From Manischewitz to Matzo balls to the mayhem of High Holidays by Alan Gross, Goodman Theatre’s Education and Community Engagement division and Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies join forces for a unique dining event, “Tasting Tradition: Tales at the Table of Jewish Culture,” on Nov. 23 from 6:30 – 8:30pm at the award-winning Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies facility (610 S Michigan Ave) with floor-to-ceiling views of Grant Park and Lake Michigan.

Noted Kosher Chef Laura Frankel serves up a menu inspired by the play and its 1960s setting; participants will enjoy a scrumptious family-style dinner of classic Jewish fare—and some surprises. Storytellers from Serendipity Theatre Collective’s 2nd Story, Ilana Shavanov, Michael Przygoda and Julie Ganey, join the fun with tales of tradition in the spirit of the high holidays. Tickets are $36; call 312.443.3800.

Due to the unique nature of this event and its limited capacity, ticket sales end Nov. 19; tickets will not be available for purchase at the event.

“‘Tasting Tradition’ celebrates the way food, story and history are linked in Jewish culture. Each dish has significance and import, each meal filled with stories that remind us how we stand on the struggles and triumphs of the people who have come before,” said Willa Taylor, Director of Education and Community Engagement at Goodman Theatre.

“You see this in High Holidays—and to experience it personally with Laura’s amazing cuisine is like manna from heaven.”

Laura Frankel has been Executive Chef for Wolfgang Puck Catering’s kosher foodservice operations at Spertus since 2007. She was the founder and chef of the adventurous, gourmet kosher Shallots restaurants in Chicago and Manhattan, and has extensive training and experience in both savory and pastry kitchens.

After she started a family and began maintaining a kosher home, she became interested in expanding kosher offerings in the Chicago area; it was from this revelation that her career as a kosher chef was born. A lively and entertaining presenter, Chef Laura teaches kosher cooking classes for adults and children at Spertus and across the country, including at Chicago’s Green City Market and at New York’s legendary DeGustibus cooking school.

She is the author of Jewish Cooking for All Seasons: Fresh, Flavorful Kosher Recipes for Holidays and Everyday and a regular commentator—in print and on air—on all things kosher.

Curated by April Newman, “Tasting Tradition” is directed by Amanda Delheimer of 2nd Story, a hybrid performance event that combines storytelling, wine, and music, produced by the Serendipity Theater Collective. Three 2nd Story storytellers, Ilana Shavanov, Michael Przygoda and Julie Ganey, join “Tasting Tradition” to personify the history, values and memories in food rituals.

High Holidays runs through Nov. 29, 2009 in the Goodman’s Owen Theatre. Tickets ($10 – $40) are now on sale 312-443-3800 or GoodmanTheatre.org.

From civil rights upheaval to political cataclysm, 1963 was a pivotal year in American cultural and political history. The changes that are roiling the Roman family in High Holidays are more personal and mundane, but no less earth-shattering for those involved.

Billy is terrified by the prospect of reciting from the Torah at his upcoming Bar Mitzvah and desperate to find a way out of it. Rob is equally desperate to find an escape from a different sort of ritual—higher education—and embraces the growing counterculture that would come to define the 1960s.

Parents Essie and Nate feel they have sacrificed everything to provide a decent life for their children, but are now trapped between the expectations of their own immigrant parents and their children’s disdain for the family’s suburban lifestyle.

Production Sponsors for High Holidays include the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust and the Goodman World Premiere Season Sponsors M. Ann O’Brien and Randy and Lisa White, and New Works Season Sponsors: Julie and Roger Baskes; Joan and Robert Clifford; Patricia Cox; Eva and Michael Losacco; Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Foundation; Karen and Richard Pigott; Alice Rapoport and Michael Sachs, Sg2; Shaw Family Supporting Organization; and Orli and Bill Staley.

About the Goodman’s Education and Community Engagement

Goodman Theatre offers a wide variety of programming to enable Chicagoland learners of all ages to experience theater first hand with working professionals, teachers and artists; Willa Taylor is the Director of Education and Community Engagement.

Programs are offered to audience members of all ages to engage in deeper explorations of the work on the Goodman’s stages. In its 24th year, the Student Subscription Series works with over 40 Chicago public high schools each year to creatively supplement students’ reading, writing, critical thinking and communication skills.

Special matinee performances of Goodman productions are supplemented with exclusive teacher training workshops, educational guides and post-show discussions. CONTEXT: Discourse & Discussion is a series designed to engage the community in debate, dialogue and deeper exploration of themes within Goodman productions.

