Iizuka's Grimm-Inspired Ghostwritten Opens in Chicago April 13

By Kenneth Jones
13 Apr 2009

Ghostwritten stars Lisa Tejero and Kim Martin-Cotten
Ghostwritten stars Lisa Tejero and Kim Martin-Cotten
Photo by Peter Wynn Thompson

Lisa Tejero, Kim Martin-Cotton, Dieterich Gray, Arthur Acuna, Tiffany Villarin and Dan Waller star in Goodman Theatre's world premiere of Naomi Iizuka's tale of family ties and mystical stories, Ghostwritten, opening April 13 after previews from April 4.

Performances continue to May 3 in Chicago.

Lisa Portes, who has guided the play from its first appearance at the 2007 New Stages Series at the Goodman, directs.

Tejero was seen in Chicago's Mirror of the Invisible World and Metamorphoses. Martin-Cotton was in Chicago's King Lear.

Based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale "Rumpelstiltskin," according to Goodman, Ghostwritten "shows the lengths families will go in order to protect their loved ones. This journey begins in Southeast Asia, when a traveling American woman, Susan, strikes a bargain with a mysterious stranger. Twenty years later, Susan has become an acclaimed chef specializing in Asian cuisine and the mother of an adopted Vietnamese-born daughter. She is successful beyond her wildest dreams — until the stranger from her past reappears to collect on the debt."

"Like all fairy tales there is a much deeper human meaning rooted in these characters and their stories," said Iizuka, who drew on her own multicultural background to explore the many different paths her characters take. "Being able to tell the stories of real immigrants who have moved their lives to the cultural collision that is America honors their struggle for identity while sharing their tales of survival. The play is based on a fairy tale, but characters are rooted in the human reality of acceptance, family and self-appreciation."

The creative team includes set designer Linda Buchanan, who uses a "runway" configuration, to transform the 400-seat flexible Owen Theatre "into a mystical river, a secluded forest and a bustling market"; Rachel Healy (costumes), Keith Parham (lighting) and Andre Pluess (sound).

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Born in Tokyo and raised in Japan, Indonesia, Holland and Washington, DC, Iizuka's work includes 36 Views; Anon(ymous); Aloha, Say the Pretty Girls; After a Hundred Years; At the Vanishing Point; Polaroid Stories; Language of Angels; Tattoo Girl and Skin. Her latest play, Strike-Slip, premiered at the 2007 Humana Festival of New Plays.

For more information visit GoodmanTheatre.org.

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Ghostwritten is a Goodman commission supported by The Joyce Foundation.