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The Goodman's Centennial 2025/2026 Season continues with the Chicago premiere of Covenant, Chicagoland native playwright York Walker's "striking Southern gothic work" (New York Times) hailed as "blackout-and-blood-curdling-scream deliciousness" (New York Magazine). BOLD Artistic Producer Malkia Stampley is set to direct a cast including Debo Balogun (graveyard shift), Ashli Rene Funches (A Red Orchid Theatre's IS GOD IS), Jaeda LaVonne (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre's Twelfth Night), Felicia Oduh (The Nacirema Society) and Anji White (Fat Ham). Understudies will be announced at a later date. Covenant appears May 2 through May 31 (opening night is May 11) in the 350-seat flexible Owen Theatre. For tickets ($24 - $64; on sale Feb. 20), visit the Box Office (170 N. Dearborn), call 312.443.3800 or purchase online at GoodmanTheatre.org/Covenant. The Goodman is grateful for the support of BOLD Ventures (Production Sponsor), Tabet, DiVito & Rothstein (Corporate Supporter) and The Elizabeth Morse Charitable Trust (Lead Sponsor of IDEAA Programming).

"Covenant is about young love, the secrets we hold and the role faith plays when we are haunted by our choices," said director Malkia Stampley, who most recently directed a 2026 New Stages Festival reading and the critically acclaimed 48th annual A Christmas Carol. "While I personally connect with the religious themes in the story as a pastor's daughter, many will connect with the folklore nature of this story and the thrilling and chilling ride this story takes you on. The characters York built in Covenant will sweep away audiences and my goal is to tell this story honestly, organically, full of heart and grit."

Expect one devilish twist after another in Covenant, an "undeniably spooky (and) absolutely enjoyable" (TheaterMania) mythic and suspenseful new play. Johnny "Honeycomb" James (Debo Balogun) left his small Georgia town a struggling guitarist—and returned a blues star, to the surprise of sisters Violet (Felicia Oduh) and Avery (Jaeda LaVonne), their mother (Anji White) and their best friend Ruthie (Ashli Rene Funches). As rumors of a darker deal abound, it becomes clear that he's not the only one with a secret...or seeking salvation. This tense thriller explores the power of belief and the thin line between rumor and truth. Covenant premiered at Roundabout Theatre Company in 2023 to critical acclaim, earning a New York Times Critics Pick.

York Walker is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter from Chicago, Illinois. He is the inaugural recipient of both the Vineyard Theatre's Colman Domingo Award and the John Singleton Screenwriting Award. His work includes Holcomb & Hart (Victory Garden's New Plays For A New Year Festival), The Séance (Winner of the John Singleton Screenwriting Competition, 48 Hours... in Harlem), Covenant (Colman Domingo Award, Roundabout Underground, South Coast Repertory's Pacific Playwrights Festival, Fire This Time Festival) and Soul Records (workshops with Manhattan Theatre Club, the Vineyard Theatre and Roundabout Theatre Company). York is currently developing new works with Roundabout Theatre Company, South Coast Repertory Theatre, The Geffen Playhouse and Goodman Theatre. His contributions extend to the realm of television, having served as Story Editor and Staff Writer for two seasons on Dick Wolf's hit series, FBI. York is a graduate of the MFA Acting program from the American Conservatory Theatre.

Malkia Stampley is a twice Jeff-nominated director from Milwaukee and The Goodman's BOLD Artistic Producer. Her Goodman Theatre directing credits include A Christmas Carol, Primary Trust, In My Granny's Garden and New Stages Festival's Cephianne's Reflection and This Part of His Life Blooms. Select directing credits: No Such Thing (Rivendell); Girls on Sand (Northern Sky); Nina Simone: Four Women (Milwaukee Rep); The October Storm (Raven); Boulevard of Bold Dreams (TimeLine); STEW (Shattered Globe); Black Nativity (Black Arts MKE); The Gift of the Magi (American Players); Five Guys Named Moe (Skylight Music); Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grille (Farmers Alley); Exit Strategy (Northwestern).

