as their lifeline to prominent supporters and advocates in other countries. With patience and determination—and moti-vated by a mixture of personal pride, social conscience, political passion and stubborn devotion to the truth—these freedom-loving men and women inspired a “velvet revolution” that was beyond the reach of the secret police. The invasion of Czechoslovakia produced many more heroes for the history books, including those who, like Václav havel, kept their foot in the door for the next 20 years, both outlasting and outwitting husák and his Soviet-backed succes-sors, until the Communist regime finally collapsed in 1989. One hero, university student Jan Palach, died on January 19, 1969, after he set himself on fire in Wenceslas Square to protest the inva-sion. A simple stone memorial to Palach was later installed in the square, not far from the statue of Jan hus.

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PricewaterhouseCoopers on a Roll with the GoodmanGoodman Theatre is delighted to rec-ognize PricewaterhouseCoopers as a Corporate Sponsor Partner of Tom Stoppard’s Rock ’n’ Roll. As a long-standing supporter, PwC is thrilled to partner with the Goodman on this chal-lenging work that offers a global perspec-tive on contemporary issues.

“An extraordinary example of excellence, I believe Rock ’n’ Roll is a true highlight of the Goodman’s distinctive 2008/2009 season,” said Cherie Pixler, a Partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers and Goodman Theatre trustee. “I’m honored to serve on

the Board of Directors of an organization that is not only known for the quality of its productions, but also for its commit-ment to diversity and community. I salute the Goodman’s ongoing efforts to contrib-ute to the quality of life in our city.”

Goodman Theatre sincerely thanks PricewaterhouseCoopers for its continu-ing generosity, reflecting the firm’s com-mitment to supporting world-class arts and culture in Chicago.

1983 At the Annual Convention of the National Association of Evangelicals, President Ronald Reagan calls the Soviet Union “the Evil Empire.”

1984 Russia and 13 other Soviet Bloc countries boycott the Summer Olympics to protest “anti-Soviet hysteria in the U.S.”

1985 Mikhail Gorbachev becomes the leader of the Soviet Union.

Reagan and Gorbachev have the first of five summit meetings in Geneva, Switzerland.

1987 Gorbachev announces “perestroika” (recon-struction) and “glasnost” (openness), his plan for economic renewal.

Gorbachev visits Prague.

Thatcher is elected for a third term as British Prime Minister.

In a speech delivered near the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin, Reagan challenges Gorbachev to “tear down this wall.”

1989 In January, Havel is arrested in Wenceslas Square for participating in “Jan Palach Week” com-memoration activities.

November 9—The Berlin Wall falls.

December 29—Havel is elected President of Czechoslovakia after Communist leaders resign in the face of insurmountable opposition.

1990 August 18—Havel hosts the Rolling Stones in Prague, where they play a special concert at Strahov Stadium.

For an expanded timeline and glossary of Rock ’n’ Roll terms, visit goodmanTheatre.org

LEFT: Russian tank set on fire by Czech patriots defending

the Czechoslovak Radio. Photo by Oldrich Skácha,

www.skacha-foto.com.

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Syd BarrettGuitarist/composer Syd Barrett joined the struggling rock group The Tea Set in 1966, renamed it The Pink Floyd Sound and re-invented it, drawing from jazz and British pop rock and incorporating his own dissonance-filled style of playing to create an influential new form of rock ’n’ roll. Pink Floyd was soon the most popular and influential proponent of the London underground music scene, and their 1967 debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, became a smash hit in the united Kingdom. Barrett’s erratic behavior caused

his expulsion from the band the following year. he pursued an abortive solo career then founded the band Star, which he abandoned after a disastrous concert at Cambridge’s Corn Exchange. Eventually he moved back to his parents’ house in Cambridge, taking up painting and gar-dening until his death in 2006.

The Plastic People of the UniverseThe most celebrated of Prague’s under-ground music groups in the 1960s and ’70s, The Plastic People of the universe (PPu) was formed by bassist Milan hlavsa in 1968, weeks after the end of the Prague Spring. The group’s revolution-ary sound, heavily influenced by Frank Zappa and the Velvet underground, became the target of the Communist Czech regime, and PPu’s performance license was revoked in 1970. Despite this, the group won a devoted young fol-lowing via secret performances. In 1976, after one such appearance, members of The PPu and other musicians were charged with disturbing the peace, receiv-ing prison sentences of up to 18 months. This persecution inspired dissident play-wright Václav havel’s essay “The Trial” and a subsequent letter signed by respect-ed cultural figures as well as underground

artists urging the government to honor the helsinki Agreement. The result was the human rights movement Charter 77, which paved the way for the collapse of Communism a dozen years later.

After several celebrated recordings, the band broke up in 1988, but reunited nine years later. Despite hlavsa’s death in 2001, the group has continued to perform regularly.

