Chicago's Goodman Theatre will offer Pulitzer Prize-winning plays, world premieres, revivals of classics, and more during its 2024-2025 season.
The season will open with Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee's Inherit the Wind, running September 14–October 13. Henry Godinez will direct the 1955 cultural masterwork.
Eboni Booth's Pulitzer Prize-winning Primary Trust will follow, playing October 5–November 3 at the Chicago venue. Malkia Stampley will direct the work exploring the inner and outer lives of Kenneth, a dedicated loner with a passion for drinking Mai Tais on weeknights.
Goodman's 47th annual production of A Christmas Carol will arrive for the holiday season, running November 16–December 30. Jessica Thebus will direct Tom Creamer's adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic, with Larry Yando starring as Scrooge.
The new year will kick off with James Ijames's Pulitzer Prize-winning Fat Ham. Tyrone Phillips will direct the reinvention of Shakespeare's Hamlet, moving the action to a Southern cookout, where queer college kid Juicy has to grapple with the ghost of his father and a supernatural demand for vengeance. It will run January 11–February 23, 2025.
Harold Pinter's Betrayal will follow, running February 8–March 16. Susan V. Booth will direct Pinter's "utterly domestic and utterly dangerous" love triangle drama. Oscar, Emmy, and Golden Globe Award winner Helen Hunt will star.
The world premiere of Zora Howard's Bust, An Afrocurrentist Play will be presented April 19–May 18. Tony nominee Lileana Blain-Cruz will direct the comedic drama that follows Retta and Reggie, who are enjoying an evening on the porch when a longtime neighbor is pulled over by the police just before turning into his driveway.
A new, currently untitled play from Jordan Harrison will make its world premiere beginning in late May, with specific dates to be announced. Tony winner David Cromer will return to his hometown to direct.
The season will conclude with Lili-Anne Brown’s new production of the Broadway musical The Color Purple, running June 21–July 27. Based on the novel by Alice Walker, the musical features a book by Marsha Norman and a score by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, and Stephen Bray.
Additional casting and creative team members will be announced at a later date.
“Our stage is our audience’s space of possibility, where ephemeral moments make indelible memories through big, breathtaking, ‘why-not’ productions of some of the best new plays and classic works,” said
Artistic Director Booth in a statement. “The upcoming season is one deeply attuned to our current moment, a time when how and with whom we connect has never been more important. These plays lean into the beautiful danger of trying to make community in a new place. They ask you to look hard at your closest relationships—and consider what you might be missing. Ultimately, I’m interested in that which brings us together as people. Our 2024/2025 season is an invitation to leave our differences at the door and surrender to story. Gather with friends. Laugh with a loved one. Relax, exhale away the noise and the daily grind. Let the art on stage transcend and transport us to a place of possibility.”
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