Robert Falls, Goodman Theatre’s renowned artistic director, passes the torch after a sensational 35-year tenure at the company’s helm.
Robert Falls
In Robert Falls’ eyes, the key to leading and shaping one of the city’s top cultural institutions is all about collaborating with great artists. “Our remarkable artistic collective associates, as artists, are diverse in every way,” Falls offers in reflection of what made his time as artistic director at Goodman Theatre a smashing success. “It’s been a joyous and thrilling experience to collaborate with so many wonderful people, and to have both learned and led. I will be forever grateful for having the greatest experience of my professional life.”
Goodman Theatre
From his direction of Death of a Salesman (for which he won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play in 1999) to the 2012 production of Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh, Falls’ résumé is riddled with achievements that have shaped the city’s theater scene. “Chicago’s audience is the best in the country,” Falls says. “They are the ones who created a vibrant community of theaters—both large and small—in the city. I’m especially grateful for their support of new work at the Goodman that can be challenging and often controversial.”
A scene from Falls’ production of Death of a Salesman
As the company approaches its centennial in 2025, Susan V. Booth, of Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, steps in as Goodman’s new artistic director. “I know that [she] will bring the same energy and enthusiasm that I brought to the theater when I arrived 35 years ago,” Falls concludes. “I can’t wait to see what [her] vision of the future will be.” Until then, Chicago audiences can revel in one final season of stage magic under Falls’ direction. 170 N. Dearborn St.
Photography by: FROM TOP: PHOTO: BY FLINT CHANEY; PHOTO: COURTESY OF GOODMAN THEATRE; PHOTO: BY ERIC Y. EXIT
