Photo: Joe Mazza
November? Seriously?
On October 3, I walked into the Goodman for my first official day on the job. An announcement had preceded that day by several weeks, and a whole lot of Zoom meetings as well. But this? This was the “first day of school,” along with all attendant delight, nerves and hopes.
Here’s the month’s learnings:
- This theater leans hard into the power of new work, and it does so with pride and prowess. Between the world-premiere launch of Rebecca Gilman’s gut-punch Swing State to the wonderfully wide-ranging slate of New Stages Festival plays, there’s a celebration of the path not yet taken around here. It fills me with pride.
- Learning to associate names and faces is more than usually challenging when you only see the third of the face above the mask.
- The warmth and anticipation of the holiday season that a first rehearsal day of A Christmas Carol brings is joyfully familiar.
- The bathroom on the fourth floor isn’t where I remembered it being.
Ah, art.
Truly, it has been good for the soul to be in audiences in theaters, large and small, this past month, and to get the vivid reminder of how deeply in love this city is with its theaters. It is a gift and a daily reminder of the charge and responsibility that lies in stewarding the excellence of this place.
It is so very good to be among you all again!
Susan V. Booth is Goodman Theatre’s new Artistic Director.