Following an acclaimed run at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles and NY City Center in New York, AVA: The Secret Conversations, written by and starring Academy Award, Golden Globe, and Emmy Award-nominated actress and Evanston native Elizabeth McGovern (Downton Abbey, Ordinary People, Once Upon a Time in America), will make its Chicago premiere this this fall. Based on a series of real-life interviews given by Hollywood legend Ava Gardner, the production is directed by Tony Award nominee Moritz von Stuelpnagel (Broadway: Hand to God, Present Laughter), produced by Karl Sydow (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto, UK: The Last Ship, UK: Noises Off), also features Aaron Costa Ganis (TV: "Bull," "Blue Bloods"). Step inside the world of the play with this look at McGovern as Ava Gardner.

AVA: The Secret Conversations runs September 24 – October 12, 2025 at the historic Studebaker Theater at the Fine Arts Building (410 S Michigan Ave). 

Tickets go on sale June 19, 2025 at www.AvaGardnerPlay.com.
Sign-up for email alerts at https://avagardnerplay.com/chicago/ to receive the Chicago presale code to access prime seat locations before the general public.
 

At the height of the Golden Age of Cinema, starlet Ava Gardner sat for a series of interviews with writer Peter Evans for him to glean the juicy details about her life story, her marriages to Mickey Rooney, Artie Shaw, and Frank Sinatra, and her turbulent relationship to Howard Hughes. Initially barred from publication, Evans' account of a bygone era was published twenty-five years later with permission from Gardner's estate and is now reimagined on stage.

"I am beyond thrilled to bring Ava: The Secret Conversations to Chicago," McGovern commented. "Gardner's life was one of incredible complexity, and I feel so privileged to step into her world and share her story onstage in my original hometown this fall."

AVA: The Secret Conversations marks McGovern's return to the Chicago area, where she previously filmed Robert Redford's Oscar-winning film "Ordinary People." Best known for her role as Lady Cora in the "Downton Abbey" series and films, McGovern will be seen this fall on screen in the sequel, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale. She also stars in Anne Rice's "The Talamasca" on AMC this fall.
 
The creative team includes David Meyer (scenic design), Toni-Leslie James (costume design), Amith Chandrashaker (lighting design), Cricket S. Myers (sound design), Alex Basco Koch (projection design), and Matthew Armentrout (wig design). The Production Stage Manager is Avery Trunko. General management is by Pemberley Productions.

About the Artists

Elizabeth McGovern (Ava Gardner, Playwright). Elizabeth McGovern's internationally renowned career spans theatre, film, television, and music. In 2019, Elizabeth played Lady Cora in the feature film adaptation of the multiple award-winning television show "Downton Abbey," a role for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe and a Primetime Emmy and won a SAG Award. We then saw Elizabeth reprising her role of Lady Cora on the big screen in the sequel Downton Abbey 2, starring alongside Maggie Smith and Hugh Bonneville. Elizabeth received an Academy Award and Golden Globe nomination for her role in Ragtime, her second feature film, following her debut in Robert Redford's Ordinary People while still a student at Julliard. She has worked with John Hughes in She's Having a Baby, Curtis Hanson in The Bedroom Window, and Steven Soderbergh in King of the Hill. Other major film roles have included starring opposite Robert De Niro in Once Upon a Time in America and Sean Penn and Nicolas Cage in Racing with the Moon. In 2018, Elizabeth worked on The Commuter with Liam Neeson and later starred in Michael Engler's The Chaperone which Elizabeth also produced. Elizabeth has performed in both American and UK theatres, winning the 2013 Will Award from the Shakespeare Theatre Company. Other notable productions include Alexi Kaye Campbell's Sunset at the Villa Thalia, Lindsay Posner's God of Carnage last year in Bath, The Misanthrope at the Young Vic, Three Days of Rain at the Donmar and David Mamet's The Shawl at the Arcola Theatre. 2017 saw her return to Broadway in J.B. Priestley's Time and the Conways. Elizabeth also recently appeared in the West End premiere of Kenneth Lonergan's The Starry Messenger with Matthew Broderick. Elizabeth was most recently seen on the stage, writing and starring in her own adaptation of Peter Evans' memoir of the same name, AVA: The Secret Conversations. This wonderful production was also reprised earlier this year at the Geffen Theatre in Los Angeles. Last year, Elizabeth was seen on the big screen in And Mrs. alongside Harriet Walter and Aisling Bea. Elizabeth will next be seen reprising her role as Lady Cora in Downton Abbey 3. We will also see her star in Anne Rice's TV adaptation "The Talamasca" as Helen. With her band, Sadie and the Hotheads, Elizabeth has released four albums through Universal Music, and there is a fifth album pending, tentatively titled "Let's Stop Fighting."
 
