Goodman Theatre taps David Cromer, Mary Zimmerman, Jon Robin Baitz for 2012-2013 season

Mary Zimmerman

Photo: Lisa Ebright

The highlights of the Goodman Theatre's upcoming season include a David Cromer project previously intended for Broadway and a Mary Zimmerman piece with its sights firmly set there.

The season will open in the fall with Cromer directing Tennessee Williams's Sweet Bird of Youth (September 15–October 21), a play Cromer was once tentatively announced to direct on Broadway with Nicole Kidman and James Franco attached to star. The production marks Cromer's Goodman directing debut. Next up in the mainstage Albert theater, after the 35th annual production of A Christmas Carol, is Jon Robert Baitz's Other Desert Cities (January 12–February 17), a family drama currently playing on Broadway and a likely frontrunner for the Tony Awards in June. Henry Wishcamper will helm the Goodman's production.

The Albert season continues with the Chicago premiere of Lynn Nottage's By the Way, Meet Vera Stark (April 27 – June 2, 2013), directed by Chuck Smith. The season concludes with Zimmerman's new musical adaptation of The Jungle Book (June 21 – July 28), based on Rudyard Kipling's book and the 1967 Disney film. Disney Theatricals first announced last year that Zimmerman was attached to the long in-the-works stage adaptation, and Disney is presumably providing "enhancement" financing for the Goodman production. A fifth Albert production for the spring remains to be announced.

The three-play season in the smaller Owen theater includes a new solo work by Dael Orlandersmith titled Black n Blue Boys/Broken Men (September 29 – October 28), directed by Victory Gardens artistic director Chay Yew, followed by Teddy Ferrara (February 2 – March 3), a new play by Christopher Shinn developed in the Goodman's New Stages series. The Owen season culminates with The Happiest Song Plays Last (April 13 – May 12), a new play by Quiara Alegría Hudes.