As previously reported, John Mahoney will return to the city where he got his start, Chicago, to star in Romance, which Pam MacKinnon will direct. Joining him will be Matt DeCaro, Christian Stolte, David Pasquesi, Matthew Krause, John LaGuardia and Steve Pickering.

Mahoney will play the drug-addled judge in Mamet's arch and far-ranging farce about racism, politics, sex and the legal system. It will be Mahoney's first appearance at the Goodman in 15 years. The actor is an ensemble member at another prominent Windy City company, Steppenwolf.

The festival will also include new productions of A Life in the Theatre and Mamet's family-oriented play The Revenge of the Space Pandas or Binky Rudich and the Two-Speed Clock.

Romance will run in repertory with a festival of Mamet one-acts, playing April 1-23. The one-act plays will be grouped together according to common themes, in three evenings entitled "Homecomings" (including The Duck Variations, The Disappearance of the Jews and Home); "Daughters, Mothers, and Sisters" (including Almost Done, Reunion, Dark Pony and Jolly); and "Ghost Stories" (including The Shawl and No One Will Be Immune).

It will be a homecoming for the playwright. Mamet's career in the '70s and early '80s is seen as very much entwined with the renaissance of Windy City theatre. His star first rose in his native Chicago, where he found a champion in the Goodman and its then-artistic director, Gregory Mosher. American Buffalo had its premiere at the Goodman in 1975, and Glengarry Glen Ross played the Goodman before moving to Broadway.