Displaying items by tag: Tyler Meredith

From Australia to Spain, talent from around the world—including a Chicago theater favorite—comes to The Goodman for its 2026/2027 Season opening production. Performed by Montreal's multidisciplinary creative collective, The 7 Fingers, Tony Award-nominated former trapezist Shana Carroll (Broadway's Water For Elephants) debuts her new work, The Attic: Things I've Seen While Lying on My Back. Written by Carroll—who also directs and choreographs the production—the company of circus artists features Chicago's Tyler Meredith (Inherit the Wind) with acrobats Fran Alvarez, Melvin Diggs, Eduardo De Azevedo Grillo, Kalani June, Anna Kichtchenko, Nancy Luna, Santiago Rivera Laugerud, Alexandra Royer and Lucy Tan. The Goodman premieres The 7 Fingers' The Attic: Things I've Seen While Lying on My Back in the 856-seat Albert Theatre September 5 – October 4. Opening Night is September 15. For tickets ($34 - $139; on sale June 26), call 312.443.3800 or purchase online at GoodmanTheatre.org/Attic. The Goodman is grateful for the support of the sponsors of The Attic: Perelman Performing Arts Center | PAC NYC (Commissioning Partner), Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, Allstate Insurance Company, JP Morgan Chase, The Elizabeth Morse Charitable Trust, Northern Trust, Abbot Fund, Katten, PNC and Winston & Strawn LLP.

From the primal vista of her childhood bedroom springs Shana Carroll's wildly imaginative, ground-breaking memoir that takes theater to new heights. Inspired by Carroll's mesmerizing life story, a company of fearless performers transforms memory into daring aerial feats that are as moving as they are breathtaking. In the air, on the floor and from the heart, The 7 Fingers brings its "thrillingly modern brand of circus" (Time Out New York) to The Goodman in this moving new work that embraces the fear and courage of being human.  

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Shana Carroll is Cofounding Artistic Director of the The 7 Fingers. Since its inception in 2002, Shana has directed, written and choreographed a dozen or so of their touring and/or resident shows, including Passengers, Cuisine and Confessions, Sequence 8 and Traces. Shana's collaborations extend beyond The 7 Fingers proper, and in 2024 was Co-choreographer and Circus Designer for Water For Elephants on Broadway, for which she received the Chita Rivera award for Best Choreography, as well as a Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circles nominations in the same category. Other notable works include: Director and Creator of Cirque du Soleil's Crystal; Acrobatic Designer and Choreographer of Cirque du Soleil's shows Iris (Los Angeles) and Paramour (Broadway); Circus Designer and Co-creator of the immersive night club experience Queen of the Night (New York City); Co-choreographer of the Medieval Segment of the Sochi Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony; Director and Choreographer of Cirque du Soleil's performance at the 84th Academy Awards. In 2023, Shana was honored as a Compagne des Arts et des Lettres du Québec, from the Conseils des Arts et Lettres du Québec, as a recognition for her contribution to Quebec culture. A former trapeze artist of 20 years, a Cirque du Soleil soloist, and an alumni of Montreal's National Circus School, Shana first got her start in San Francisco's Pickle Family Circus.  She is originally from Berkeley, California. 

Tyler Meredith makes her The 7 Fingers debut in The Attic. Chicago credits include: Inherit the Wind, The Penelopiad, The Cherry Orchard, Twilight Bowl, Graveyard Shift/New Stages (Goodman Theatre); Little Women (Northlight Theatre); Campaigns, Inc. (Timeline Theatre); Translations, Eurydice, Mystery of Love and Sex (Writers Theatre); The Tempest, A Midsummer Night's Dream (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); A Christmas Carol (Drury Lane Theatre); The Columnist (American Blues Theater). Regional credits include: The 39 Steps (Indiana Repertory Theatre/Syracuse Stage); Barefoot in the Park (Peninsula Players Theater); A Phoenix Too Frequent (American Players Theatre); At The Wedding, Miss Bennet: Christmas At Pemberley, My Father's War (TheatreSquared). TV/Film credits include Chicago Fire. Tyler is a graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy, School at Steppenwolf and the University of Illinois-Chicago. 

