Goodman Theatre announces 2021 season, but without performance dates

Goodman Theatre tempered Tuesday's announcement of its 2021 season with the caveat that it will commence only when live performances can resume safely.

For that reason, Goodman artistic director Robert Falls announced productions but not dates.

"As we continue to prioritize the health and safety of our artists and audiences, we remain flexible in our planning and will share production dates when the time is right," he said in a prepared statement.

Here are works scheduled for the Owen Theatre, in alphabetical order by author.

• "the ripple, the wave that carried me home" by Christina Anderson, is about a woman raised by civil rights activists who is struggling with her family's political legacy. Goodman's premiere is a coproduction with Berkeley Repertory Theatre. • Writer/pianist Hershey Felder performs "A Paris Love Story," a play-with-music that pays tribute to French composer Claude Debussy ("La Mer," "Clair de lune").

• Joseph Jefferson Award-winning E. Faye Butler stars in the world premiere of "Fannie," Cheryl L. West's play-with-music about civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer. A commission by the Goodman and Seattle Repertory Theatre, "Fannie" was part of Goodman's 2019 New Stages Festival.

The upcoming season also marks a revival of "The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci," by adapter/director Mary Zimmerman, who premiered her examination of da Vinci's ideas about mathematics, philosophy, love and the human spirit at the Goodman in 1993.

Productions scheduled for the Albert Theatre include (in alphabetical order by author):

• The Chicago premiere of Jocelyn Bioh's "School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play." Postponed prior to opening in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the play was streamed during the early days of Chicago's shutdown. It's about how the reigning queen of a Ghana girls school is dethroned by a new student.

• "American Mariachi" by José Cruz González, in a coproduction with Dallas Theater Center. Henry Godinez directs the Chicago premiere of this comedy-with-music about cousins who founded the first female mariachi band.

• Delayed by the pandemic, "The Outsiders," based on S.E. Hinton's novel and Francis Ford Coppola's film, will premiere in the Albert Theatre. Written by Adam Rapp with music and lyrics by Jonathan Clay, Zach Chance and Justin Levine, the musical set in 1967 Oklahoma tells the story of teenage have-nots struggling to survive.

• Emmy Award-winner and Glen Ellyn native Sean Hayes ("Will & Grace") stars as bon vivant quipster and pianist Oscar Levant in the world premiere of "Good Night, Oscar." Doug Wright's plays set in 1958 during a live performance on Jack Paar's late-night TV show.

Performances take place at 170 N. Dearborn St., Chicago. Five-play memberships start at $100 and are available online at goodmantheatre.org/2021 season or by phone (312) 443-3800.