SapphoLittle is known about the life and work of the poet Sappho (ca. 620-570 BC) other than the fragments of her poetry that have survived on bits of papyrus and potsherds. Born on the island of Lesbos during a turbulent time in Aegean his-tory, she was the most eloquent voice of a generation of Greek writers for whom the individual, rather than society, was the focal point. her poems were actu-ally lyre-accompanied metrical songs, a lyric form which conveyed the delicate emotional content of her works, but in an ancient Greek dialect so complex that it confounds many modern scholars. To her contemporaries, however, her poems were “bewitching” and “divine,” dealing with love in all of its permutations—and delivered in a voice whose simplicity and clarity are still revered.

ABOVE: Pink Floyd with Syd Barrett (far right) in a

postcard insert for the re-release of the Pink Floyd album

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. Photo courtesy of Rex

Features. INSET: Syd Barrett in Cambridge, England, in

2001. Photo courtesy of Geoff Robinson / Rex Features.

BOTTOM: Vladislav Brabanec of The Plastic People of the

universe. Photo by Jan Teluch.

Icons in the World of Rock ’n’ RollTOM STOPPARD’S ROCK ’N’ ROLL REFERENCES A WIDE VARIETY OF CuLTuRAL ICONS, BOTh FROM ThE ERA OF ThE PLAY AND FROM ANCIENT CuLTuRES. AMONG ThE MOST IMPORTANT:

Tom Stoppard was born Tomáš Straussler in 1937 in Zlin, Czechoslovakia, to Jewish parents. his family fled the country in late 1938 to avoid the con-sequences of the German occupation of Czech lands. Jan, the protagonist of Stoppard’s newest play, Rock ’n’ Roll, was born in 1938 in Zlin to Jewish parents and his family fled the coun-try shortly after the Nazis claimed

Czechoslovakia. Both Jan’s and Tomáš’ fathers died during World War II and both men spent their childhoods in England. In his introduction to the play, Stoppard writes that he nearly gave Jan a different name—Tomáš.

Jan’s life story diverges from Stoppard’s when Jan and his mother returned to Czechoslovakia in 1948. Although

he occasionally visits England, Jan is destined to live in Czechoslovakia. Stoppard, on the other hand, remained in England to become one of the most celebrated contemporary playwrights.

Throughout his prolific career, Stoppard has produced more than 20 celebrated plays, including Tony Award-winners Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (1966), Travesties (1974), The Real Thing (1982) and The Coast of Utopia (2002). he is the author of screenplays such as Brazil (1985) and Shakespeare in Love (1998), for which he and Marc Norman won an Academy Award, scripts for radio and television and numerous translations, particularly for Central European authors.

From his earliest success with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, which followed two minor char-

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Women’s Board Sponsors Rock ’n’ Roll The Women’s Board of Goodman Theatre continues a long tradition with its spon-sorship of Tom Stoppard’s Rock ’n’ Roll. For more than 30 years, the Women’s Board has made it part of their mission to sponsor a production every season, in addition to supporting the Goodman’s education programs.

Goodman Theatre gratefully acknowl-edges the Women’s Board as a Major Production Sponsor. A large part of the Goodman’s success is due to the hard work, dedication and generosity of its members.

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Tomáš Straussler, Tom Stoppard and Jan

acters from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, to his magnum opus The Coast of Utopia, a trilogy about 19th-century Russian intellectual history, Stoppard has inves-tigated weighty themes like the meaning of life, the significance of art and the value of love. Although his characters are often highly articulate, cerebral fig-ures drawn from history and academia, Stoppard imparts each one with human-ity and passion. In Travesties, henry Carr fervently argues about honor and duty, patriotism and art, but it is his love for Cecily that makes him fallible and human. And while nearly every character in Arcadia (1993) contributes to the study of landscape gardening, romantic poetry, the mathematics of chaos, the design of engines and the dif-fusion of heat, it is the play’s simmering sexual tensions and love triangles that grip our attention.

Among other recurring motifs in his major works, Stoppard constantly revis-its European politics. he specifically examines the history of Communism in Eastern Europe, whether through the Cold War espionage of Hapgood (1988), the revolutionary plotting of Lenin in Travesties or the groundbreaking philos-ophies of Bakunin, Belinsky and herzen

in The Coast of Utopia. Continuing Stoppard’s lifelong fascination with Communism, Rock ’n’ Roll delves into the lives of citizens under a totalitarian regime. Among the play’s many other characters, Jan endures day-to-day privations and fears and limitations on his employment and freedom of speech.

While he has learned to live with these hardships, Jan is faced with one deprivation he cannot endure when his favorite music group, The Plastic People of the universe, comes under increas-ing suspicion from the authorities for its refusal to conform to the oppressive social norms dictated by the regime.

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For repressive regimes like Fascist Nazis and Communist Soviets, rock ’n’ roll was considered chaotic and unre-fined, contrary to the appropriate ideas of a well-ordered society.

OPPOSITE: Tom Stoppard visiting Former President Václav

havel in his office on Vorsilska Street in 2007. Photo

by Oldrich Skácha, www.skacha-foto.com. RIGhT: Actor

Mary Beth Fisher with Rock ’n’ Roll director Charles

Newell. Photo by Michael Brosilow.