Company of The 7 Fingers'
The Attic
Things I've Seen While Lying on My Back
Written, Directed and Choreographed by Shana Carroll 

Cast...Fran Alvarez, Melvin Diggs, Eduardo De Azevedo Grillo, Kalani June, Anna Kichtchenko, Nancy Luna, Tyler Meredith, Santiago Rivera Laugerud, Alexandra Royer, Lucy Tan

Creative Team

Producer...Tina Diab 
Executive Producer...David Dower 
Co-Producer...Théâtre St-Denis, Montréal, QC   
Musical Director/Composer...Colin Gagné 
Scenic Designer...Ana Cappelluto 
Costume Designer...Marie Chantale Vaillancourt 
Lighting Designer...Alexander Nichols 
Projection Designer...Johnny Ranger 
Production Manager...Emanuelle Kirouac 
Director of Touring and Special Events...Kevin Bissonnette 
Associate Director...Louis Joyal 
Production Stage Manager and Tour Manager...Christelle Vitupier 
Technical Director...Delphine Quenneville 
Projection Project Manager...Dominique Hawry 
Head Rigger...Max Jouanneau 
Head of Sound...Jean-Félix Des Rochers-Lamarche 
Head of Lighting...Lorianne Foisy 
Head Carpenter...Benoît Rouillard 
Scenic Painting...Marie-Claude Pion 
Scenography Assistant...Jiyeon Lee 
Video Assistant...Nadia Agrebi 
Costume Assistant...Pascale Bassani 
Production Assistant...Louise Vicet 
Line Producer...Adam Belcuore 

Casting by Louis Bourgaut. Additional Casting by Lauren Port, CSA. 

ENHANCED AND ACCESSIBLE PERFORMANCES
Visit GoodmanTheatre.org/Access for more information about The Goodman's accessibility efforts. 

ASL-Interpreted...September 25 at 7:30pm – An ASL interpreter signs the action/text as played. 
Audio-Described...September 26 at 2pm; Touch Tour; 12:30pm – Action audibly enhanced via headset. 
Spanish-Subtitled...September 26 at 7:30pm – Spanish-translated dialogue via LED sign. 
Open-Captioned...September 27 at 2pm – LED sign presents dialogue in sync with the performance. 

ABOUT THE 7 FINGERS

The 7 Fingers (Les 7 Doigts) is an arts collective unlike any other. In 2002, the 7 founders set out to redefine circus by stripping down the spectacle to its thrilling essence. 

The contemporary company tells stories using death-defying acrobatics with a life-affirming theatricality that is unique to The 7 Fingers. Since its inception, the company has expanded from its own signature touring shows to creating theatrical experiences as diverse as the very artistic directors themselves: original productions varying from intimate one-man shows to large-scale arena performances, Broadway musicals, artistic collaborations with renowned international artists and companies, production design and direction, special events, Olympic ceremonies, televised performances, fashion, art and music events, immersive experiences and much more.  

Every one of these projects carries The 7 Fingers' unequivocal mark. The company has consistently spread its horizons by mixing genres and exploring new ways to tell stories. Fascinated by the human condition, The 7 Fingers create performances that celebrate our world, our time and our humanity. Their shows tour the globe and bring audiences to their feet wherever they go.  

ABOUT THE GOODMAN

Since 1925, The Goodman has been a theatrical home for artists and a gathering space for Chicagoland, where bold stories spark connection, conversation and change. Now, as it enters its second century, The Goodman builds on that legacy with an eye toward the future. Under the leadership of Walter Artistic Director Susan V. Booth and Executive Director John Collins, the theater continues to champion new work—following hundreds of plays developed and a national reputation for commissioning and premiering original stories by living writers—while reimagining classics and produce large-scale musicals.

But The Goodman's reach today extends beyond its home in the heart of the Loop. From the intimate magic of The Magic Parlour, now in its third year, to the boundary-pushing world of Theater of the Mind—an immersive experience that blurs the lines between science, storytelling and sensation—and from citywide initiatives like 100 Free Acts of Theater to partnerships with artists and companies across Chicago and around the world, The Goodman is expanding what theater can be, and where it can live.