Unlike a traditional post-show discussion which centers on the production, CONTEXT events focus on particular issues raised within the plays and explore how they resonate in today’s culture. Cindy Bandle Young Critics (CBYC) is a joint venture between Goodman Theatre and the Association for Women Journalists that introduces 11th grade girls to the art of theater criticism and the world of professional writing.

Participants see every show in the Goodman’s season, interview theater artists and receive one-on-one mentoring from professional journalists. CBYC is named in honor of Goodman Theatre’s late, longtime Press Director, Cindy Bandle. General Theater Studies (GTS) is a six-week summer intensive for 14 – 19-year olds with a focus on critical thinking, literacy, oral history and storytelling.

Designed to validate student voices, help them examine their creativity and introduce them to the creation of theater, GTS is an ensemble-building program that culminates in an original student performance.

About Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies

Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies is located at 610 S Michigan Avenue in an environmentally sustainable facility designed by Chicago’s Krueck & Sexton Architects.

The building houses Spertus College, the Asher Library, and Spertus Museum, as well as a state-of-the-art theater for live performance and film, the innovative Gray Children’s Center, space for community events and celebrations, kosher catering facilities and a comprehensive book and gift shop.

Spertus is a Jewish institution grounded in Jewish values that invites people of all ages and backgrounds to explore the multifaceted Jewish experience. Through its innovative public programming, exhibitions, collections, research facilities and degree programs, Spertus inspires learning, serves diverse communities and fosters understanding for Jews and people of all faiths, locally, regionally and around the world.

Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies is a partner in serving our community, supported by the JUF/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago.

Learn more at Spertus.edu.

About Goodman Theatre

Named the country’s “Best Regional Theatre” by Time magazine (2003), Goodman Theatre is a leader in the American theater, internationally recognized for its artists, productions and educational programs since its founding in 1925.

Artistic Director Robert Falls and Executive Director Roche Schulfer’s forward-thinking leadership has earned the Goodman unparalleled artistic distinction, garnered hundreds of awards-including the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre (1992) and Pulitzer Prizes for Ruined by Lynn Nottage and Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet–and moved dozens of plays from Chicago to stages in New York and abroad.

Central to its commitment to the reinvestigation of classics and development of new plays and artists is the Goodman’s Artistic Collective, including Brian Dennehy, Frank Galati, Henry Godinez, Steve Scott, Chuck Smith, Regina Taylor and Mary Zimmerman.

The largest not-for-profit theater in Chicago, the Goodman moved in 2000 into a brand new state-of-the-art complex which houses two principal theaters: the 856-seat Albert Ivar Goodman Theatre and the 400-seat flexible Owen Bruner Goodman Theatre. Board Chairman is Patricia Cox and Karen Pigott is President of the Women’s Board.

American Airlines is the Exclusive Airline of Goodman Theatre.

Visit the Goodman virtually: watch artist interviews at ExploreTheGoodman.org; catch the latest backstage news on the Goodman’s Blog, Goodman-Theatre.Blogspot.com; peek behind-the-scenes at YouTube.com/TheGoodmanTheatre; and Friend us at Facebook.com/GoodmanTheatre.

Goodman Theatre and Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies Toast “High Holidays” with Dining Event Nov. 23 | Chicago Press Release Services - Chicago's leading press release newswire service; professional press release services, press release distribution and newswire services.

At the center of this four-character drama (inspired by Gross’ own life and family experience) is young Billy Roman (Max Zuppa) and the anxiety-riddled preparations for his Bar Mitzvah in 1963 north suburban Chicago.

When Billy’s older brother Rob (Ian Paul Custer) returns from college for the High Holidays, he further elevates household tensions by bringing along his own ideas about his future–and the boys’ parents Essie (Rengin Altay) and Nate (Keith Kupferer) must face some difficult truths about coming-of-age in America.

Set Designer Kevin Depinet (last season’s The Crowd You’re In With) returns to the Goodman with another hometown-influenced realistic backdrop for the action.

High Holidays runs Oct. 31 – Nov. 29, 2009 in the Goodman’s Owen Theatre.

Tickets ($10 – $40) are now on sale by calling 312-443-3800 or visiting GoodmanTheatre.org.

Production Sponsors for High Holidays include the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust and the Goodman World Premiere Season Sponsors M. Ann O’Brien and Randy and Lisa White, and New Works Season Sponsors: Julie and Roger Baskes; Joan and Robert Clifford; Patricia Cox; Eva and Michael Losacco; Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Foundation; Karen and Richard Pigott; Alice Rapoport and Michael Sachs, Sg2; Shaw Family Supporting Organization; and Orli and Bill Staley.