If rock music symbolized the liberated attitudes of the West, where flower chil-dren challenged society’s rules of behav-ior by openly experimenting with sexual-ity and drugs, in the repressed East, rock ’n’ roll took on a dangerous political dimension. For repressive regimes like Fascist Nazis and Communist Soviets, rock ’n’ roll was considered chaotic and unrefined, contrary to the appropriate ideas of a well-ordered society. The regime labeled The Plastic People of the universe “dangerous” because the group was not susceptible to political persua-sion and continued to produce music and perform concerts despite persecu-tion and arrests.

Stoppard became an outspoken oppo-nent of censorship and the jailing of political dissidents in the Eastern Bloc. he joined an Amnesty International visit to the Soviet union in February of 1977 and returned to Czechoslovakia later that year for the first time since his family fled the Nazis. During this visit, Stoppard met Václav havel, playwright and future President of Czechoslovakia, to whom he dedicated Professional Foul (1977). In this play and subsequent works, such as Dogg’s Hamlet (1979) and Cahoot’s Macbeth (1979), Stoppard

criticized the Communist regimes in Czechoslovakia and in 1985, he wrote the English adaptation of havel’s Largo Desolato (1985), about a paranoid pro-fessor burdened by the political implica-tions of his writing.

Rock ’n’ Roll explores the politics of Czechoslovakia between the 1968 Prague Spring under Alexander Dubcek, whose reforms were eventually suppressed, and the 1990 Velvet Revolution under havel, which led to the re-emergence of a democratic and liberal Czechoslovakia. Tom Stoppard’s personal story and pro-fessional work underscore the history that frames the plot of Rock ’n’ Roll, and many large themes from his previous writings culminate in this new work. But Rock ’n’ Roll is not just a play of ideas. Stoppard’s characters have love affairs and brushes with fame, they argue with their children and professional colleagues and they face down cancer. And, of course, they indulge in sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll.

TOP: Fleur Phillips and Steve Cell in Goodman Theatre’s

1996 production of Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia directed by

Michael Maggio. Photo by Liz Lauren.

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Individuals Rock On!Goodman Theatre applauds the ardent support of the individuals who sponsored the Midwest premiere of Tom Stoppard’s Rock ’n’ Roll, a play about the irrepress-ible power of love, music and freedom during political revolution.

The edith-marie appleton FoundationWomen’s Board of goodman TheatreMajor Production Sponsors

John and Caroline BallantineJoe and Palma Calabreseleon and Joy dreimannlinda hutsonlinda and Peter KrivkovichCatherine C. mouly and leroy T. Carlson, Jr.randy and lisa WhiteSallyan WindtDirector’s Society Sponsors

Commitments as of April 14, 2009.

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Playwright Rebecca Gilman talked with the Goodman’s Literary Manager Tanya Palmer about her upcoming Goodman production, The Crowd You’re In With.

Tanya Palmer: What inspired you to write The Crowd You’re In With?

Rebecca Gilman: It’s a personal play. I was considering writing a play about a real estate agent trying to sell a house that was hard to sell, but the plot really had nothing to do with me. I was talk-ing to Bob Falls about it, and he just looked at me and said, “Why don’t you write something more personal?” And so I thought about the time of transition my husband and I were going through. A lot of our oldest friends had decided to become parents, but we had known for a long time that we didn’t want to be par-ents. That made me think about how we all make choices and sometimes what seem like pretty benign choices actu-ally leave you in the minority, when you didn’t expect to be in the minority.

TP: Where did the play’s title come from?

RG: It’s from the Bob Dylan song “Positively 4th Street,” which is about having a group of friends who are not necessarily on the same page that you’re on—and maybe not even necessarily on your side. Jasper, one of the central characters in the play, is at a point in his life where he’s wondering if he truly con-nects with the people that surround him.

TP: You create an interesting gen-erational tension by introducing two

characters—Karen and Tom, the child-less couple who live upstairs—who are 20 years older than the other characters in the play. Why did you think it was important to have that age difference?

RG: I wanted Karen and Tom to have lived with their decision for a long time and to be happy and comfortable with it. They aren’t questioning their lives, they are just enjoying themselves. I’m always looking for role models, and every once in a while I stumble across a couple who I think have gotten some things right without proselytizing. I wanted to explore those quiet people who don’t usually share their stories. A lot of folks Jasper’s

age think that Karen and Tom are a little sad and pathetic. And they may be sad and pathetic, but I wanted to give Jasper an opportunity to explore whether or not he felt that was true.

TP: The play is set in the backyard of a Chicago two-flat as a group of friends gather for a 4th of July barbeque. Is there anything about Chicago or the apartment that is particularly important to the themes of the play?

RG: I consider Chicago a place where people come when they’re young to make things happen for themselves and then, depending on the decisions that

Interview with Rebecca Gilman

RIGhT: Rebecca Gilman (right) with actors Maggie Siff

and Anthony Starke in rehearsal for Dollhouse. Photo by

Michael Brosilow.

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they make, they’re either able to stay in the city or they move to the suburbs. I think growing old in the city is hard on people because, as exciting as it is, it’s also really stressful. As most of our friends have had children, they have moved to the suburbs. After a while you start looking around and wonder-ing, “Are the only people left in the city single people, childless people and old people?”

