The Chicago Playworks series showcases two plays for young audiences each year. These productions reflect the realities and experiences of young audiences and foster connections between the community at The Theatre School and young people in Chicago.
This year’s spring Chicago Playworks production, “The Chronicles of the Kaleidoscope Visitors” by Omar Abbas Salem, is a fantastical story of two green creatures who show up in an isolated winter town that explores concepts like xenophobia and assimilation in a way that’s approachable to young audiences.
“One of the major benefits of sharing these messages with younger audiences is being able to build off of the creativity they already have within them,” says Theatre School student Marlee Feacher, who plays the narrator in the production. “It makes my job so much easier as an actor to be able to convey stories with an audience so imaginative and willing to challenge societal norms. I also find it very moving watching kids fall in love with the art of theatre in a very similar way that I did.”
Collaborating to boost creativity, access to theatre for young audiences
Two keys to the success of Chicago Playworks have been its collaboration with The Theatre School’s Creative Root program and the development of new work through the Cunningham Commission for Youth Theatre.
“We partner with Creative Root, which engages in theatrical and creative arts education at schools in the Chicago area,” says
Reza Mirsajadi, a faculty member in Theatre Studies and the artistic director of Chicago Playworks. “Through this partnership, we’re able to have a relationship with those schools who come to our productions. This allows us to have a more deeply engaged connection with the community than you might typically see at other shows put on at The Theatre School, where our audience is mainly adults.”
Creative Root offers classes, summer camp and school programs that provide children with an opportunity to explore their passion for theatre. This spring’s programming brings classrooms into the process of theatre-making, exploring the themes of the current production through class discussion and culminating in a field trip to see the play.
Driving the creation of new work, the Cunningham Commission for Youth Theatre provides support to Chicago-area playwrights to create new work for young audiences, and “The Chronicles of the Kaleidoscope Visitors” is one such commission.
“The Cunningham Commission started several years ago as an opportunity for both the realization of the Vincentian mission of The Theatre School and to build bonds with Chicago-area playwrights,” Mirsajadi says. “A significant part of theatre-making is developmental work. We partner with playwrights who are interested in creating a project for young audiences that has some relationship with the ideas of truth, learning, understanding and community. The playwright drafts the play over a multi-year process, we sometimes have development readings of the play with actors at The Theatre School, and then we stage the world premiere production through Chicago Playworks.”
“The Chronicles of the Kaleidoscope Visitors” runs through Saturday, May 31 at the Merle Reskin Theatre. Tickets and event information can be found on
The Theatre School website.