New Stages Series

The Goodman Theatre presents its second New Stages Series with a string of concert readings of new works by outstanding local and international playwrights. Script-in-hand readings of five new works are directed by both Chicago-based and national directors. The series of readings are presented in the Goodman’s Owen Theatre and will be open to the public and free of charge.

The schedule for the readings follows:

My Buddy Bill, by Rick Cleveland, directed by Bill Payne
Tuesday, March 22, 7:00 p.m.

West Wing writer Rick Cleveland spills the dirt on his fantastic friendship with Bill Clinton: one day he’s on a tour of the White House, the next he’s playing catch with the First Dog and flying the President’s jet to Amsterdam. But can their friendship survive the perils of politics? Cleveland won an Emmy for his writing on West Wing and served as writer and executive producer for HBO’s Six Feet Under. He is a founding member of Chicago’s American Theater Company.

A Change in the Weather, by Ron Hutchinson, directed by Steve Scott
Wednesday, March 23, 7:00 p.m.

Nobody ruins a dinner party like Death. But when the Grim Reaper sustains a head injury and forgets which guest he came for, it’s up to the assembled friends to take stock of their lives and determine whose time it is to go. Ron Hutchinson’s Moonlight and Magnolias, premiered at the Goodman last spring, is currently playing at New York’s Manhattan Theatre Club.

The Frugal Repast, by Ron Hirsen, directed by Joe Grifasi
Thursday, March 24, 7:00 p.m.

Picasso is a rising star in the Paris art world when his print The Frugal Repast is stolen from its gallery–not once, but three times. The ransom notes ask for three thousand francs, but whose job is it to determine art’s true value? Chicago playwright Ron Hirsen’s The Frugal Repast was a featured play at last summer’s Eugene O’Neill Theater Conference.

Sweet Water Taste, by Gloria Bond Clunie, directed by Mignon McPherson Nance
Friday, March 25, 7:00 p.m.

Old Elijah Beckford has one request for resting in peace: he wants his weary black bones buried in the historically white Beckford Family Cemetery. Clunie’s “serious comedy” explores race relations in this life–and the next. Gloria Bond Clunie’s play won Columbia College’s Theodore Ward Playwriting Award last fall.

Elliot, A Soldier’s Fugue, by Quiara Alegria Hudes, directed by Ann Filmer
Saturday, March 26, 7:00 p.m.

Forging connections between Korea, Vietnam, and today’s Iraq, three generations of Puerto Rican US soldiers narrate each other’s stories, while their letters, drills, and flute fugues find the unique poetry in war’s daily routines. Playwright, performer, and composer Quiara Alegria Hudes is originally from West Philadelphia and counts among her honors the Lucille Lortel Playwriting Fellowship and the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival Latina Playwriting Award.

Reservations are required.