People are thrown together in the city, which creates an estranged intimacy. You don’t have significant or intimate rela-tionships with everyone who surrounds you, but you’re still jammed in the same space with them. So how are you influenced by what you see around you? Jasper is hyperaware of the trends that he sees, even in a city as big and diverse as Chicago. he’s starting to feel like everyone is doing the exact same thing, which has an almost Levittown, cookie-cutter feel to it, even though Chicago is such an eclectic place. So, he’s starting to feel like the older that he gets, the more his choices are narrowing, and that’s part of what is freaking him out.

TP: You had an opportunity to develop this play as part of the National Playwrights Conference at the O’Neill Theater Center with director Wendy Goldberg. It was then produced at Magic Theatre in San Francisco, direct-ed by Amy Glaser. What did you learn from these different permutations of the play, and specifically from your col-laboration with Wendy Goldberg, who will be directing the production here at the Goodman?

RG: The biggest changes I’ve made have been to the characters Tom and Karen. I have had to figure out how abrasive Karen could be, and yet still have people able to stand her. She doesn’t pull her punches. Karen and Tom are at an age where they don’t particularly care what people think about them and they’re not bending over backward to please people because they know who they are, they know what they think and they just lay it out there.

The other aspect of the play that I changed is that it now takes place on the 4th of July. The play originally took place at a regular barbeque. But then, maybe because I’ve been to so many ter-rible 4th of July barbeques in Chicago, I began thinking about why it’s such a terrible day to have a barbeque, as opposed to any other day. I realized that the people who can afford to get out of Chicago tend to leave, so the city feels half empty. And going downtown to see the fireworks is such a pain, so even the thing that would make it an interesting, fun day is not even particularly worth it. And you’re celebrating the birth of a country that sometimes, you know, you have a really bad relationship with.

Wendy Goldberg invited me to the work-shop at the O’Neill to work on the play. And pretty much simultaneously, I had sent it to Amy Glaser, who has directed three of my plays at Magic Theatre, and they decided to produce it. Wendy and Amy are two directors who I really trust and who I think are really terrific with new plays. They really help you realize the play that you’re trying to write.

Gilman’s New Work Attracts a CrowdGoodman Theatre thanks the following individuals who have generously support-ed the development of new works this season, including The Crowd You’re In With, Rebecca Gilman’s fresh look at the modern family. Supporting the develop-ment of new work is crucial to sustaining the future of the American theater.

The edith-marie appleton FoundationMajor Production Sponsor

roger and Julie BaskesPatricia Coxeva and michael losaccoKenneth and harle montgomery Foundationmichael and Kay o’halleranalice rapoport and michael Sachs, Sg2mr. and mrs. robert e. ShawBeth and alan Singerorli and Bill Staleyhelen and Sam ZellNew Works Season Sponsors

merle reskinDirectors Society Sponsor

Commitments as of April 14, 2009.

RIGhT: Anthony Starke and

Maggie Siff in Dollhouse. Photo

by Michael Brosilow.

Contributing Sponsor for The Crowd You’re In With

Strong Women, Strong Voices Owen Season Sponsor

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From 1957 to 1963, the wholesomely mischievous Beaver Cleaver pranced into American living rooms. Episode after episode, the Beav and his brother Wally unearthed trouble in their suburban enclave with unwitting charm and goofy middle-class innocence. Their blissfully married parents June and Ward handled the boys’ mishaps with authority, good cheer and the belief that there is one “right” way to be a family. And in the 1950s and ’60s, a majority of American families conformed to that image of nor-malcy: two married parents—a man and a woman—with one or more biological children. It’s been 46 years since the series ended, but the iconic Cleavers remain with us in syndication, and so, to some extent, do their values.

In The Crowd You’re In With, Jasper and Melinda struggle to build a family in a post-Beaver world. Melinda wants children, but Jasper fears that she is only trying to keep up with her pregnant friend Windsong and worries that a child would change his identity. The couple’s landlords, Karen and Tom, are nearly 60 and childless. They believe a baby would have disrupted their loving relationship; for them, familial bliss only takes two. Karen and Tom represent the growing number of American families that don’t conform to the traditional mold—accord-ing to the united States Census Bureau, in 2000 only 23.5 percent of American households consisted of two married parents and one or more children, com-pared with 45 percent in 1960.

Cleaver-esque families have been replaced by a variety of non-traditional family structures: single parents, gay couples, cohabitating straight couples and married couples without children.

Sweeping social upheavals in the 1960s and ’70s allowed people like Karen and Tom to eschew their parents’ values and chart their own courses. In her ground-breaking 1963 book The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan exposed the image of the 1950s happy homemaker as a sham: mothering and housekeeping alone, she argued, do not fulfill every woman. As the women’s movement gained momentum, increasing numbers of women found satisfaction in working outside the home, leaving them with less time for child rearing. At the same time, the advent of reliable birth control (the pill was approved for contraceptive pur-poses by the FDA in 1960) gave couples the ability to delay or avoid pregnancy. It is no coincidence that little girls in the 1960s eagerly traded baby dolls for Barbie dolls: Barbie is a nurse, an on-the-town girl and a multi-sport ath-lete, but she is not a mother. And while straight people discovered the possibility of childlessness, their gay peers increas-ingly chose parenthood; a gay identity no longer signifies a nonfamily identity.