At its core, The Goodman is driven by a belief that a more empathetic, more connected city is built one story at a time. Generation-spanning productions and programs offer theater for a lifetime—from babies and young children to teens, adults and seniors—including Theater for the Very Young (ages 0–5) and the beloved annual A Christmas Carol, which has welcomed audiences for five decades. Education and Engagement programs, led by Clifford Director Jared Bellot and based in the Alice Rapoport Center, use the tools of theater to spark imagination, reflection and belonging—reaching thousands each year, the majority from underserved communities.

With nearly 200 world or American premieres, two Pulitzer Prizes, 22 Tony Awards and nearly 200 Joseph Jefferson Awards, The Goodman remains a defining force in American theater—and the first to produce all 10 plays of August Wilson's American Century Cycle. The theater also frequently serves as a production partner—from national and international companies to Chicago's Off-Loop theaters—to help amplify a wide range of theatrical voices.

Founded by William O. Goodman and his family in memory of playwright Kenneth Sawyer Goodman, the theater carries forward a legacy of artistic ambition and civic generosity. With the help of Mr. Goodman's descendants—Albert Ivar Goodman and his late mother, Edith-Marie Appleton—that spirit continues to shape its future as The Goodman expands its impact across Chicago and beyond. Marsha Cruzan is Chair of the Goodman Theatre Board of Trustees; Diane Landgren is Women's Board President; and Kelli Garcia is president of the Scenemakers Board for Young Professionals.

The Goodman stands on the unceded homelands of the Council of the Three Fires—the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi Nations—and acknowledges the many other Nations for whom this land now called Chicago has long been home, including the Myaamia, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Sac and Fox, Peoria, Kaskaskia, Wea, Kickapoo, and Mascouten. The Goodman is proud to partner with the Gichigamiin Indigenous Nations Museum (Gichigamiin-Museum.org) and the Center for Native Futures (CenterForNativeFutures.org)—organizations devoted to honoring Indigenous stories, preserving cultural memory, and deepening public understanding.

Like a lot of people, Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women has been mostly a cultural curiosity for much of my life. I know it’s perennially referenced when talking about women and their struggle to achieve personal agency and autonomy. Since it was published in 1868, shortly after the Civil War, Alcott’s quasi-autobiographical novel about a close knit family with its quartet of sisters has never gone out of print.  It’s been adapted to stage dozens of times, turned into an opera and Hollywood seems to have made a habit of rediscovering it and presenting a new interpretation of this undisputed American classic every generation or so.  Most recently, Greta Gerwig’s 2019 film version of Little Women drew a deluge of praise for the way it reimagined Alcott’s novel for a new era. Still, since it wasn’t required reading in my downstate high school, I never quite understood the magnitude of the story’s import until the other night at a world premiere.  Northlight Theatre, together with three other prominent regional theaters across the country, commissioned one of the nation’s most prolific and produced playwright’s, Lauren Gunderson, to develop her own vision of Alcott’s signature creation. Gunderson’s adaptation, now premiering in Skokie before making its way across the country to the other sponsoring companies, has made the blind me see. 

Over her career, the San Francisco playwright has developed a reputation for many laudable abilities. Chief among them is the way she can tap into the essence of her characters and turn them into people we easily recognize, empathize with or see startling resemblances to ourselves. She’s also a brilliant architect who can construct a story framework that’s as sturdy as a fortress, is wonderfully meticulous in its detailing and is usually flawless in plot continuity. Those attributes and more run rampant in this production. Joined by an elite creative team, Gunderson turns a 150-year-old classic into an unexpected revelation whose positive messages extolling character, resilience and determination shine with freshly burnished clarity.  

A progressive family whose parents fostered the pursuit of any interest their daughters found stimulating, the March’s in Little Women is a mirror image of Alcott’s own family. The four sisters were all modeled after the author and her three sisters. The second oldest, Louisa, or Lou as she was known to family and friends, was the driven one. Independent, ambitious and literally gifted, she chafed at the constraints imposed on women in the 19th century; just as women today are dismayed about similar career and societal constraints present in the 21st. 

