Posted 19 days ago
5 MIN READ -- Cheers to 100 years! Artistic Director Susan V. Booth and Executive Director John Collins announce an epic line-up of world-class talent for Goodman Theatre’s upcoming Centennial 2025/2026 Season.
Stage and screen stars, internationally acclaimed musical artists and Chicago favorites join for a celebratory season that honors the past and sets a bold stage for The Goodman’s second century.
Starting in September 2025 and continuing through August 2026 the Goodman announces eleven productions: six world premieres (including two musicals) and one revival, a major new downtown cultural attraction and three annual productions. In addition, there will be a year-long citywide event, and a festival of new plays all set to help celebrate the 100th year of Chicago's largest not-for-profit resident theatre.
The productions- Albert Theatre
Four productions take the 856-seat Albert Theatre Stage.
- Opening the Centennial Season is the world premiere of Ashland Avenue by Lee Kirk, directed by Susan V. Booth and starring Jenna Fischer (The Office).
- Next, Richard Greenberg’s world-premiere adaptation of Philip Barry’s Holiday, directed by Robert Falls, takes the stage. In the wealthy world of the Upper East Side Setons, matters of the heart are a family affair.
- August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom appears in a major revival directed by Chuck Smith with Harry J. Lennix as associate director and music director.
- Megan Mullally stars in the world-premiere musical Iceboy! or, the Completely Untrue Story of How Eugene O’Neill Came to Write The Iceman Cometh, music by Mark Hollmann, lyrics by Hollmann and Jay Reiss, book by Erin Quinn Purcell and Reiss, directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall.
World premiere productions - OWen theatre
Three world premieres take the stage in the 350-seat flexible Owen Theatre
- Beginning with Revolution(s) by Zayd Ayers Dohrn, music and lyrics by Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave and The Nightwatchman), directed by Steve H. Broadnax, III
- The world-premiere adaptation of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Marco Antonio Rodriguez, based on the novel by Junot Díaz, directed by Wendy Mateo
- The world premiere of Dael Orlandersmith’s newest work, Blood Memory, directed by Neel Keller.
Downtown cultural attraction
A major new downtown Chicago cultural attraction, Theater of the Mind, by Academy, Grammy and Tony Award-winning artist David Byrne (Broadway’s Here Lies Love with Fatboy Slim, American Utopia and the renowned group Talking Heads) with writer Mala Gaonkar, is a one-of-a-kind theatrical experience audiences will see, feel, taste and hear. Inspired by both historical and current neuroscience research, it’s an intimate and immersive journey inside how we see and create our worlds. Under director Andrew Scoville, audiences move through a series of rooms with a guide, participating in thought-provoking experiences—and then marvel at the wonders of the mind. Theater of the Mind debuts during The Goodman’s Centennial 25/26 Season at the Reid Building (333 N. LaSalle).
100 free acts of theatre
An unprecedented year-long offering, 100 Free Acts of Theater activates each of Chicago’s 50 wards with arts programming—produced in partnership with the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE). This citywide event is offered free of charge as a way to give back to the community that makes Chicago a great theater town. Details, including programs and creative partners, will be announced soon.
Special Events
You won't want to miss this crowd favorite! Returning for it's 48th annual year, A Christmas Carol, directed by Malkia Stampley, starring Christopher Donahue in his second year as Scrooge will return to the stage.
Step into The Magic Parlour where the impossible becomes reality, right before your eyes—and sometimes in your own hands, for a show that incorporates magic and mind reading. Dennis Watkins’ The Magic Parlour continues for a third year and through the Centennial Season at 50 W. Randolph, presented by the Goodman and Petterino’s.
For more information on The Goodman Theatre's 100th anniversary program visit their website here.
All images and photographs courtesy of the Goodman Theatre.
