Father Comes Home From The Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3)

May 25 – June 24, 2018 (Goodman Theatre, Chicago)

By Suzan-Lori Parks

Directed by Niegel Smith

Hero, a Texas slave, faces a simple yet monumental choice: join his master in the Confederate army and be granted his freedom afterward— or remain enslaved at the plantation. Filled with music, wit and poetic wisdom, Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks’ “masterpiece” (New York magazine) challenges us to navigate our own moral compass in a country that both unites and rips us apart.

“This must-see Chicago production in the Owen Theatre truly is a remarkable feat of direction, notable for its maintenance of total truth and for its application of counterbalancing consistency to an intentionally deconstructive and eclectic piece of writing. […] But Smith makes all of that feel utterly logical: It’s much harder to pull that off than you might think, especially when you did not direct the original production. This is just not a piece that could withstand a hands-off director. Rather, Smith functions as a guide through the terrain of Parks’ historical imagination, homing in on her sociopolitical imperatives and yet also letting her struggling characters breathe, and be, and not know what to do for the best, or where history may or may not be taking them. As a result you find yourself caring deeply about the fate of almost everyone you see.”

– Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune 

Click here to purchase your tickets for May 25 – June 24, 2018