Despite these demographic upheavals, residues of the Leave it to Beaver ideal gnaw at 30-somethings like Melinda and Jasper. Childlessness remains taboo. As Jan Cameron explains in her 1997 book Without Issue, childless people “are expected to explain why they do not

have children—parents are very rarely expected to explain why they do have children. Stereotypically, non-parents are seen as selfish, neurotic, immature or abnormal.” Especially vulnerable to these stereotypes are straight, married, financially secure couples like Karen and Tom, who are just one step from achiev-ing the Beaver ideal. Resolutely justifying their choice, Karen and Tom explain to Melinda that parenthood either “strikes you or it doesn’t.” Melinda exclaims in surprise, “children strike everybody, though.” While Melinda would probably agree that families come in all shapes and sizes, when it comes to charting her own future she still envisions husband, wife and children. here in America, our dreams and ideals have not shifted so swiftly as our demographics.

Growing up in fictitious suburbia, Beaver Cleaver probably imagined that he, too, would acquire a grinning wife and two guileless kids. But the 1983 made-for-TV movie Still the Beaver depicted Beaver as a recently divorced single father. In 20 short years, the world had changed so much that even our icon of familial bliss headed up a nontraditional household. his single-minded parents might have disapproved, but for Beaver and thousands of his peers, there is no single right way to be a family.

According to the United States Census Bureau, in 2000 only 23.5 percent of American households consisted of two married parents and one or more children, compared with 45 percent in 1960.

Don’t Leave It to Beaver: The American Family in FluxBy Neena Arndt

By ReBecca GilmanDirected by RoBeRt Falls

maRcH 13 – aPRil 18, 2010 WORLD PREMIEREthe devastating Johnstown Flood of 1889 serves as the back-drop for this provocative world premiere by Rebecca Gilman.

A TRUE HISTORY OF THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD

By tRacey scott WilsonDirected by cHuck smitH

may 1 – June 6, 2010 this gripping new play rips through the pages of history to uncover the human story at the heart of the 1960s american civil Rights movement. The Good Negro examines the human frailties behind the historic headlines.

GOOD NEGROTHE

By kaRen ZacaRÍasDirected by HenRy GoDineZ

June 19 – July 25, 2010 legendary mexican poet Juana inés de la cruz writes expressive, sensual verse at the Viceroy’s court in the 1600s, a time when it was unfashionable—and sinful—for women to exercise their intellect.

The Sins of Sor Juana

Book by GeoRGe s. kauFman and moRRie RyskinDmusic and lyrics by BeRt kalmaR and HaRRy RuByDirected by HenRy WisHcamPeR

sePtemBeR 18 – octoBeR 25, 2009 Based on the original marx Brothers Broadway hit and film classic, this contemporary adaptation of Animal Crackers is an outrageous, rollicking, laugh-out-loud musical comedy.

AnimalCrackers

IN THE ALBERT

By euGene o’neillDirected by RoBeRt Falls

JanuaRy 16 – FeBRuaRy 21, 2010 BROADWAY-BOUND!Goodman artistic Director Robert Falls and celebrated star Brian Dennehy team up again for a double bill featuring eugene o’neill’s Hughie and samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape.

HughieKrapp’sLast TapeBy samuel BeckettDirected by JenniFeR taRVeR

Official Lighting Sponsor

4 WoRlD PRemieRes, BRoaDWay-BounD classics, a maRX BRos. musical, PHiliP seymouR HoFFman’s GooDman DiRectoRial DeBut—anD so mucH moRe.

A MADCAP, POWERFUL, ORIGINAL, PROVOCATIVE SEASON ONLY THE GOODMAN CAN BRING YOU.

roBerT FallShughie | a True hiSTorY oF The JohnSToWn Flood

Brian dennehYhughie/KraPP’S laST TaPe

PhiliP SeYmour hoFFmanThe long red road

reBeCCa gilmana True hiSTorY oF The JohnSToWn Flood

henrY godineZThe SinS oF Sor Juana

alan groSShigh holidaYS

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A MADCAP, POWERFUL, ORIGINAL, PROVOCATIVE SEASON ONLY THE GOODMAN CAN BRING YOU.

Dates, artists and programs are subject to change.

GO PLATINUM!Become a Platinum Subscriber (Albert and Owen Theatres) See eight plays in two theaters—and experience all the Goodman has to offer!

JenniFer TarverKraPP’S laST TaPe

aida KariCJoan d’arC

ChuCK SmiThThe good negro

TraCeY SCoTT WilSonThe good negro

henrY WiShCamPeranimal CraCKerS

Karen ZaCarÍaSThe SinS oF Sor Juana

By alan GRossDirected by steVen RoBman

octoBeR 31 – noVemBeR 29, 2009 WORLD PREMIEREthis darkly comic, boisterous look at growing up in the chicago suburbs during the early sixties is the story of 13-year-old Billy Roman and the rollicking, anxiety-riddled preparations for his Bar mitzvah.

created by tanya PalmeR and aiDa kaRicDirected by aiDa kaRicadapted from FRieDRicH scHilleR’s Die Jungfrau von Orléansa co-production with the linz 2009 european capital of culture

sePtemBeR 11 – octoBeR 11, 2009 WORLD PREMIEREadapted from schiller’s great romantic tragedy, this riveting world premiere—set to breathtaking live gospel music—places a contemporary spin on the classic story of Joan of arc.