“I’m delighted to host Alan Gross, Steven Robman and their wonderful cast at the Goodman with this incisive, wryly funny new play,” said Artistic Director Robert Falls, who first met Robman at Wisdom Bridge Theatre when he directed the 1985 production of Rat in the Skull, starring Brian Dennehy.

“Alan’s signature wit and wisdom is at full tilt in this universally-relatable world premiere–at once gracious, sympathetic and unapologetically honest.”

Visit the Goodman virtually: watch artist interviews at ExploreTheGoodman.org; catch the latest backstage news on the Goodman’s Blog; peek behind-the-scenes; and Friend us at Facebook.

About Goodman Theatre

Currently playing at the Goodman Animal Crackers, book by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind, music and lyrics by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby, directed by Henry Wishcamper (extended through November 1, in the Albert);

Named the country’s “Best Regional Theatre” by Time magazine (2003), Goodman Theatre is a leader in the American theater, internationally recognized for its artists, productions and educational programs since its founding in 1925.

Artistic Director Robert Falls and Executive Director Roche Schulfer’s forward-thinking leadership has earned the Goodman unparalleled artistic distinction, garnered hundreds of awards–including the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre (1992) and Pulitzer Prizes for Ruined by Lynn Nottage and Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet–and moved dozens of plays from Chicago to stages in New York and abroad.

Central to its commitment to the reinvestigation of classics and development of new plays and artists is the Goodman’s Artistic Collective, including Brian Dennehy, Frank Galati, Henry Godinez, Steve Scott, Chuck Smith, Regina Taylor and Mary Zimmerman.

The largest not-for-profit theater in Chicago, the Goodman moved in 2000 into a brand new state-of-the-art complex which houses two principal theaters: the 856-seat Albert Ivar Goodman Theatre and the 400-seat flexible Owen Bruner Goodman Theatre. Board Chairman is Patricia Cox and Karen Pigott is President of the Women’s Board. American Airlines is the Exclusive Airline of Goodman Theatre.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Denise Schneider, 312-443-5151
Press@GoodmanTheatre.org

Alan Gross’ Comedic Drama with All-Chicago Cast “High Holidays” Premieres at Goodman Theatre Oct. 31 | Chicago Press Release Services - Chicago's leading press release newswire service; professional press release services, press release distribution and newswire services.

At the center of this four-character drama—inspired by Gross’ own life and family experience—is young Billy Roman (Max Zuppa) and the anxiety-riddled preparations for his Bar Mitzvah in 1963 north suburban Chicago.

When Billy’s older brother Rob (Ian Paul Custer) returns from college for the High Holidays, he further elevates household tensions by bringing along his own ideas about his future—and the boys’ parents Essie (Rengin Altay) and Nate (Keith Kupferer) must face some difficult truths about coming-of-age in America.

Set Designer Kevin Depinet (last season’s The Crowd You’re In With) returns to the Goodman with another hometown-influenced realistic backdrop for the action.

High Holidays runs Oct. 31 – Nov. 29, 2009 in the Goodman’s Owen Theatre.

Tickets ($10 – $40) are now on sale 312-443-3800 or GoodmanTheatre.org.

Production Sponsors for High Holidays include the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust and the Goodman World Premiere Season Sponsors M. Ann O’Brien and Randy and Lisa White, and New Works Season Sponsors: Julie and Roger Baskes; Joan and Robert Clifford; Patricia Cox; Eva and Michael Losacco; Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Foundation; Karen and Richard Pigott; Alice Rapoport and Michael Sachs, Sg2; Shaw Family Supporting Organization; and Orli and Bill Staley.

“I’m delighted to host Alan Gross, Steven Robman and their wonderful cast at the Goodman with this incisive, wryly funny new play,” said Artistic Director Robert Falls, who first met Robman at Wisdom Bridge Theatre when he directed the 1985 production of Rat in the Skull, starring Brian Dennehy. “Alan’s signature wit and wisdom is at full tilt in this universally-relatable world premiere—at once gracious, sympathetic and unapologetically honest.”

Alan Gross is a native of Evanston. After studying journalism at the University of Missouri, he worked in improvisational theater with Byrne Piven, Del Close and Paul Sills.

In an attempt to merge those improvisational techniques with the structure of the “well-made play,” he wrote his first play, Lunching, in 1977. Subsequent plays included The Phone Room, La Brea Tarpits, The Man in 605, The Houseguest, Morning Call and The Secret Life of American Poets.

