New Works by Rebecca Gilman, Noah Haidle, Seth Bockley on Goodman's 2013-14 Slate, Plus Brigadoon and The White Snake

By Kenneth Jones
February 28, 2013

The Goodman Theatre in Chicago announced three world premieres for its 2013-14 season, including Luna Gale by Rebecca Gilman, directed by Robert Falls; Smokefall by Noah Haidle, a Goodman commission directed by Anne Kauffman in a world-premiere co-production with South Coast Repertory; and Ask Aunt Susan, Seth Bockley's Goodman commission, directed by Henry Wishcamper.

The full season schedule, announced Feb. 27, also features the previously revealed revised revival of the 1947 Lerner and Loewe musical Brigadoon, directed by Rachel Rockwell, plus the Chicago premieres of David Ives' sex-and-power play Venus in Fur, directed by Joanie Schultz; Cheryl L. West's Pullman Porter Blues, about Depression-era African-American train employees on the line between Chicago and New Orleans, directed by Chuck Smith; The White Snake, adapted and directed by Metamorphoses Tony Award winner Mary Zimmerman from a Chinese fable; and Tracey Scott Wilson's Buzzer, a look at race and class, directed by Jessica Thebus.

The annual New Stages series will include at least two workshop productions plus three staged readings of plays in development by Latino writers, Dec. 7-22, in the Owen Theatre. The annual production of A Christmas Carol will also return.

Here's a look at the three world premieres planned by the Goodman:

Smokefall
By Noah Haidle
Directed by Anne Kauffman
A World Premiere Goodman Commission in the Owen Thetare
A Co-Production with South Coast Repertory
Oct. 5-Nov. 3, 2013
"Change is in the air as Violet prepares to bring twin sons into the world. Inside her womb the boys contemplate their future, while her outer world is in transformation: her husband is secretly planning to leave her; her father is slipping into senility; and her daughter has taken a vow of silence. Smokefall follows the lives of this family in an expansive poetic treatise on the fragility of life and the power of love."

Luna Gale
By Rebecca Gilman
Directed by Robert Falls
World Premiere in the Albert Theatre
Jan. 18-Feb. 23, 2014
"Caroline, a veteran social worker, thinks she has a typical case on her hands when she meets Peter and Karlie, two teenaged drug addicts accused of neglecting their baby. But when she places their infant daughter in the care of Karlie's mother, Caroline sparks a family conflict that exposes a shadowy past — and forces her to make a decision with potentially disastrous consequences. Luna Gale is an unflinching examination of the reverberating effects of denial and betrayal."

Ask Aunt Susan
By Seth Bockley
Directed by Henry Wishcamper
A World Premiere Goodman Commission in the Owen Theatre
May 24-June 22, 2014
"Aunt Susan is a twenty-something man who moonlights as an online advice guru. When 'Ask Aunt Susan' becomes the web's hottest spot for self-help, Aunt Susan's boss, a reckless funder, rakes in the profits from women's everyday woes. But as her online reputation mushrooms, so does Aunt Susan's web of deceit—and soon the phenomenon is much bigger than Aunt Susan could have ever imagined."

For more information, visit GoodmanTheatre.org.

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Goodman Theatre's two-theatre complex is on North Dearborn Street. Founded in 1925, Chicago's oldest and largest not-for-profit resident theatre is currently under the leadership of artistic director Robert Falls and executive director Roche Schulfer.