ATC to Bring THE PROJECT(S) 'The Project(s)to Cabrini-Green & Wentworth Gardens
American Theater Company (ATC) announces a special community tour of The Project(s), a world premiere documentary play about the history of public housing in Chicago, to the Cabrini-Green and Wentworth Gardens neighborhoods this month. Free public performances will be held at Edward Jenner Elementary Academy of the Arts on May 17 at 6 p.m. and Wentworth Gardens Field house on May 24 at 5 p.m. Seating for both performances will be available on a first come, first served basis.
Additionally, a select number of free tickets are available for all performances during the regular run at American Theater Company (1909 W. Byron Street, Chicago) now through May 24 for all former and current public housing residents. Interested residents can call ATC at 773-409-4125 for more details. Single tickets are $48 and are available at www.atcweb.org or 773-409-4125.
"We wanted this story to return to the places where it was born," says ATC Artistic Director PJ Paparelli. "I am very grateful to the generous individuals who are making this tour possible."
The Project(s) is conceived, co-written and directed by ATC Artistic Director PJ Paparelli and co-written by Joshua Jaeger. From 2010 to 2014, Paparelli and Jaeger conducted over 100 interviews with scholars, city officials, and former and current residents of public housing, including Chicago's Cabrini-Green, Wentworth Gardens, Robert Taylor Homes and Ida B. Wells Homes. This verbatim material is innovatively combined with a cappella music, body percussion and stepping with choreography by Jakari Sherman, artistic director of Washington, DC-based Step Afrika!-the nation's only professional dance company devoted to stepping. The ensemble cast of The Project(s) includes Linda Bright Clay, Omar Evans, Kenn E. Head, Joslyn Jones, Stephen Conrad Moore, Penelope Walker, AnJi White and Eunice Woods.
The Project(s) received two development opportunities at the Orchard Project, a national new play development retreat in New York; a Jentel Artist Residency in Wyoming, and a MacArthur International Connections Fund grant, through which Paparelli travelled to the United Kingdom to workshop the play at Citizens Theatre in Glasgow and the Lyric Hammersmith in London, in addition to interviewing public housing residents and city officials in Scotland. ATC also partnered with Howard University in Washington, DC, for a five-week workshop integrating stepping and body percussion.
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