After a stint in Hollywood in the 1980s, Gross worked on several novels, then returned to playwriting with High Holidays, on which he began work in 2005.

His play Push Comes to Shove will be seen in a staged reading at Indiana University this winter, and he has begun work on his latest play, A Little Madness in the Spring. A published poet, Gross was awarded the Robert Frost Festival Poetry Award in 2008; his work is included in the current edition of Modern Haiku.

“I am all four of the characters in High Holidays,” said Gross, who used his own experience growing up in north suburban Skokie, IL, as inspiration. “When my mother died, we had the shards of our family given to us: her collections, our photographs, our books of vacations, as well as my Bar Mitzvah book. I put all of these things together and what emerged was a story about growing up-all of its joys, challenges and disappointments—and ultimately, what it takes to become a man.”

From civil rights upheaval to political cataclysm, 1963 was a pivotal year in American cultural and political history. The changes that are roiling the Roman family in High Holidays are more personal and mundane, but no less earth-shattering for those involved.

Billy is terrified by the prospect of reciting from the Torah at his upcoming Bar Mitzvah and desperate to find a way out of it. Rob is equally desperate to find an escape from a different sort of ritual—higher education—and embraces the growing counterculture that would come to define the 1960s.

Parents Essie and Nate feel they have sacrificed everything to provide a decent life for their children, but are now trapped between the expectations of their own immigrant parents and their children’s disdain for the family’s suburban lifestyle.

Director Steven Robman returns to the Goodman where he directed the premiere of Ron Hutchinson’s Moonlight and Magnolias in 2004. Other work in Chicago includes Hutchinson’s Rat in the Skull at Wisdom Bridge Theatre and the revival of Alan Gross’ Lunching for the Apollo Group.

He has staged plays at other theaters around the United States (Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Arena Stage in Washington, Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Actors Theatre of Louisville and Yale Repertory Theatre) and in New York (Manhattan Theatre Club, Playwrights Horizons, Chelsea Theater Center and The Phoenix Theater, where he served as Artistic Director from 1980 to 1982).

Robman has also directed premieres of plays by Wendy Wasserstein, D.L. Coburn, Fay Weldon, Adrian Mitchell and Alan Knee. He served as a staff director at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Playwrights Conference for five summers.

A graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and the Yale School of Drama, Robman has taught acting and directing at Yale University, Circle in the Square Theatre School in New York, UCLA Extension and the American Film Institute.

For television Robman has directed numerous episodes of dramatic and comedy series, movies-of-the-week and the ABC miniseries The Audrey Hepburn Story.

Tickets to High Holidays ($10 – $40) are currently on sale at GoodmanTheatre.org.

Tickets can also be purchased at the box office (170 North Dearborn) or by phone at 312-443-3800.

Mezztix are half-price mezzanine tickets available at 12 noon at the box office, and at 10am online (promo code MEZZTIX) day of performance; Mezztix are not available by telephone.

10Tix are $10 mezzanine tickets for students available at 12 noon at the box office, and at 10am online on the day of performance; 10Tix are not available by telephone. Valid student I.D. must be presented when picking up the tickets. Limit four per student with I.D. All tickets are subject to availability and handling fees apply.

Discounted Group Tickets for 10 persons or more are available at 312-443-3820.

Visit the Goodman virtually: watch artist interviews at ExploreTheGoodman.org; catch the latest backstage news on the Goodman’s Blog, Goodman-Theatre.Blogspot.com; peek behind-the-scenes at YouTube.com/TheGoodmanTheatre; and Friend us at Facebook.com/GoodmanTheatre.

About Goodman Theatre

Currently playing at the Goodman Stoop Stories written and performed by Dael Orlandersmith, directed by Jo Bonney (closing October 11, in the Owen) and Animal Crackers, book by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind, music and lyrics by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby, directed by Henry Wishcamper (extended through November 1, in the Albert);

Named the country’s “Best Regional Theatre” by Time magazine (2003), Goodman Theatre is a leader in the American theater, internationally recognized for its artists, productions and educational programs since its founding in 1925.

Artistic Director Robert Falls and Executive Director Roche Schulfer’s forward-thinking leadership has earned the Goodman unparalleled artistic distinction, garnered hundreds of awards—including the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre (1992) and Pulitzer Prizes for Ruined by Lynn Nottage and Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet—and moved dozens of plays from Chicago to stages in New York and abroad.

