A new musical from the creators of Urinetown and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee will make its world premiere next year at Chicago's Goodman Theatre, part of the company's newly announced centennial season. Stage and screen star Megan Mullally will lead the cast of Iceboy! Or, The Completely Untrue Story of How Eugene O'Neill Came to Write The Iceman Cometh with Kathleen Marshall directing and choreographing.
Performances will run June 9-July 16, 2026, in the company's Albert Theatre.
With music by Mark Hollman (Urinetown), lyrics by Hollman and Jay Reiss (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), and a book by Erin Quinn Purcell and Reiss, the work will see Mullally becoming Broadway star Vera Vimm, who adopts a 40,000 year-old Neanderthal from the Arctic only to reel when he begins stealing the spotlight. Further casting and creative team members are to be announced.
The Albert Theatre season is opening with another world premiere, Lee Kirk's Ashland Avenue, performing later this year, September 6-October 5. Francis Guinan, Jenna Fischer, Will Allan, Cordelia Dewdney, and Chik茅 Johnson will direct the play, about a parent-child relationship strained by a failing TV-video store.
Moving into 2026, the theatre will kick off the year with Richard Greenberg's world premiere adaptation of Philip Barry's Holiday, directed by Robert Falls and performing January 31-March 1, 2026. The story follows a wealthy Upper East Side family whose connection to privilege and class are brought to the fore when one member falls in love with someone from a very different background.
Before Iceboy!, the Goodman will stage a new revival of August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, directed by Chuck Smith and featuring music direction (and associate direction) by Harry J. Lennix. Performances will run March 28-April 26, 2026.
The company's smaller Owen Theatre will give a world premiere to Revolution(s), a new musical by Zayd Ayers Dohrn with music and lyrics by Tom Morello. Steve H. Broadnax III will direct the story about a soldier and aspiring musician who returns to Chicago's South Side after a tour in Afghanistan, only to learn that home is occupied territory, too. Performances will run this fall, October 4-November 9.
Next will be a world premiere stage adaptation of Junot D铆az's Pulitzer-winning novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, adapted by Marco Antonio Rodriguez and directed by Wendy Mateo. Performances will run February 21-April 5, 2026. Also making its world premiere will be a new solo show from Dael Orlandersmith, Blood Memory, to be directed by Neel Keller and perform May 2-31, 2026. The work, according to press notes, "explores how forces that encourage division make us lose track of the things we have in common[.]"
The Goodman's season also includes a "cultural attraction" from David Byrne and Mala Gaonkar titled Theater of the Mind, which press notes promise audience members will be able to "feel, taste, and hear." Audiences will be led through a series of rooms to participate in "thought-provoking neuroscience experiments." Dates are to be announced. The company will also bring arts programming to each of Chicago's 50 wards through the 100 Free Acts of Theater series, with details to be announced. The Goodman's A Christmas Carol, adapted by Tom Creamer and directed by Malkia Stampley, will return November 15-December 31, with Christopher Donahue starring as Scrooge.
For full details of the upcoming season, visit .
