Chicago actress Amanda Drinkall, seen most recently in the acclaimed Strawdog Theatre company production of “Great Expectations” (in which she masterfully portrayed the dual, and radically different roles of Miss Havisham and Biddy), has been cast in one of the most coveted roles of the upcoming Chicago theater season.
Drinkall will play Vanda Jordan in the Goodman Theatre production of “Venus in Fur,” the play by David Ives that was both an Off Broadway and Broadway hit, is now being produced at 40 regional theaters and on a slew of international stages, and has just been made into a film directed by Roman Polanski. Jordan is a self-possessed actress who auditions for a charismatic playwright-director, Thomas Novachek (to be played by Rufus Collins, an actor with Broadway and film credits). Novachek has adapted a work by the infamous 19th century Austrian writer, Leopold Sacher von Masoch (source of the term “masochist”), and as the audition proceeds, the actress and director find themselves caught up in erotically-charged power games that echo Novachek’s play itself.
The Goodman production, running March 8 – April 13, will be directed by Joanie Schultz, whose recent shows have included the excellent “Northanger Abbey” at Remy Bumppo and “The Whale” at Victory Gardens.
Tickets for “Venus in Fur” ($25-86) go on sale Jan. 24. Call (312) 443-3800 or visit www.GoodmanTheatre.org.
