Goodman Theatre’s commitment to cultivating diverse voices and approaches to playwriting continues in its 2022/2023 Season. Today, the Goodman named four Chicago-based writers to its season-long residency program, the Playwrights Unit—Lena Barnard, a writer and dramaturg with theatrical roots in Austin and Philadelphia; Dillon Chitto, an Indigenous playwright whose comedic play Pueblo Revolt explores the Indigenous Pueblo population’s rebellion against occupying Spanish rule; Hanna Kime, an O’Neill-nominated playwright (The Best Damn Thing; The Targeted) who has worked with Steep Theatre, First Floor Theatre, Jackalope Theatre, among others; and Jarrett King, a longtime Chicago actor and writer whose recent work includes an Afrofuturist reimagining of the War of the Worlds radio broadcast (now nominated for 12 B. Iden Payne Awards). The Playwrights Unit is an annual residency that meets bi-monthly with Goodman’s literary staff and other cohort writers to discuss plays-in-progress. The residency culminates in a public staged reading of each new play in Summer 2023. While details for Goodman’s New Stages Festival are finalized, performance dates are December 1 – 18, 2022.
Additionally, Goodman calls all early-career directors to apply to the 2022/2023 Michael Maggio Directing Fellowship, now in its 21st year.. The annual fellowship was established in 2002 to honor the memory and artistry of Goodman Associate Artistic Director Michael Maggio (1951 – 2000) who directed 22 productions at the Goodman and more than 60 productions at venues across the country. The selected fellow will gain complete access to the artistic process at the Goodman, including the opportunity to assist on a Goodman production—from early research and design through the casting and rehearsal process to opening night. Submissions (deadline November 1, 2022), including a resume, reviews of previous work, two letters of reference and a detailed statement of personal and artistic goals, can be sent directly to Lena Romano, Producing Assistant at Goodman Theatre (170 North Dearborn) or LenaRomano@GoodmanTheatre.org. More information can be found at GoodmanTheatre.org/About.
The Goodman is grateful for the generosity of its New Work sponsors, including: Pritzker Pucker Family Foundation and the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, Major Support of New Work; Ruth D. and Ken M. Davee New Works Fund, Major Support of New Play Development; The Glasser Family, Mayer Brown LLP, and Shaw Family Supporting Organization, Support of New Work.
About the 2022/2023 Playwrights Unit Members
Lena Barnard is a queer playwright, dramaturg and theater maker. Currently based in Chicago, she has also made work in Austin and Philadelphia. Her work has been read and developed by the Sewanee Writers' Conference, the Philadelphia Artists' Collective, the SoLow Festival, UT New Theatre, Frontera Fest, Azuka Theatre, the Cohen New Works Festival, and PlayPenn. She was a member of the second class of the Philadelphia playwright's lab, the Foundry @ PlayPenn. She has a BA from Bryn Mawr College and an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin. lenabarnard.com
Dillon Chitto is an Indigenous playwright of Mississippi Choctaw, Laguna, and Isleta Pueblo descent from Santa Fe, New Mexico. There, he learned the importance of art, culture, and traditions from his family and members of his community. In his playwriting, he connects these ideas using storytelling techniques learned throughout his life. He currently lives in Chicago, Illinois. He serves as Literary Manager for BoHo Theatre Company. In the past, Dillon has worked with Native Voices, AlterTheater Ensemble, Yale Indigenous Performing Arts Program, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and Arena Stage.
Hanna Kime is a Chicago-based playwright. Recent works include The Best Damn Thing (2021 O’Neill Finalist, selected for the Up: Renewal Reading Series), The Targeted (2020 O’Neill Finalist, 2021 BAPF Semifinalist), and Now More Than Ever (winner of Oklahoma City Rep’s Stage@Home New Voices Contest). Her full-length works have been read or developed with Steep Theatre, First Floor Theatre, Jackalope Theatre, The New Coordinates, Broken Nose Theatre, First Floor Theater (where she is a Company Member), and Sideshow Theatre (where she is an Ensemble Member). She graduated from the University of Chicago with degrees in English and Gender and Sexuality Studies. Outside of her own writing, Hanna works as a dramaturg and teaching artist. Over the 2020-2021 academic year, Hanna led a cohort of 8th graders from John Burroughs School in devising a digital play, A Joint Session. She currently serves as a Scriptshare reader with Playwrights Realm in New York, and she previously served as First Floor Theater’s Literary Manager from 2018-2021. Current projects include a commission with St. Louis Shakespeare Festival’s Confluence Writers Project and a feature-film adaptation of her play The Best Damn Thing. hannakime.com
Jarrett King is an actor, playwright, and educator originally from Austin, Texas. His play A War of the Worlds—an Afrofuturist reimagining of the War of the Worlds radio broadcast—was the inaugural play in Penfold Theatre Company’s commission series. Other works include The Possible and Box, which will premiere at Penfold in 2023. As an actor, he has nearly two decades worth of credits performing in film, television, and professional theaters including Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Salvage Vanguard, Penfold Theatre, and the Mary Moody Northen Theatre. He has received Austin Critics Table and B. Iden Payne awards for his work and is a two-time second rounder at the Austin Film Festival. He is a teaching artist at Steppenwolf Theatre and Silk Road Rising and has taught for Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s Shakespeare Slam. He is an adjunct professor at Loyola University, teaching courses in acting and teaching artistry. He is currently an Associate Artistic Director at Penfold Theatre Company. iamjarrettking.com
About Goodman Theatre
Chicago’s theater since 1925, Goodman Theatre is a not-for-profit arts and community organization in the heart of the Loop, distinguished by the excellence and scope of its artistic programming and community engagement.
Led by Artistic Director Susan V. Booth 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. Artists and productions have earner two Pulitzer Prizes, 22 Tony Awards and more than 160 Jeff Awards, among other accolades. The Goodman is the first theater in the world to produce all 10 plays in August Wilson’s “American Century Cycle.” Its longtime annual holiday tradition A Christmas Carol, now in its fifth decade, has created a new generation of theatergoers in Chicago. The Goodman also frequently serves as a production and program partner with national and international companies and Chicago’s Off-Loop theaters.
Using the tools of the theatrical profession, the Goodman’s Education and Engagement programs aim to develop generations of citizens who understand the cultures and stories of diverse voices. The Goodman’s Alice Rapoport Center for Education and Engagement is the home of these programs, which are offered free of charge for Chicago youth—85% of whom come from underserved communities—schools and life-long learners.
As a cultural and community organization invested in quality, diversity and community, Goodman Theatre is committed to using the art of theater for a better Chicago. Goodman Theatre’s Action Plan for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Anti-Racism and Access (IDEAA) was born out of the belief that progress means action, which includes building on the decades-long commitment to using art, assets and resources to contribute to a more just, equitable and anti-racist society.
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 on the new Goodman center in 2000.
Today, Goodman Theatre leadership also includes the distinguished members of the Artistic Collective: Rebecca Gilman, Dael Orlandersmith, Henry Godinez, Steve Scott, Kimberly Senior, Chuck Smith, Regina Taylor and Mary Zimmerman. Jeff Hesse is Chairman of Goodman Theatre’s Board of Trustees, Fran Del Boca is Women’s Board President and Craig McCaw is President of the Scenemakers Board for young professionals.