Central to its commitment to the reinvestigation of classics and development of new plays and artists is the Goodman’s Artistic Collective, including Brian Dennehy, Frank Galati, Henry Godinez, Steve Scott, Chuck Smith, Regina Taylor and Mary Zimmerman.

The largest not-for-profit theater in Chicago, the Goodman moved in 2000 into a brand new state-of-the-art complex which houses two principal theaters: the 856-seat Albert Ivar Goodman Theatre and the 400-seat flexible Owen Bruner Goodman Theatre.

Board Chairman is Patricia Cox and Karen Pigott is President of the Women’s Board. American Airlines is the Exclusive Airline of Goodman Theatre.

Alan Gross’ Comedic Drama “High Holidays” World Premieres at Goodman Theatre Oct. 31 to Nov. 29 | Chicago Press Release Services - Chicago's leading press release newswire service; professional press release services, press release distribution and newswire services.

A Chicago native, playwright Alan Gross is the author of a dozen plays, including Lunching, The Phone Room, The Conversion of Leo Novotny, La Brea Tarpits, The Man in 605, Morning Call and The Secret Life of American Poets. He has also written several books for children, most notably What if the Teacher Calls on Me? A prize-winning poet, he resides in Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood with his wife, Norma.

Director Steven Robman returns to the Goodman where he directed the premiere of Ron Hutchinson’s Moonlight and Magnolias in 2004. Other work in Chicago includes Hutchinson’s Rat in the Skull at Wisdom Bridge Theatre and the revival of Alan Gross’ Lunching for the Apollo Group. He has staged plays at other theaters around the United States (Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Arena Stage in Washington, Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Actors Theatre of Louisville and Yale Repertory Theatre) and in New York (Manhattan Theatre Club, Playwrights Horizons, Chelsea Theater Center and The Phoenix Theater, where he served as Artistic Director from 1980 to 1982). Robman also has directed premieres by Wendy Wasserstein, D.L. Coburn, Fay Weldon, Adrian Mitchell and Alan Knee. He served as a staff director at the Eugene O’Neill Center’s National Playwrights Conference for five summers. A graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and the Yale School of Drama, Robman has taught acting and directing at Yale University, Circle in the Square Theatre School in New York, UCLA Extension and the American Film Institute. For television he has directed numerous episodes of dramatic and comedy series, movies-of-the-week and the ABC miniseries The Audrey Hepburn Story.

Tickets to High Holidays are currently available by season subscription (ExploreTheGoodman.org or call 312-443-3800). Individual Tickets ($10 – $40) go on sale Friday, September 11 (online at GoodmanTheatre.org) and Monday, September 14 (by phone at 312-443-3800). Season subscriptions and individual tickets can also be purchased at the box office (170 North Dearborn). Mezztix are half-price mezzanine tickets available at 12 noon at the box office, and at 10am online (promo code MEZZTIX) day of performance; Mezztix are not available by telephone. 10Tix are $10 mezzanine tickets for students available at 12 noon at the box office, and at 10am online on the day of performance; 10Tix are not available by telephone. Valid student I.D. must be presented when picking up the tickets. Limit four per student with I.D. All tickets are subject to availability and handling fees apply. Discounted Group Tickets for 10 persons or more are available at 312-443-3820.

About Goodman Theatre

Named the country’s Best Regional Theatre by Time magazine (2003), Goodman Theatre is a leader in the American theater, internationally recognized for its artists, productions and educational programs since its founding in 1925. Artistic Director Robert Falls and Executive Director Roche Schulfer’s forward-thinking leadership has earned the Goodman unparalleled artistic distinction, garnered hundreds of awards—including the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre (1992) and Pulitzer Prizes for Ruined by Lynn Nottage and Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet—and moved dozens of plays from Chicago to stages in New York and abroad. Central to its commitment to the reinvestigation of classics and development of new plays and artists is the Goodman’s Artistic Collective, including Brian Dennehy, Frank Galati, Henry Godinez, Chuck Smith, Regina Taylor and Mary Zimmerman. The largest not-for-profit theater in Chicago, the Goodman moved in 2000 into a brand new state-of-the-art complex which houses two principal theaters: the 856-seat Albert Ivar Goodman Theatre and the 400-seat flexible Owen Bruner Goodman Theatre. Board Chairman is Shawn M. Donnelley and Karen Pigott is president of the Women’s Board. American Airlines is the Exclusive Airline of Goodman Theatre.

Goodman Theatre Presents World Premier of “High Holidays” by Award-Winning Playwright Alan Gross | Chicago Press Release Services - Chicago's leading press release newswire service; professional press release services, press release distribution and newswire services.