Now at the Goodman Theatre and under the direction of Steve Cosson, José Rivera’s Another Word for Beauty is not the world’s greatest production—nor is it supposed to be. Instead, this play is a glimpse into the lives of the incarcerated women of El Buen Pastor Prison in Colombia as they compete in its annual…

Beauty pageants occur in a prison called Buen Pastor in, Bogotá Colombia where young and older woman have the dream to win this incredible beauty pageant. Many women in Colombia are involved with the civil war that's in the process, and with drug dealers. They traffic drugs by swallowing capsules of drugs or by faking…

What can possibly be entertaining about a beauty pageant in a women’s prison? The answer is: Everything! Informative details about a country not so far away, emotional scenes that bring tears to your eyes, and a plot so funny you can’t help but feel joy are all of the things Another Word for Beauty has…

If someone asked me for another word for beauty, I would say enchantment. However, if someone asked me for another word for the Goodman Theatre’s production of Another Word for Beauty, I would have to say ordeal. Now don’t get me wrong, the show was not entirely horrible. It had strong roots in an issue…

Explicit, provocative, misunderstood...Colombia. In this cultural explosion of a play “Another Word for Beauty,” playwright Jose Rivera takes the audience, in the Goodman Theatre through the tough, segregated life within Buen Pastor, a women’s prison, with the help of some Latin tunes and scattered flashbacks of how the women ended up in prison in the…

If you’d like to see a reflection of popular media as a musical play, then Another Word for Beauty is the perfect play to watch! Playwright by José Rivera’s Another Word for Beauty, is based on an actual Colombian prison where there is an annual beauty pageant; five girls compete every year to win the…

When a show like “A Christmas Carol” is performed year after year, it becomes easy to allow audiences to take in the classic words simply as they were written. The Goodman’s production would never let that happen. Directed by Henry Wishcamper, the classic Christmas play reaches it's 38th season at the Goodman Theatre this holiday…

Disturbing and enjoyable, how can a play be both? “Another Word for Beauty” by Jose Rivera encapsulates feelings of joy, happiness, vulnerability and fear all in one performance. Drawing in diverse audiences, the Goodman sets out to show the city of Chicago how life differs not only in another country, but in a women’s prison.…

Entering the Goodman Theatre’s production of “Another Word for Beauty”, purposefully knowing nothing, it seemed impossible for playwright José Rivera’s newest work to disappoint. But, where there’s a will, there’s a way, and this play certainly had a Will, and a Yolanda and a Xiomara and countless other characters and themes that were impossible to…