That Little Women’s Jo is in fact Alcott’s fictional self has long been well established. But aspects in this account go further to draw attention to the similarities between the real and imagined person. In this iteration, the author and her alter ego become so enmeshed that the actor playing lead, Tyler Meredith, occasionally slips into portraying Alcott in addition to Jo March. Dressed in trousers that resemble pantaloons under her period dress, her attire becomes one more feature that distinguishes her. Playing Jo with forceful confidence, Meredith fills her character with an unshakable will that’s fed by the encouragement of her family.  She writes spirited plays that she and her sisters enact.  And the responses she gets from her writing submissions tell her the aspiration of becoming a self-sustaining writer is conceivably within her grasp.

While we’re admiring her tenacity and preternatural intelligence, we also take in the rest of the family and marvel at how quickly and distinctly their own personalities emerge.  Her older sister Meg (Janyce Caraballo); traditional, beautiful and pragmatic, is a stabilizing figure in the family modeled after their mother, Marmee (Lucy Carapetyan), the family’s true anchor and moral touchstone. Quiet and reserved, Beth (Demetra Dee), just below Jo in age, is musical and plays piano. Her profile rises in this effort to the point we have a much stronger understanding of how pivotal her place in this family is.  When she contracts scarlet fever after caring for an ill infant, the slow demise she endures gives us time to see how essential her presence is to the family. Dee is demurely marvelous in a role that highlights how diverse families can be within themselves and how that diversity is a secret strength.

The youngest sister, Amy, played with all the petulant entitlement of the baby in the family by Yourtana Sulaiman, is only slightly spoiled and enjoys painting. Her real-life counterpart went on to become an accomplished and recognized painter.  

Alcott would live out her life just as she imagined and hoped, unmarried and successful in her craft. Neither her publishers nor her public wanted the first of those two things for Jo, however. The friendship she strikes up with the parentless boy across the street who’s living with his rich grandfather seems as if it might lead to romance. Immediately infatuated by his spunky neighbor, Laurie (John Drea) can’t, and doesn’t want to hide his attraction to this dynamic young girl with the invincible spirit.  They both exude so much energy and potential on stage that their power seemed to pulse through the theater. Add to that the purity of Laurie’s guilelessness as he tries to make his friend more than a friend, and you’re virtually convinced this intrigue will lead to the altar. Jo’s too committed to her dream to jeopardize it with marriage. Especially since she doesn’t love her friend in the same way he does her.  Watching their friendship take flight, mature and endure after Jo rejects him for a final time; causing him to go on to marry one of her sisters, is a masterclass in how to live. Only exceptional writing and equally adept directing could present it with such compassionate coherence. Along with the playwright, Georgette Verdin as director strives to bring the fullness of what Alcott achieved in Little Women to the fore. There are countless lessons on the potency of familial love and the capacities of the human spirit to prevail despite discouraging odds. Bracketing the effort with novel approaches in directing and generous splashes of humor made this project as exciting and entertaining as it was enlightening. Placing it in the hands of such able and gifted actors simply added to its appeal. Watching Erik Hellman’s inspired transformation from Laurie’s self-effacing tutor to the German professor Jo meets in New York and eventually marries was a particular delight. It was also emblematic of the fine acting that filled this delightful experience.

Louisa May Alcott's Little Women

Through January 5, 2025

Venue: Northlight Theatre at Northshore Center for The Performing Arts

9501 Skokie Blvd. Skokie, IL  60077

https://northlight.org/series/little-women/

Smear tactics are nothing new in politics; Octavian became Emperor of Rome by distributing coins printed with negative slogans against Mark Anthony. The printing press provided a more easily reproduceable vehicle for misinformation, with the written material later reinforced by manipulated (long before Photoshop!) photographs. And now, of course, we have social media, click bait, troll farms, and ever-darker forms of fake news.

But we can pinpoint the birth of fake news with an extraordinary upsurge in political invective at the 1934 California gubernatorial race.

Playwright Will Allen examines this race in CAMPAIGNS, INC, playing at the TimeLine Theatre through September 18. CAMPAIGNS, INC was originally slated for release in 2020, to inject some much-needed humor into that anxious year and its contentious presidential election. But the play’s impact is even weightier now, after two more years of unscrupulous politics.