RENEWAL DEADLINE:MAY 15, 2009 DON’T MISS A MOMENT! Renew today at 312.443.3800 or GoodmanTheatre.org

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JOAN D’aRc THE LONG RED ROADBy BRett c. leonaRDDirected by PHiliP seymouR HoFFman

staRts FeBRuaRy 2010 WORLD PREMIEREin this raw, provocative world premiere, sam attempts to drink away his past and exorcise his demons on an indian reserva-tion in south Dakota. The Long Red Road is a searing play about the way one person’s anguish can tear a family apart.

High Holidays

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Magnolia BlossomsOn March 23, friends and guests gathered for the opening night festivities of Regina Taylor’s world-premiere play Magnolia. The group enjoyed cocktails and dinner at Club Petterino’s, with special remarks by Chairman of the Board Shawn Donnelley and playwright Regina Taylor before attending the performance.

Ms. Taylor is a Goodman Artistic Associate and a member of the Artistic Collective. She has written several memorable plays that have been produced at the Goodman, including Crowns and The Dreams of Sarah Breedlove. We are happy to add Magnolia to the list. We would like to thank the Magnolia spon-sors Target; Bank of America; Sondra and Denis healy/Turtle Wax, Inc.; Nancy Lauter McDougal and Alfred L. McDougal; Peter and Linda Bynoe; Joe and Palma Calabrese; Doris and howard Conant; Laurence and September Gray; Brett J. hart and Dontrey Britt hart; Don and Rebecca Ford Terry; Neal Zucker; Leslie Carey; Elizabeth Thompson; Pauline Montgomery and Sheree Franklin-hill.

RIGhT (top to bottom):

Director’s Society Sponsor Doris Conant, Goodman Vice President Lamont Change (Bank

of America), Goodman Artistic Associate and Magnolia playwright Regina Taylor, Director’s

Society Sponsor September Gray, Dardina Karney and Director’s Society Sponsors Palma

Calabrese and Goodman Vice President Joe Calabrese. Bank of America was a Corporate

Sponsor Partner for Magnolia.

Goodman Artistic Associate and Magnolia playwright Regina Taylor with Life Trustee and

Director’s Society Sponsor Peter Bynoe.

howard Conant, Jr. (far left) and Director’s Society Sponsors Doris and howard Conant

with Goodman Artistic Associate and Magnolia playwright Regina Taylor.

Women’s Board Members and part of the Magnolia Women’s Board Consortium Sheree

Franklin-hill and Leslie Carey.

Photos by Abby Emo.

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A Reason to CelebrateOn April 13, the Goodman celebrated the opening night of Naomi Iizuka’s world-premiere play Ghostwritten, a Goodman commission supported by The Joyce Foundation. Sponsors and guests started the evening with a reception and dinner at Club Petterino’s, followed by a performance of the play and a post-show cast party.

Producing new work such as Ghostwritten would not be possible without the support of our sponsors. We would like to give a spe-cial thanks to The Joyce Foundation; National Endowment for the Arts; Sara Lee Foundation; Clerestory Consulting; Roger and Julie Baskes; Patricia Cox; Sondra and Denis healy/Turtle Wax, Inc.; Eva and Michael Losacco; Nancy Lauter McDougal and Alfred L. McDougal; Kenneth and harle Montgomery Foundation; Michael and Kay O’halleran; Alice Rapoport and Michael Sachs, Sg2; Mr. and Mrs. Robert E. Shaw; Beth and Alan Singer; Orli and Bill Staley and helen and Sam Zell.

RIGhT (top to bottom):

New Works Season Sponsors with Ghostwritten playwright Naomi Iizuka and Goodman

Executive Director Roche Schulfer (center). From left to right: Mr. and Mrs. Robert E.

Shaw, Goodman Trustee Alice Rapoport and Roger and Julie Baskes.

Ghostwritten playwright Naomi Iizuka, Michelle Boone (Joyce Foundation) and Executive

Director Roche Schulfer. In 2004, the Goodman received a Joyce Award to commission

this new work from Ms. Iizuka.

Celebrating a Legacy of SupportGoodman Theatre is proud to pay tribute to honorary Chairman and Life Trustee Albert Ivar Goodman and the Edith-Marie Appleton Foundation, who are serving as major sponsors of Rock ’n’ Roll and The Crowd You’re In With. Edith-Marie Appleton was a noted arts patron who had a great love of music, theater, poetry and humor and had a high regard for the role the arts play in changing people’s lives. She instilled all of these passions in her son Albert, and today he carries on her legacy.

“My mother would have loved Rock ’n’ Roll. I introduced her to the genre through The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” Albert noted. “And she introduced me to swing music!”

