Robert Falls Names Henry Wishcamper As New Resident Artistic Associate Of Goodman Theatre’s Artistic Collective

Artistic Director Robert Falls names Henry Wishcamper a new resident artistic associate of Goodman Theatre’s Artistic Collective—a group of culturally and aesthetically diverse American theater directors, playwrights and actors who make the Goodman their artistic home and enable the theater’s international reputation for excellence. Wishcamper joins eight current collective members including Falls, who enters his 26th season as the artistic leader of the Goodman; Artistic Associate Brian Dennehy; Artistic Associate Rebecca Gilman; Resident Artistic Associate Henry Godinez; Associate Producer Steve Scott; Resident Director Chuck Smith; Artistic Associate Regina Taylor; and Manilow Resident Director Mary Zimmerman.

“I first met Henry Wishcamper when he assisted me on the 2006 Broadway production of Shining City; and since then established himself as a remarkable young director in his own right,” said Artistic Director Robert Falls. “His range and talent has been illustrated by his work off Broadway and at venues across the country—including his memorable productions of Horton Foote’s Talking Pictures and the reimagined Marx Brothers musical Animal Crackers here at the Goodman. I am thrilled to welcome him to the Collective.”

Wishcamper, who recently relocated to Chicago for his new Resident Artistic Associate position after 15 years in New York City, will direct the Chicago premiere of Jon Robin Baitz’s Other Desert Cities this winter at the Goodman (January 12 – February 17, 2013). “I am extremely honored to make the Goodman, one of our country’s most vibrant and important theaters, my artistic base,” said Wishcamper. “I have fallen in love with Chicago and its theater community, and I am proud to work with Bob and Roche—two of the greatest leaders in the American theater—and the many great actors, writers and designers who live here.”

In addition, Falls announced that Chicago-based playwright, director and performer Seth Bockley—winner of the Goodman’s 2009 Ofner Prize and an inaugural member of the theater’s Playwrights’ Unit (2010/2011 Season)—will spend two years as an artist-in-residence at the Goodman. “Seth is a gifted young playwright with an extraordinary commitment to innovation as a writer and theater-maker,” said Falls. “It’s exciting to deepen our collaboration with him in his new capacity as a playwright-in-residence.”

Goodman Theatre’s commitment to contemporary American theater artists—including the Artistic Collective, playwright-in- residence and the commissioning and production of new plays—has resulted in 46 world premieres over the past decade, nearly half of which were penned by playwrights of color. The Collective has directly contributed to this success, with projects including Rebecca Gilman’s world premiere of A True History of the Johnstown Flood, directed by Robert Falls; Henry Godinez’s Latino Theatre Festival, which most recently premiered the work of Cuba’s Teatro Buendía and since its inception in 2003, has introduced more than 160,000 Chicagoans to prominent Latino theater companies around the globe; Regina Taylor’s reimagined Crowns and her world-premiere productions of Magnolia and The Dreams of Sarah Breedlove; and Mary Zimmerman’s new adaptations of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide and her upcoming world-premiere musical adaptation of The Jungle Book, based on the Walt Disney animated film and stories by Rudyard Kipling (June 21 – July 28, 2013).

The Goodman has commissioned two Pulitzer Prize-winning new works, (Lynn Nottage’s Ruined and David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross) and produced new plays by Edward Albee, Luis Alfaro, Carol Burnett, David Cale, Lydia Diamond, John Guare, David Henry Hwang, Brett C. Leonard, José Rivera, Sarah Ruhl, Wole Soyinka, Tracey Scott Wilson, Derek Wolcott, August Wilson, Tennessee Williams and Karen Zacarías, among others.