CONTACT: Denise Schneider/Ramsey Carey FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
312.443.5151 or February 13, 2018
JO CATTELL NAMED 2017/2018 MICHAEL MAGGIO DIRECTING FELLOW AT GOODMAN THEATRE
***FORMER MICHAEL MAGGIO FELLOW VANESSA STALLING DIRECTS THE CHICAGO PREMIERE OF THE WOLVES,
NOW APPEARING THROUGH MARCH 11***
(Chicago, IL) Goodman Theatre announces Jo Cattell as the recipient of the 2017/2018 Michael Maggio Directing Fellowship, an honor reserved for early-career Chicago-based directors. Cattell will gain complete access to the artistic process at the Goodman, includingtheopportunity to assist on a Goodman production—from early research and design through the casting and rehearsal process to the opening. The annual fellowship was established in 2002 to honor the memory and artistry of Goodman Associate Artistic Director Michael Maggio (1951 – 2000) who directed a total of 22 productions at the Goodman and more than 60 productions around the country.
“Exposure is part of an artist’s process, so it is thrilling to be gifted a year submerged in the expertise of the Goodman’s creative and production team(s), and I eagerly anticipate the many ways in which my work will be, consequently lifted,” said Cattell. “My artistry is taking me on adventures exploring different theatrical forms and how that impacts both the space we share and storytelling. Now, more than ever, it is imperative for us to create space for people to come together and share experience.”
Cattell is currently creating An Epic Tale of Scale for Chicago Children’s Theatre, with Goodman Artistic Associate Henry Wishcamper, for performance later this year. She is part of the LightPoets (along with dandypunk and Darin Basile), whose immersive theater show, HEARTCORPS: Riders of the Storyboard, premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and is currently in development for a full production. Recent credits includeassociate director on Shakespeare in Love (Chicago Shakespeare Theater), Tumbao(Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s 1700 Theatre) andDon Chipotle: Origin, a pilot webisode. Cattell has worked with numerous theater and television companies, including the BBC, Sky Television, Cirque du Soleil, Chicago the musical (West End, Korean/Japanese tour), ChittyChitty Bang Bang (West End), Stomp Out Loud (Las Vegas), Pentabus Theatre, Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater, Route 66, Origin Theatre, Leviathan Lab and Culture Project. Cattell was awarded the 3Arts Award for her work as a theatermaker in 2016.
Former Michael Maggio Directing Fellow Vanessa Stalling (2015/2016)launches the 2018 Owen Theatre season with the Chicago premiere of Sarah DeLappe’sThe Wolves. Hailed as a “smart, hilarious, delightful meditation on society, sex and soccer” (The Village Voice), the play features a 10-member all-female, all-Chicago cast and follows a suburban soccer girls team as they navigate life’s big questions and wage their own tiny battles.The Wolves appears through March 11, 2018 in Goodman Theatre’s 350-seat flexible Owen Theatre. Tickets ($10 - $47; subject to change) are available at GoodmanTheatre.org/TheWolves by phone at 312.443.3800 or at the box office (170 N. Dearborn).
Previous Maggio Fellows also include:Jess McLeod (2016/2017), Marti Lyons (2014/2015), Erica Weiss (2013/2014), Jimmy McDermott (2012/2013), Anna Bahow (2011/2012), Joanie Schultz (2009/2010), Anthony Moseley (2007/2008), Dado (2006/2007), Ann Filmer (2005/2006), Mignon McPherson-Nance (2003/2004) and Lynn Ann Bernatowicz (2002/2003).
ABOUT GOODMAN THEATRE
AMERICA’S “BEST REGIONAL THEATRE” (Time magazine), Goodman Theatre is a premiernot-for-profit organization distinguished by theexcellence and scope of its artistic programmingand civic engagement. Led by Artistic DirectorRobert Falls and Executive Director RocheSchulfer, the theater’s artistic priorities includenew play development (more than 150 world orAmerican premieres),large scale musical theater works and reimaginedclassics (celebrated revivals include Falls’productions of Death of a Salesman and TheIceman Cometh). Goodman Theatre artists andproductions have earned two Pulitzer Prizes, 22Tony Awards, over 160 Jeff Awards and manymore accolades. In addition, the Goodman is thefirst theater in the world to produce all 10 playsin August Wilson’s “American Century Cycle”and its annual holiday tradition A ChristmasCarol, which celebrated its 40th anniversary thisseason, has created a new generation of theatergoers.The Goodman also frequently serves asa production partner with local off-Loop theatersand national and international companies byproviding financial support or physical space fora 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, Chuck Smith, Regina Taylor, Henry Wishcamper and Mary Zimmerman. David W. Fox, Jr.is Chair of Goodman Theatre’s Board of Trustees, Cynthia K. Scholl is Women’s Board President and Justin A. Kulovsek is President of the Scenemakers Board for young professionals.
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