Albert is a relative of William and Erna Goodman, who founded Goodman Theatre in memory of their son, playwright Kenneth Sawyer Goodman. he began his association with the Goodman in 1994 and since then, Albert and the Edith-Marie Appleton Foundation have played a significant role in the theater’s success. In addition to their numerous production sponsorships over the years, Albert and his late mother have provided extraordinary support for the capital campaign.

The Goodman is pleased to continue its association with Albert and the Edith-Marie Appleton Foundation and graciously thanks them for their outstanding support this season.

RIGhT: Albert Ivar Goodman and his mother, Edith-Marie Appleton at the groundbreaking

for the new Goodman. Photo by John Reilly Photography.

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Celebrating DiversityGoodman Theatre is committed to promoting diversity as a core value in both productions and programming. We are dedi-cated to representing an array of backgrounds and perspectives, ensuring that every community has an opportunity to share its story, both on and off stage. We recently hosted two compli-mentary events to raise awareness of and support for our key diversity initiatives.

On February 24, Chicago business and community leaders gath-ered at The Metropolitan Club for the second annual Diversity Breakfast. Guests networked and enjoyed a breakfast buffet, while learning about the history of diverse educational programs that the Goodman provides—at no cost—to Chicago youth, specifically our Student Subscription Series and General Theatre Studies Program.

On March 25, guests enjoyed a reception at Club Petterino’s, followed by a performance of Regina Taylor’s world-premiere play Magnolia. hosted by the Goodman’s Board of Trustees, Women’s Board and Scenemakers Council, Diversity Night is an evening that unites business professionals and civic leaders with educators, students and artists from the Chicagoland area to celebrate the Goodman’s commitment to multicultural aware-ness and empowerment.

ABOVE (clockwise from top left): 1 Women’s Board member and hostess Pauline Montgomery

and her husband James with Magnolia playwright and Goodman Artistic Associate Regina

Taylor. The Montgomerys opened their home to invited guests to celebrate Magnolia as well

as other diversity initiatives of the Goodman. The Montgomerys live in the childhood home

of Kenneth Sawyer Goodman, the young playwright whose family established the Goodman

after his death in the 1918 flu epidemic. Photo by Abby Emo. 2 Diversity Night Co-Chair

and Women’s Board member Elizabeth Thompson and host Committee member and Life

Trustee Peter C.B. Bynoe with Kate Lawson and Beth Ree from Target. Target was the Lead

Diversity Night Sponsor and Lead Corporate Sponsor for Magnolia. Photo by Chuck Osgood.

3 Student representatives of the Goodman’s Education and Community Programs stand with

Diversity Night Co-Chair and Women’s Board member Elizabeth Thompson, Co-Chair and

Scenemakers Council member Anita Glencoe and host Committee member and Life Trustee

Peter C.B. Bynoe. Photo by Chuck Osgood. 4 Nora E. Moreno Cargie (The Boeing Company),

Goodman Executive Director Roche Schulfer and Michelle T. Boone (The Joyce Foundation)

at the Diversity Breakfast. Photo by Mike Greer. 5 Pat harris and Meredith L. Moore from

McDonald’s Corporation. McDonald’s was a Contributing Sponsor of Diversity Night. Photo

by Chuck Osgood. 6 Guests Drs. Eric and Cheryl Whitaker with Magnolia playwright and

Goodman Artistic Associate Regina Taylor and Goodman Immediate Past Chairman and

Co-host of Diversity Night Lester N. Coney. Photo by Abby Emo.

Lead Diversity Night SponsorLead Corporate Sponsor of Magnolia

Principal Support of Artistic Development and Diversity Initiatives

Diversity Night Contributing Sponsors

Diversity Night Event Sponsor Diversity Breakfast Event Sponsor

Commitments as of April 14, 2009

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The Goodman’s Annual Auction a Smashing SuccessOn February 2, Goodman friends and guests gathered for the annual Fame, Fantasy, Food, Adventure Auction at The Casino Club. The evening raised more than $310,000 for Goodman Theatre. Congratulations to Women’s Board Auction Co-Chairs Swati Mehta and Susan Downing; Trustee Chair Terry Toth; underwriting Chair Stacy Devine; and honorary Co-Chairs Margie Janus and Susan Wislow. Also, special thanks to Trustee and Auctioneer Leslie hindman and her partners for the evening Trustee Les Coney, Robert Clifford, Artistic Director Robert Falls, Bill hood and Trustee Don Thompson.

The auction was made possible by our generous donors, sponsors and underwriters: Event Sponsor American Airlines; individual supporting sponsors Rita and John Canning, Joan and Robert Clifford and Swati and Bobby Mehta; and underwriters Linda and Bill Aylesworth, Michael and Stacy Devine, Margaret and Wayne Janus and Karen and Dick Pigott.

RIGhT: Goodman Vice President and auctioneer of the evening Leslie hindman with

Executive Director Roche Schulfer. Auction Co-Chairs Swati Mehta and Susan Downing.

