Goodman Theater Offers "Great Women at Play" Package

Goodman Theatre introduces a new subscription package for 2014, "Great Women at Play," featuring works written and directed by a handful of the most popular female playwrights working in the American theater today. The deal will offer five plays for the price of four.

"The plays in the Great Women at Play subscription series are a great representation of the range of work that the Goodman does, and the variety of artists with whom we work," said Tanya Palmer, Director of New Play Development.

The package celebrates works by female storytellers include Rebecca Gilman, Rachel Rockwell, Joanie Schultz, Jessica Thebus, Tracey Scott Wilson and Mary Zimmerman.

Among those plays to be produced at the Goodman Theatre this year is Gilman's "Luna Gale," which looks at a family conflict that sparks when a social worker places two teenaged drug addicts' infant in the care of the girl's mother.

"What excites me the most about 'Great Women at Play' is that the Goodman didn't plan their season around this subscription package; they simply compiled a season of great plays, and then realized that there were a lot of women storytellers involved. I love working at the Goodman," said Chicago-based playwright Gilman, whose newest work, "Luna Gale," is part of the package and makes its world premiere in January 2014. "The theater is dedicated to new plays and new voices, and they work to give the artists involved every opportunity to see their work in its best light. I feel very lucky to be a part of this theater."

Thebus directs Tracey Scott Wilson's play "Buzzer," which looks at a young, successful African-American attorney determined to build a life in the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood of his youth. When he returns "home" with his girlfriend and troubled best friend -- both white -- in tow, the trio is soon forced to confront the simmering racial and sexual tensions that exist both inside and outside their apartment.

Schultz directs "Venus in Fur," the story of an actress who arrives several hours late to her audition for a play based on a nineteenth-century erotic novel, and turns the session into a tango for dominance between actress and director, woman and man.

Zimmerman writes and directs "The White Snake," based on the classic Chinese fable about a gentle serpent spirit who lives for centuries coiled on a mountaintop. One day, she transforms herself into a beautiful young woman and, with her feisty companion, Green Snake, travels down to the world of humans. There, she unexpectedly finds love, happiness and family, and vows to remain a human forever. But when a vengeful monk discovers her true identity, he becomes determined to destroy the life that she's built -- and break apart her marriage to her one true love.

And Rockwell directs and choreographs the Alan Jay Lerner/ Frederick Lowe musical "Brigadoon," about a pair of American tourists who get lost on vacation in Scotland and stumble into the mythical village that appears for only one day every 100 years. No outsider can stay in Brigadoon unless they fall in love, and no resident can ever leave, or the village will vanish forever. When Tommy falls for a village girl, he is forced to choose between returning to the world that he knows, or taking a chance on life and love in the mysterious Brigadoon.

This special package for women -- and men -- includes these five plays for the price of four, a complimentary visit to the exclusive Goodman Lounge and the opportunity to win a $100 gift certificate from the Goodman's preferred restaurant partner, Petterino's.