Company of Covenant (in alphabetical order)

By York Walker

Directed by Malkia Stampley

Debo Balogun...Johnny James 
Ashli Rene Funches...Ruthie 
Jaeda LaVonne...Avery 
Felicia Oduh...Violet 
Anji White...Mama

CREATIVE TEAM

Costume Designer...Evelyn Danner 
Set Designer...Ryan Emens 
Lighting Designer...Gina Patterson 
Sound Designer...Dee Etti-Williams 
Music Director and Composer...Mike Przygoda 
Voice and Dialect Coach...Shadana Patterson 
Associate Director and Movement Director...Tor Campbell 
Illusion Consultants...Benjamin Barnes and Trent James 
Intimacy...Jyreika Guest 
Line Producer...Lena Romano

Original Casting by Trent Stork. Additional Casting by Lauren Port, CSA. Tyra Bullock and Lena Romano are the Dramaturgs.

ENHANCED AND ACCESSIBLE PERFORMANCES

Visit GoodmanTheatre.org/Access for more information about The Goodman's accessibility efforts.

ASL-Interpreted...May 22  at 7:30pm – An ASL interpreter signs the action/text as played. 
Audio-Described...May 23 at 2pm; Touch Tour; 12:30pm – Action audibly enhanced via headset. 
Spanish-Subtitled...May 23 at 7:30pm – Spanish-translated dialogue via LED sign.
Open-Captioned...May 24 at 2pm – LED sign presents dialogue in sync with the performance.

ABOUT THE GOODMAN

Since 1925, The Goodman has been more than a stage. A theatrical home for artists and a gathering space for community, it's where stories come to life—bold in artistry and rich in history, deeply rooted in the city it serves.

Led by Walter Artistic Director Susan V. Booth and Executive Director John Collins, The Goodman sparks conversation, connection and change through new plays, reimagined classics and large-scale musicals. With distinctions including nearly 200 world or American premieres, two Pulitzer Prizes, 22 Tony Awards and nearly 200 Joseph Jefferson Awards, The Goodman is proud to be the first theater to produce all 10 plays of August Wilson's "American Century Cycle." In addition, the theater frequently serves as a production partner—with national and international companies to Chicago's Off-Loop theaters—to help amplify theatrical voices.

But The Goodman believes a more empathetic, more connected Chicago is created one story at a time, and counts as its greatest legacy the community it's built. Generation-spanning productions and programs offer theater for a lifetime; from Theater for the Very Young (plays designed for ages 0-5) to the long-running annual A Christmas Carol, which has introduced new generations to theater over five decades, The Goodman is committed to being an asset for all of Chicago. Education and Engagement programs led by Clifford Director of Education and Engagement Jared Bellot and housed in the Alice Rapoport Center use the tools of theater to spark imagination, reflection and belonging. Each year, these programs reach thousands of people (85% from underserved communities) as well as educators, artists and lifelong learners across the city.

The Goodman stands on the unceded homelands of the Council of the Three Fires—the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi Nations—and acknowledges the many other Nations for whom this land now called Chicago has long been home, including the Myaamia, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Sac and Fox, Peoria, Kaskaskia, Wea, Kickapoo, and Mascouten. The Goodman is proud to partner with the Gichigamiin Indigenous Nations Museum (Gichigamiin-Museum.org) and the Center for Native Futures (CenterForNativeFutures.org)—organizations devoted to honoring Indigenous stories, preserving cultural memory, and deepening public understanding.

The Goodman was founded by William O. Goodman and his family to honor the memory of Kenneth Sawyer Goodman—a visionary playwright whose bold ideas helped shape Chicago's early cultural renaissance. That spirit of creativity and generosity endures today. In 2000, through the commitment of Mr. Goodman's descendants—Albert Ivar Goodman and his late mother, Edith-Marie Appleton—The Goodman opened the doors to its current home in the heart of the Loop.

Marsha Cruzan is Chair of the Goodman Theatre Board of Trustees; Diane Landgren is Women's Board President; and Kelli Garcia is president of the Scenemakers Board for Young Professionals. 

Paramount Theatre’s long-running smash hit musical Million Dollar Quartet has wrapped its winter break, and is rebooting to rock downtown Aurora’s Stolp Island Theatre for three more months, March 4-May 31, 2026.