5th Annual Estate Planning Seminar: Rockin’ Through the Yearsmay 13, 2009Goodman Theatre’s Spotlight Society invites you to save the date for the Annual Estate Planning Seminar presented by the Goodman’s Spotlight Advisory Council, a group of estate plan-ning professionals. The event will begin at 4:30pm on May 13 and will include an estate planning program, audience question-and-answer session, cocktail and light dinner buffet, an artistic program and a performance of Tom Stoppard’s Rock ’n’ Roll. You won’t want to miss this exciting and informative event.

For more information please contact Victoria Rodriguez at 312.443.3811 ext. 539 or VictoriaRodriguez@GoodmanTheatre.org.

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Young Critics Meet with O’Neill Exploration ArtistsParticipants in the Goodman’s joint venture with the Association for Women Journalists, The Cindy Bandle Young Critics Program, attended several pro-ductions as part of A Global Exploration: Eugene O’Neill in the 21st Century, including The Wooster Group’s The Emperor Jones and Companhia Triptal’s Longa Viagem de Volta pra Casa (The Long Voyage Home).

They also had the opportunity to meet two Exploration artists: acclaimed screen and stage actress Carla Gugino and Brazilian producer Carla Estefan of Companhia Triptal. Both women

attended special workshop sessions to speak with the Young Critics, who inter-viewed them for feature articles about the Exploration.

To read the young Critics’ o’Neill features and other reviews, visit www.goodmaneacp.typepad.com/ knowledge_nucleus/critics.

ABOVE: Actress Carla Gugino (center) with Young Critics

participants and mentors.

The Goodman’s Free Summer Program Now Accepting Student ApplicationsPublic and private school students ages 14 to 19 throughout the Chicago metro-politan area are invited to join Goodman Theatre for the FREE General Theatre Studies Program this summer. This six-week intensive introduction to theater arts focuses on critical literacy and storytelling and runs Mondays through Thursdays from June 22 to July 30. A final student-written performance for family and friends will be presented at the Goodman on the evening of August 1.

applications are due Friday, may 1. For more information or to obtain an appli-cation, please contact the Goodman’s education and Community Programs Department at 312.443.5581.

The Goodman Offers Free Science-Themed Readings in June

HaPGooD by Tom StoppardMonday, June 8 at 6pm

Owen TheatreA female British spymaster’s quest to discover the source of an information leak to the Russians is hampered by a whirl of quantum physics, double agents and triple-crosses.

ReykjaVik by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard RhodesMonday, June 15 at 6pm

Owen TheatreScientific and ethical questions are raised at the 1986 summit between President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev.

a NumBeR by Caryl ChurchillMonday, June 22 at 6pm

Owen TheatreThree sons—two of whom are clones of the first—confront their father with the discovery of several genetically identical counterparts.

Seating for the readings is limited and reservations are required. For more information or to reserve tickets, please call the Goodman box office at 312.443.3800.

As part of Science Chicago, Goodman Theatre is proud to present readings of three science-themed plays on three Monday evenings in June. Each reading will be followed by a discussion featuring Goodman artistic staff and noted experts in the fields of phys-ics and bioengineering.

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The CroWd You’re in WiTh maY/Junein the owen

Chicago Symphony Orchestra Offers 25% Off Dvorák Festival Tickets!The Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s sea-son finale Dvorák Festival (May 30-June 20) features all-time favorites like The New World Symphony and the beloved Cello Concerto. Visit www.cso.org/dvorak for the schedule.

Call 312.294.3000 or visit the Symphony Center Box office to redeem this offer. mention code: Special25% when ordering.*

*Offer not valid for 6/5 or 6/7. Other restrictions apply.

We Need Your E-Mail Address!For important programming news, performance reminders, discounts and freebies and nuts-and-bolts information such as street closures, the best way to communicate with you, our valued Subscriber, is through e-mail.

if we already have your e-mail address, we thank you. if we don’t, please e-mail WebSignup@GoodmanTheatre.org. Don’t forget to include your first and last name in the e-mail.

PLEASE NOTE: The Goodman does not trade or share e-mail lists.

LEFT: Director Mary Zimmerman and Goodman Theatre

Executive Director Roche Schulfer at the opening night of Ms.

Zimmerman’s La Sonnambula at The Metropolitan Opera.

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

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WhaT greaT TheaTer Should Be

Saturday, may 30, 20096:30pmtHe FaiRmont cHicaGo

PROCEEDS FROM ThE GALA BENEFIT ThE GOODMAN ThEATRE EDuCATION AND COMMuNITY PROGRAMS.

For more information, please contact katie Frient at 312.443.3811 ext. 586 or at katieFrient@GoodmanTheatre.org.

GOODMAN THEATRE GALA FEATURINGmaNDy PaTiNkiN IN CONCERT WITh Paul FoRD ON PIANO

Gala Sponsor Partners

Sharon and Charles angellJoan and robert CliffordShawn m. donnelleyalbert goodman/The edith-marie appleton FoundationSondra and denis healy/ Turtle Wax, inc.Karen and dick Pigottalice and John J. Sabl

Gala Benefactors

Christine and Paul Branstadellen and Paul gignilliat

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Commitments as of April 14, 2009