Smith, Yulin, et al. Set for Goodman’s Horton Foote Festival

The Goodman Theatre has announced further programming for its Horton Foote Festival, to take place in early 2008. The celebration will include a conversation with the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, in addition to performances, screenings of his films, and panel discussions.

The Festival will feature Foote’s Talking Pictures, about the residents of a small Texas boarding house in 1929, directed by Henry Wishcamper (starting January 26); a pair of one-acts, Blind Date, in which a well-meaning aunt tries to arrange the social life of her reluctant niece, and The Actor (starts February 21); and The Trip to Bountiful, directed by Harris Yulin and starring Lois Smith in her multi-award-winning performance as Carrie Watts, a widow who dreams of returning to her childhood home (starts March 1).

As previously reported, The Goodman will also present Sarah Ruhl’s Passion Play: A Cycle, directed by Mark Wing-Davey; Eduardo Machado’s The Cook, directed by Henry Godinez; the 30th anniversary production of its adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, directed by William Brown; Conor McPherson’s Broadway hit Shining City, directed by Tony Award winner Robert Falls; Ain’t Misbehavin’, directed by Chuck Smith; Leslie Arden and Rebecca Gilman’s The Boys Are Coming Home, a new musical based on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, directed by David Petrarca; and Ifa Bayeza’s The Ballad of Emmet Till, based on the 1955 lynching of a 14-year-old boy, directed by Kate Whoriskey. The season will conclude in August 2008 with the Latino Theatre Festival, curated by Godinez.

For more information, call 312-443-3800 or visit www.goodmantheatre.org.