News and Notes

It’s been a festive few weeks here at the Goodman. On September 15, we publicly announced our Endowing Excellence campaign—a $15 million effort to provide the Goodman with a permanent cushion of resources to make great theater for years to come. Here at the theater, we had a high-profile breakfast event headlined by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who encouraged an audience of supporters to “get the job done,” by helping us complete the fund-raising campaign, which has raised $10 million so far. You can learn more about the campaign here.

Following the endowment excitement, this past Tuesday we officially kicked off the 2011/2012 Season in style with a day of festivities, absurdities, parties and plays. During the day we sent a brigade of red men out onto the streets to spread the word as we got our hands wet with paint at the theater. And in the evening, we hosted our season opening benefit—wherein more than 400 guests enjoyed cocktails and fine dining in the gorgeously appointed Modern Wing at the Art Institute Chicago (left). Honorees at the night’s event included Chairman Patricia Cox; Red playwright John Logan; Madeleine Grynsztejn, Pritzker Director, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; and James Rondeau, Chair and Frances & Thomas Dittmer Curator of Contemporary Art, Art Institute of Chicago. And of course, following the benefit was the opening-night performance of Red, directed by Artistic Director Robert Falls. Explore our Red video library for a behind-the-scenes look at this amazing play, and if you haven’t bought your tickets yet do so now. Seriously; we just added a week of shows so now’s your chance.

Photo by Liz Lauren.