Goodman Theatre Reveals Writers for Playwrights' Unit, and Schedule for New Stage Amplified Series | Playbill

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News Goodman Theatre Reveals Writers for Playwrights' Unit, and Schedule for New Stage Amplified Series Goodman Theatre's second Playwrights' Unit, "a season-long residency program designed to nurture Chicago's most promising playwrights," will include writers Philip Dawkins (The Homosexuals, Dead Letter Office), Nambi E. Kelley (The Blue Shadow, Xtigone), Elaine Romero (Ponzi, The Dalai Lama is Not Welcome Here) and Martín Zimmerman (White Tie Ball, The Making of a Modern Folk Hero).

The four playwrights were selected by Goodman artistic director Robert Falls, director of new play development Tanya Palmer and the Goodman's artistic team.

According to Goodman, "The writers will develop new plays over the course of the residency, which culminate in final readings in spring 2012. The Playwrights' Unit is part of the Goodman's ongoing initiatives to commission and develop new plays."

The fall 2011 New Stages Amplified series of workshops and readings will include Carlyle Brown's Dartmoor Prison (Oct. 13-23), Laura Jacqmin's Two Lakes, Two Rivers (Nov. 7), Seth Bockley's Ask Aunt Susan (Nov. 10-20), Kathleen Tolan's Chicago Boys (Oct. 27-Nov. 6), Noah Haidle's Smokefall (Oct. 24) and Christopher Shinn's Teddy Ferrara (Nov. 14).

For tickets, reservations and more information about New Stages Amplified, visit GoodmanTheatre.org.

* The Goodman's New Stages Series has provided the first look at nearly 50 new plays, many of which have gone on to receive world-premiere productions at the Goodman. Others have been produced at theatres across the country.

About the Writers in the Playwrights' Unit:

A graduate of Loyola University, Chicago, Philip Dawkins' plays are published through Playscripts, Inc. In 2011, his play The Homosexuals (Jeff Nomination, Best New Work – Play) premiered at About Face Theatre, directed by Bonnie Metzgar. His play Miss Marx or The Involuntary Side Effect of Living appears in Steppenwolf's First Look Series, and Failure: A Love Story is part of the Lark Play Development Center's 2011 Playwrights Week. Other credits include Dead Letter Office (Dog and Pony Theatre), Cast of Characters (Theater Three, NY; Drip Action, U.K.), Yes to Everything! (Chicago, NY, CA, DC), Perfect (the side project); Ugly Baby (Chicago Opera Vanguard/Strawdog Theatre Company), A Still Life in Color (T.U.T.A.) and The Man With a Shattered World (Ethington Theatre, AZ). With artistic partner, Eric C. Reda, Dawkins is a founding member of Chicago Opera Vanguard. He teaches playwriting at Northwestern University and Kung Fu to children through Rising Phoenix Kung Fu.

Raised in Chicago and a product of the Chicago Public Schools, Nambi E. Kelley is an award-winning playwright and actress. Recent playwriting honors include Dramatists Guild Writers Intensive Playwright 2011; Goodman Theatre/Ellen Stone Belic Institute Fellowship Recipient; La MaMa Playwrights Symposium Playwright-In-Residence in Spoleto, Italy under the tutelage of Lisa Kron and Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage; and The Friends Fellowship (Ragdale Foundation). She was also honored at the Black Ensemble Theatre for her contributions in playwriting. Kelley also serves as a Chicago Dramatists Playwright-In-Residence and MPAACT Playwright-In-Residence, Chicago. Most recently, Kelley's play, The Blue Shadow, was produced by Lifeline Theatre and published into an illustrated version for children. Kelley’s Xtigone was presented at La MaMa as part of a new plays festival (featuring Kelley in the title role), and received a workshop production at Cal State University East Bay that was a finalist for the The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts College Theatre Festival 2011. Upcoming projects include Xtigone at San Francisco's African American Shakespeare Company (spring 2012) and performing in her adaptation of The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying for the Singapore Arts Festival (Summer of 2012). Kelley guest lectures at Lake Forest College, has a BFA from The Theatre School at DePaul University and an MFA in interdisciplinary arts from Goddard College in Plainfield, VT.

Elaine Romero is the winner of the Theatre Communications Group/Pew National Theatre Artists in Residency Grant and the TCG/NEA Theatre Residency Program for Playwrights, and has had plays presented at the Alley Theatre, New Theatre and Actors Theatre of Louisville, among others. Recent commissions include Magic Theatre/Sloan Foundation (Walk into the Sea, Sundance Playwrights Retreat and Goodman Theatre's Latino Theatre Festival), InterAct Theatre Company (The Dalai Lama is Not Welcome Here), NNPN/Kitchen Dog Theater (Ponzi), Arkansas Repertory Theatre, Alley Theatre and The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Publishers include Samuel French, Playscripts, Vintage Books and Simon and Schuster. Outside the United States, her plays have been produced in Australia, Panama and Toronto. Ponzi won the Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award. Romero recently taught screenwriting, playwriting and television writing at Northwestern University.

Martín Zimmerman is a multi-ethnic, bilingual playwright whose work "spans a wide variety of styles, but always aspires to a seamless unity of aesthetic and story." His plays include White Tie Ball, The Making of a Modern Folk Hero and Seven Spots on the Sun, and have been produced or developed at The John F. Kennedy Center, The Playwrights' Center, Alliance Theatre, Primary Stages, Seven Devils Playwrights Conference, Theatre Row, Borderlands Theater, the Source Festival, Illinois Shakespeare Festival, The Gift, Red Tape, The University of Texas at Austin and Duke University. A recipient of the Carl Djerassi Playwriting Fellowship, the National New Play Network's Smith Prize and a Core Apprenticeship at The Playwrights' Center, Zimmerman has been a finalist for the Kendeda Competition, the Jerome Fellowship, the Heideman Award and the Bay Area Playwrights Festival.

 
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