Repeat audiences know, and newcomers really should experience, this new, limited engagement of Paramount’s critically acclaimed, immersive Million Dollar Quartet. Both the theater and the show were custom built to create an intimate, jukebox musical experience like none before, inventively staged inside a replica of the original Sun Records studio in Memphis.

It was there, on December 4, 1956, where Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins famously came together to record one of the most historic jam sessions in rock ‘n’ roll history. In Paramount’s Sun Records, the musical delivers incredible, up-close live performances of some of the best songs in rock ‘n’ roll history, including “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” “I Walk the Line,” “Hound Dog” and “Great Balls of Fire.”

Paramount’s production returns with its original Jerry Lee Lewis, Garrett Forrestal, still leaping off his piano since MDQ inaugurated Stolp Island Theatre in June 2024. Veteran rockabilly player Matt McClure returns as Carl Perkins. Also back are Corey McKinney as Elvis Presley and Michael Potter as Johnny Cash, breaking hearts and walking the line respectively since last summer. Connor Green is new to the cast, stepping in as Sun Studios founder Sam Phillips. Paramount’s original Dyanne, show stopper Madison Palmer, and Maeghan Looney as Marion, are both returning for the extension, along with Brandon Pollard as Fluke, and Roy James Brown as Brother Jay, through Mar 22, when Jake Saleh returns as Brother Jay. 

Don’t miss Paramount’s radically unique restaging of one of the most popular jukebox musicals of all time. Dean Richards, WGN-TV/AM, said it was “like stepping into Sun Records where one special night took place." Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune, called it “another example of how much the success of the nonprofit, audience-focused Paramount has transformed the center of Aurora into a live entertainment destination.”

Paramount’s Stolp Island Theatre is located at 5 E. Downer Place, Suite G, in downtown Aurora, with several restaurants and easy, affordable parking just a short walk away.

Paramount’s new, limited engagement of Million Dollar Quartet reopens March 4 and runs through May 31. Performance times are Wednesday at
1:30 p.m. and 7 p.m., Thursday at 7 p.m., Friday at 7 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., and Sunday at 1 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.

All seats are $76 when purchased in person. Additional fees apply for phone and online orders. For tickets and information, visitParamountAurora.com, call (630) 896-6666, or stop by the Paramount Theatre box office, 23 E. Galena Blvd., Monday–Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and until show time on show days. 

Million Dollar Quartet inaugurated Paramount’s new Stolp Island Theatre with much fanfare in July 2024. The production was extended three times due to popular demand, running for more than a year and a half prior to this spring 2026 extension.

Chalk this success up to being a production that delivers on all fronts. As soon as audiences step into the lobby, they find themselves outside the legendary Sun Records recording studio in Memphis, Tennessee, where they can step up to the Taylor’s Good Food concession stand for affordable snacks and beverages, view displays about the history of the play and take selfies astride a vintage-style motorcycle.

Paramount’s directors Jim Corti and Creg Sclavi worked with a “million dollar” production team to create a truly a one-of-a-kind live musical experience, stocked with amazing talent, an incredibly detailed, environmental set, and the amazing production values audiences expect from Paramount.

The production team includes Kory Danielson, music director; Jeffrey D. Kmiec, scenic designer; Matt Guthier, costume designer; Greg Hofmann, lighting designer; Adam Rosenthal, sound designer; Mike Tutaj, projections designer; Katie Cordts, wig, hair and makeup designer; and Jonathan Berg-Einhorn, properties designer. Rebecca J. Lister is stage manager and Emily Hanlon is assistant stage manager. Understudies are Roy James Brown (principal Brother Jay to start, understudy when Jake Saleh returns in late March), Brian Grey (Johnny Cash, Sam Phillips), Michael Kurowski (Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley), Drew Mitchell (Fluke), Ben Smallwood (Carl Perkins) and Kyle Wells (Brother Jay). The book is by Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux. Original concept and direction by Floyd Mutrix.

Verano, a leading cannabis company that operates Zen Leaf dispensaries in Aurora and across Chicagoland, is Venue Sponsor for Stolp Island Theatre. Old National Bank is Marquee Sponsor for Million Dollar Quartet.