Chicago – Goodman Theatre’s summer programs—PlayBuild Youth Intensive and Musical Theater Intensive—culminate with two final showcases performed by 100 students (aged 14-18) on August 9 and 10 at 7pm. Under the leadership of Walter Director of Education and Engagement Willa J. Taylor, both programs were offered free of charge and taught over the course of six-to-seven weeks in the Alice Rapoport Center for Education and Engagement (“the Alice”). Each performance will be themed to Summer Love to celebrate the various iterations of love. The final showcases take place on Friday, August 9 (PlayBuild Youth Intensive) and Saturday, August 10 at 7pm (Musical Theater Intensive) at Goodman Theatre (170 N. Dearborn). Tickets are free but reservations are required; call 312.443.3800. For more information, visit GoodmanTheatre.org/PlaybuildYouthFinal and GoodmanTheatre.org/MusicalTheaterFinal.
Now in its 12th year, PlayBuild Youth Intensive’s six-week curriculum uses all elements in the creation of theater to cultivate participants own voice and potential for creativity through personal history and storytelling techniques. Led by Taylor and 5 teaching artists—Quenna L. Barrett, Charles Gardner, Sam Mauceri, Ana Velazquez and Paul Whitehouse—more than 600 students have participated in PlayBuild (formerly General Theater Studies) since its inception.
Musical Theater Intensive, now in its 4th year, is led by Goodman teaching artists—Breon Arzell, McKenzie Chinn, Darian Tene and Margaret Winchell. The seven-week program is designed for young artists wishing to pursue a musical theater career. Through skill-building workshops designed to refine skills in acting, dancing, singing, storytelling and ensemble work, participants build a final musical showcase of original creations, works of classic and contemporary musical theater, and pop.
The Goodman is grateful for the generous support of its Education and Engagement summer program sponsors. The James and Madeleine McMullan Family Foundation is the Major Supporter of the Musical Theater Intensive. Kimbra and Mark Walter are the Major Supporters of Playbuild Youth Intensive. Pepsico is the Official Nutrition Sponsor for PlayBuild Youth Intensive. The Walter E. Heller Foundation, BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois, KPMG and Theatre Forward are Supporters of PlayBuild Youth Intensive, and The Goodman Scenemakers Board is the Sponsor Partner for PlayBuild Youth Intensive.
Additionally, the Goodman is also grateful for those individuals and institutions that provide general support of Education and Engagement at Goodman Theatre. The Elizabeth Morse Charitable Trust and the Goodman Theatre Women’s Board are Major Supporters of Education and Engagement. Aon, the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, McDonald’s, US Bank and the Dr. Scholl Foundation are Supporters of Education and Engagement. Michael A. Sachs and Family are the Education and Engagement Season Sponsors. Carol Prins and John Hart and the Estate of Helen J. Peterson are Major Supporters of Education Programs.
About Goodman Theatre
AMERICA’S “BEST REGIONAL THEATRE” (Time magazine), Goodman Theatre is a premier not-for-profit organization distinguished by the excellence and scope of its artistic programming and civic engagement. Led by Artistic Director Robert Falls and Executive Director Roche Schulfer, the theater’s artistic priorities include new play development (more than 150 world or American premieres), large scale musical theater works and reimagined classics (celebrated revivals include Falls’ productions of Death of a Salesman and TheIceman Cometh). Goodman Theatre artists and productions have earned two Pulitzer Prizes, 22 Tony Awards, over 160 Jeff Awards and many more accolades. In addition, the Goodman is the first theater in the world to produce all 10 plays in August Wilson’s “American Century Cycle;” and its annual holiday tradition A ChristmasCarol, which recently marked its 41st production, has created a new generation of theatergoers. The Goodman also frequently serves as a production partner with local off-Loop theaters and national and international companies by providing financial support or physical space for a variety of artistic endeavors.
Committed to three core values of Quality, Diversity and Community, the Goodman proactively makes inclusion the fabric of the institution and develops education and community engagement programs that support arts as education. This practice uses the process of artistic creation to inspire and empower youth, lifelong learners and audiences to find and/or enhance their voices, stories and abilities. The Goodman’s Alice Rapoport Center for Education and Engagement is the home of such programming, most offered free of charge, and has vastly expanded the theater’s ability to touch the lives of Chicagoland citizens (with 85% of youth participants coming from underserved communities) since its 2016 opening.
Goodman Theatre was founded by William O. Goodman and his family in honor of their son Kenneth, an important figure in Chicago’s cultural renaissance in the early 1900s. The Goodman family’s legacy lives on through the continued work and dedication of Kenneth’s family, including Albert Ivar Goodman, who with his late mother, Edith-Marie Appleton, contributed the necessary funds for the creation of the new Goodman center in 2000.
Today, Goodman Theatre leadership also includes the distinguished members of the Artistic Collective: Brian Dennehy, Rebecca Gilman, Henry Godinez, Dael Orlandersmith, Steve Scott, Kimberly Senior, Chuck Smith, Regina Taylor, Henry Wishcamper and Mary Zimmerman. David W. Fox, Jr. is Chairman of Goodman Theatre’s Board of Trustees, Denise Stefan Ginascol is Women’s Board President and Megan McCarthy Hayes is President of the Scenemakers Board for young professionals.
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