Playwright Charlie Oh’s absurdist, high-stakes tale of global hi-jinks with grave consequences, White Monkey, appears as the next reading in Goodman Theatre’s Future Labs series, now in its second season. Mikael Burke directs the reading—the Goodman’s fourth in a line-up of six anticipated offerings—of Oh’s sweeping epic that takes audiences from the streets, factories and slums of Shenzhen all the way up to the penthouses of the political elite. Future Labs develops works authored and directed by Black, Indigenous, Latinx, AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander), SWANA (Southwest Asian/North African) and other artists of color; the series is curated by Associate Director of Education & Engagement Quenna L. Barrett, Director of New Works Jonathan L. Green, Video Producer Alberto Mendoza, Producer Malkia Stampley and a cross-departmental team of Goodman staff holding intersectional identities. The reading of White Monkey takes place on May 28 at 7pm at Goodman Theatre (170 N. Dearborn). Tickets are free, but registration is required; visit GoodmanTheatre.org/WhiteMonkey. In addition, the Goodman is now accepting applications for the Playwrights Unit, a season-long residency program now in its 12th year, that invites up to four playwrights annually to develop new works in partnership with Goodman’s literary staff and fellow cohort writers. Applications are open through June 14; visit GoodmanTheatre.org/PlaywrightsUnit.
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 and Rosenthal Family, Mayer Brown LLP, and Shaw Family Supporting Organization, Support of New Work.
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ABOUT THE PLAY AND PROGRAMS
In White Monkey, Li runs a "rent-a-foreigner" agency, loaning out white actors to Chinese businesses looking to boost their international prestige. She finally meets an assignment worthy of her creativity and ambition: populate an entire ghost city with white people in order to convince skeptical Chinese buyers to move in. It’s Li’s chance at the Chinese Dream, but what will this exorbitant lie cost her?
Charlie Oh is a playwright in the Juilliard School’s Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program. His work has been developed at Manhattan Theatre Club, South Coast Rep, the BMI Lehmen Engel Musical Theatre Workshop, NYC Songspace, The Brooklyn Generator, Foundation's Relentless Award. His play Coleman ‘72 won the Kennedy Center's Paul Stephen Lim Playwriting Award. He is a winner of the Disney/NMI 2018 New Voices Project and the Craig Carnelia Songwriting Award. He currently holds a commission from Manhattan Theater Club and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. He is a graduate of Northwestern University, where he studied playwriting under Laura Schellhardt. Acting credits include The King and I directed by Bartlett Sher and All These Small Moments (Tribeca Film Festival).
Mikael Burke is a Chicago-based director, deviser and educator. A Princess Grace Award winner and Jeff Award-nominated director, Mikael has worked with Victory Gardens Theater, Northlight Theatre, Jackalope Theatre Company, Windy City Playhouse, About Face Theatre, First Floor Theater, American Theatre Company, Chicago Dramatists and The Story Theatre in Chicago; and regionally with Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, Forward Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Asolo Repertory Theatre, Geva Theatre Center and Phoenix Theatre. When not directing, Mikael serves as Associate Artistic Director at About Face Theatre in Chicago. Recent directing credits include the world premiere of The Magnolia Ballet by Terry Guest; The Island by Athol Fugard, John Kani and Winston Ntshona; Mrs. Harrison by R. Eric Thomas; we are continuous by Harrison David Rivers; Kill Move Paradise by James Ijames and The Agitators by Mat Smart. mklburke.com
The Future Labs development series is the latest effort among the Goodman ’s programs that support living writers and develop new plays—including New Stages, Playwrights Unit and more than two dozen individual artist commissions. Designed primarily for Chicago-based writers who have not had a play produced at the Goodman, Future Labs projects receive rehearsal time, artistic, dramaturgical and casting support and an optional free public reading. In its inaugural season, Future Labs workshopped and developed seven plays. One of those plays, Martin Yousif Zebari’s Layalina, which received further cultivation in Goodman’s 17th annual New Stages Festival—an annual celebration of innovative new work by some of the country's most singular and ambitious playwrights— will appear in full production in the Owen as part of Goodman’s 2022-23 season. Max Yu’s Nightwatch, also went on to debut as a developmental production in the New Stages Festival. Now in its second season, Future Labs welcomes project proposals on an ongoing basis, exclusively seeking bold, imaginative works from Black, Indigenous, Latinx, AAPI, SWANA and other playwrights of color for development and public presentation. Visit GoodmanTheatre.org/FutureLabs for submission details.
Goodman’s commitment to commissioning emerging artists and cultivating diverse voices and approaches to playwriting continues as applications for the season-long residency program, Playwrights Unit, open until June 14. Established in 2010, the program invites up to four playwrights each year to develop new works, meeting twice per month with Goodman’s literary staff and other cohort writers to discuss their plays-in-progress. In recent years, audiences have seen Playwrights Unit works in the Owen Theatre such as Andrew Hinderaker’s The Magic Play, Seth Bockley's Ask Aunt Susan, Kristiana Rae Colón's florissant & canfield, Martín Zimmerman's The Solid Sand Below, and Ricardo Gamboa’s The Wizards. Most recently in March, 2020/21 Playwright Unit cohort member Mallory Raven-Ellen Backstrom’s Cephianne’s Reflection was the featured play in a sold-out Future Labs staged reading.
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 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. 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.