SIX PERFORMANCES ADDED TO RUN OF DISGRACED BY AYAD AKHTAR, DIRECTED BY KIMBERLY SENIOR, EXTENDED THROUGH OCTOBER 25 AT GOODMAN THEATRE

Due to high demand for tickets, Goodman Theatre adds six more performances of Disgraced by Ayad Akhtar, directed by Kimberly Senior—extending the show through October 25. Newly named the 2015 “most-produced play in the country” (American Theatre magazine), Akhtar’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play has been hailed as “breathtaking, raw and blistering” (Associated Press) and “terrific, turbulent, with fresh currents of dramatic electricity” (New York Times). Senior’s cast remains intact for additional performances, including Bernard White (Amir), Nisi Sturgis (Emily), Zakiya Young (Jory),J. Anthony Crane (Isaac) and Behzad Dabu (Abe). Tickets ($25-$82; subject to change) are on sale now by phone at 312.443.3800, at GoodmanTheatre.org/Disgraced or at the box office (170 North Dearborn).

Performances in the extension week include:

–Wednesday, October 21 at 7:30pm

–Thursday, October 22 at 7:30pm

–Friday, October 23 at 8pm

–Saturday, October 24 at 2pm and 8pm

-Sunday, October 25 at 2pm (CLOSING)

In response to audiences’ desire for dialogue around Disgraced, the Goodman offers discussions following each performance, moderated by a member of the artistic team. In addition, a special panel discussion hosted by Eboo Patel, Founder and President ofInterfaith Youth Core, focuses on the ethnic, racial, social and religious points of view in art—and how art can enlighten controversial topics. The discussion takes place on October 6 at 7pm at the Goodman. Tickets ($10 for general public; $5 for Subscribers, donors and students) can be purchased at GoodmanTheatre.org/Disgraced or at the box office (170 North Dearborn). Named by US News & World Report as one of America’s Best Leaders of 2009, Patel is the founder and Executive Director of Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC), a Chicago-based institution building the global interfaith youth movement. Author of the award-winning book Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation, Patel is also a regular contributor to the Washington Post, National Public Radio and CNN. He is a member of President Obama’s Advisory Council of the White House Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, and holds a doctorate in the sociology of religion from Oxford University, where he studied on a Rhodes scholarship.

Disgraced will be produced at 10 major American regional theaters this season and have 32 productions in the next 24 months, as well as numerous productions overseas; in addition, a film version with HBO is in the works. Young, upwardly mobile Wall Street attorney (and lapsed Muslim) Amir Kapoor (Bernard White) and his beautiful, idealistic (and Caucasian) artist wife Emily (Nisi Sturgis) are throwing a small dinner party for a similarly successful couple, Isaac (J. Anthony Crane), a Jewish art curator who’s about to feature his hostess’s paintings in a new show, and his African American wife, Jory (Zakiya Young), also a rising young lawyer, who works in the same office as her host.  At first, the talk is mundane but cordial; but slowly, the Scotch-fueled discussion ventures into more complicated territory—musings about race and culture, power and privilege and the tensions triggered by religious tenets and practices from antiquity to today.  As theoretical discussion morphs into personal revelation and private concerns become public, a celebratory dinner among four smart, engaging and personable friends becomes, perhaps inevitably, something dramatically different. The cast also includes Behzad Dabu as Amir’s nephew, Abe.

Following its 2012 world premiere production at Chicago’s American Theater Company,Disgraced went to New York’s Lincoln Center Theater, subsequently winning the 2013 Pulitzer Prize and Obie Award for Extraordinary Achievement, and later transferred to Broadway, where it earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Play. Akhtar’s other plays include The Who and the What (LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater and La Jolla Playhouse) andThe Invisible Hand (New York Theatre Workshop/The Repertory Theater of St. Louis). Also a novelist, Akhtar is the author of American Dervish, published in 2012 by Little, Brown and Company, also in 20 languages worldwide. He co-wrote and starred in The War Within(Magnolia Pictures), which was released internationally and nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay. As an actor, Akhtar also starred as Neel Kashkari in HBO’s adaptation of Andrew Ross Sorkin’s book Too Big to Fail.

SPECIAL EVENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES
College Night, September 29 –6pm pizza party with artists, 7:30pm show ($10 promo COLLEGE w/valid student ID)

PlayBacks, Every Wednesday & Thursday eve –Discussions with actors, artistic staff & special guests after the show

Artists Represent, October 6 –7pm; panel discussion about identity and representation, hosted by Eboo Patel ($10 general public; $5 for subscribers, donors and students)

ACCESSIBILITY AT GOODMAN THEATRE

Sign Interpreted Performance, September 30 –7:30pm performance; professional ASL interpreter signs the action/text as played. All tickets to the Disgraced signed performance include a pre-show reception in the Goodman’s Lounge.

Touch Tour, October 10 –12:30 – 1pm; a presentation detailing the set, costume and character elements

Audio Described Performance, October 10 –2pm; the action/text is audibly enhanced for patrons via headset

Open Captioned Performance, October 17 – 2pm; an LED sign presents dialogue in sync with the performance
Visit Goodman Theatre.org/Access for more information about Goodman Theatre’s accessibility efforts.