CAMPAIGNS, INC is based on a true story about carnival promoter Leone Baxter (Tyler Meredith) and journalist Clem Whitaker (Yurly Sardarov).  I would love to admire Leone Baxter – 1934 didn’t have many women in the political arena until she pioneered the field of political consulting by co-founding Campaigns Inc. Her tactics, however, proved less than admirable. Campaigns Inc unquestionably spawned the phenomenon of fake news and propelled opposition research to new depths of depravity.

CAMPAIGNS, INC portrays Baxter and Whitaker’s debut campaign, representing Frank Merriam (Terry Hamilton) in his bid for Governor of California against Upton Sinclair (Anish Jethmalani). Staunch Republican Merriam and Socialist Sinclair vie for support from an array of celebrities, from Sinclair’s friend Charlie Chaplin (Dave Honigman) and Lieutenant Governor George Hatfield (Mark Ulrich), to Franklin Roosevelt (David Parkes). Parkes also joins the electioneering as Louis B. Mayer, Douglas Fairbanks, Kyle Palmer, and a photographer. As ultra-conservative Merriam buys Roosevelt’s endorsement by affirming the New Deal, Eleanor Roosevelt (Jacqueline Grandt, also as Mary Pickford, a reporter and a waitress) defies her husband by publicly approving Sinclair. The entire election becomes a comprehensive calamity of deceit, demonization, and decidedly dirty politics.

Director Nick Bowling cleverly employs a multi-media presentation for CAMPAIGNS, INC. Scenes from Shirley Temple’s “Stand Up and Cheer!” and Clark Gable in “It Happened One Night” flicker on the screen as we take our seats. The stage is positioned between two facing banks of audience seats; the sets are assembled during blackouts, wheeling in Sinclair’s office at one end or Merriam’s at the other, with FDR’s Hyde Park residence and the offices of Campaigns Inc popping up in center stage. The live acting is interspersed with 1930’s film clips projected on a mobile screen.

This hurley-burley design resonates perfectly with the play’s general atmosphere of hectic absurdity as CAMPAIGNS, INC examines the power of deceit in the U.S. electoral system via humor. In truth, comedy is probably the best way to consider these insights, lest we succumb to despair. And the show truly is hilarious!

CAMPAIGNS, INC (the play) watches Campaigns Inc (the firm) exploit the newest media techniques for their nefarious purposes. Billboards and massive direct-mail marketing present quotes from Sinclair’s novels (“One of the necessary accompaniments of capitalism in a democracy is political corruption,” from The Jungle), deliberately obscuring his true values and principles. Leone Baxter later admitted the quotes were irrelevant, but she just wanted to keep Sinclair from winning.  Note: the goal was to defeat Sinclair, not to elect Merriam. Disparaging the other guy is so much easier than trying to identify a candidate’s virtues!

Is any of this sounding familiar?

MGM’s Louis B. Mayer, threatened by increasing unionization of Hollywood, churned out scripted commentaries discrediting Sinclair.  These contrived clips were aired before feature films, so audiences naturally thought they were genuine newsreels. And the best part is that the fake news was funded by garnishing MGM employee’s paychecks.

WH Hearst’s LA Times printed daily front-page articles smearing Sinclair. As political editor Kyle Palmer told a visiting NY Times reporter, “We don’t go in for that crap you have in New York – being obliged to print both sides.”  

CAMPAIGNS, INC is brilliantly written (Will Allan), masterfully directed (Nick Bowling), and splendidly acted by the entire cast.  In such an elaborate production, I think the crew deserves special notice. Scenic, lighting, and projections designers Sydney Lynne, Jared Gooding, and Anthony Churchill skillfully weave the multimedia mélange together. Sally Dolembo, U.S.A., Katie Cordts and Megan E. Pirtle design convincing period costumes, wigs, and hair. Sound designers Forrest Gregor and Andrew Hansen, dialect director Sammi Grant and dramaturg Maren Robinson replicate the ‘30’s with crackling radio broadcasts and vintage jokes. The entire collage is brought together by stage manager Miranda Anderson, artistic director PJ Powers, and executive director Mica Cole. And I want a shoutout for properties designer Rowan Doe: I loved the period radios and typewriters … and where did you find that magnificent wheelchair for FDR?!

CAMPAIGNS, INC is perfect for 2022, letting us scrutinize our preposterous times while providing comic relief from the lunacy as well.

*Extended through September 25