Aaron Costa Ganis (Peter Evans) is an actor, writer, and director who has worked theatrically at the Roundabout Theatre Company, LAByrinth, Second Stage Theater, The Public Theater, Williamstown, the Geffen and Pasadena Playhouse. He currently recurs on "Power Book III: Raising Kanan," and can recently be seen on TV in "Fantasy Island," "The Endgame," "Bull," "Almost Family," "Blue Bloods," "Jessica Jones, House of Cards," and more. He can be seen in the upcoming Untitled Steven Spielberg Film for Universal and previously in the films Susie Searches, The Noel Diary, Lazy Eye, Monsters and Men, and Set It Up. Aaron dedicates this show to June and Rick, his mom and dad. MFA: NYU Graduate Acting Program, BA: Brandeis University & University of Oxford. 
 
Moritz von Stuelpnagel (Director). Broadway: Theresa Rebeck's I Need That starring Danny DeVito, Theresa Rebeck's Bernhardt/Hamlet starring Janet McTeer, Noël Coward's Present Laughter starring Kevin Kline (Tony nomination for Best Revival), Rob Askins' Hand to God (Tony nominations for Best Play and Best Director). London's West End: Theresa Rebeck's Mad House starring David Harbour and Bill Pullman, Hand to God (Olivier nomination for Best New Comedy). Off-Broadway: Theresa Rebeck's Seared (MCC Theater); Larissa FastHorse's The Thanksgiving Play (Playwrights Horizons); Mike Lew's Teenage Dick (Ma-Yi Theater Company/The Public Theater); Nick Jones' Important Hats of the Twentieth Century (Manhattan Theatre Club); Nick Jones' Verité (LCT3); Mike Lew's Bike America (Ma-Yi Theater Company); Nick Jones' Trevor (Lesser America); Rob Askins' Love Song of the Albanian Sous Chef (Ensemble Studio Theatre); Mel & El: Show and Tell (Ars Nova); Michael Mitnick's Spacebar: A Broadway Play by Kyle Sugarman and Adam Szymkowicz's My Base and Scurvy Heart(Studio 42). Regional: Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Huntington, Alliance Theatre, Pasadena Playhouse, Olney Theatre Center, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, South Coast Repertory, Barrington Stage Company, Chautauqua Theater Company, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, and more. Upcoming: a nationwide tour of Westwood's own Michael Shayan in his smash hit play avaaz. Moritz is the former artistic director of Studio 42, NYC's producer of "unproducible" plays. www.moritzvs.com
 
Karl Sydow (Producer) produced Sting's The Last Ship at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles and at the Golden Gate Theatre in San Francisco in 2020, at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto in 2019, following a 2018 tour of the UK and Ireland. Recent theatre includes Noises Off (Lyric Hammersmith, Garrick Theatre West End), The Light in the Piazza (Royal Festival Hall, LA Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago); Toast (West End, UK tour); Sweat (Gielgud Theatre West End, Evening Standard Award Best Play); Valued Friends (Rose Theatre Kingston); Invisible Cities with 59 Productions (Manchester International Festival, Brisbane Festival, Australia); Alan Ayckbourn's The Divide with The Old Vic and Edinburgh International Festival; David Hare's The Moderate Soprano at the Duke of York's Theatre; Sketching by James Graham at Wilton's Music Hall; as well as Red Joan, a film featuring Dame Judi Dench which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. In North America, he has produced Broadway productions of The Seagull with Carey Mulligan, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Peter Sarsgaard, and American Buffalo with John Leguizamo; Backbeat directed by David Leveaux (Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto, Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles); international tours including The Last Confession with David Suchet, and Our Country's Good (the original Tony-nominated Broadway production and Out of Joint's revival in the West End and Toronto).

FACT SHEET

Title: AVA: The Secret Conversations

Written by: Elizabeth McGovern

Directed by: Moritz von Stuelpnagel

Produced by: Karl Sydow

Featuring: Elizabeth McGovern as Ava Gardner and Aaron Costa Ganis as Peter Evans.

Creative Team: David Meyer (scenic design), Toni-Leslie James (costume design), Amith Chandrashaker (lighting design), Cricket S. Myers (sound design), Alex Basco Koch (projection design), and Matthew Armentrout (wig design). The Production Stage Manager is Avery Trunko. General management is by Pemberley Productions.

Run Dates: September 24 – October 12, 2025

Press Opening: Saturday, September 27, 2025

Schedule: Tuesday through Saturday at 7pm; Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2pm

No performances on Thursday, September 25 or Thursday, October 2. No matinee performance on Wednesday September 24.

Location: The Studebaker Theater in the Fine Arts Building, 410 S, Michigan Ave, Chicago.

Box Office: Online at www.fineartsbuilding.com or by phone at (312) 753-3210 x102

Ticket Prices: $40 - $170

Students: $30

Groups: $60

Website: www.AvaGardnerPlay.com

Social Media: Find us on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and X at @AvaGardnerPlay

Trailer: https://youtu.be/6ZmMhM2uqbc