Victory Gardens & Emerald City Theatre Announce 'Play Pals' Workshop Dates

Victory Gardens Theater and Emerald City Theatre will continue to provide Play Pals, a theater experience for the whole family, throughout the 2017-2018 Season.

During designated matinees, children ages 4-11 will engage in critically-acclaimed theater education workshops from Emerald City Theatre while their parents attend performances at Victory Gardens Theater.

Tickets for Play Pals are $40 and include one adult ticket to a matinee performance of Fun Home, Fade, Breach, Doing It, or Mies Julie and up to three student admissions to the theater workshop.

Through an afternoon of theater games and activities, Play Pals students will engage their voices, bodies, and minds to explore storytelling, create characters, and build confidence. Emerald City Theatre's experienced teaching artists will provide children the opportunity to enhance their social, emotional, and cognitive skills, and grow in their understanding of basic theatre principles.

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Play Pals workshops and performances for the 2017-2018 Season are as follows:

Fun Home

Music by Jeanine Tesori

Book and Lyrics by Lisa Kron

Directed by Gary Griffin

Based on the Graphic Novel by Alison Bechdel

Running Dates: September 19 - November 12, 2017

Play Pals Dates: Saturday, September 23 at 3pm and Sunday, October 1 at 3pm

Fade

By Tanya Saracho

Directed Sandra Marquez

A Co-Production with Teatro Vista

Running Dates: November 4 - December 23, 2017

Play Pals Dates: Sunday, November 5 at 3pm and Saturday, December 16 at 3pm

BREACH: A manifesto on race in America through the eyes of a black girl recovering from self-hate

By Antoinette Nwandu

Directed by Lisa Portes

Running Dates: February 9 - March 11, 2018

Play Pals Dates: Sunday, February 18 at 3pm and Saturday, March 3 at 3pm

Doing It

By Boo Killebrew

Directed by Chay Yew

Running Dates: April 6 - May 6, 2018

Play Pals Dates: Sunday, April 15 at 3pm and Saturday, April 21 at 3pm

Mies Julie

By Yaël Farber

Directed by Dexter Bullard

Adapted from August Strindberg's Miss Julie

Running Dates: May 25 - June 24, 2018

Play Pals Dates: Sunday, May 27 at 3pm and Saturday, June 9 at 3pm

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Play Pals tickets are priced at $40 and include one adult ticket to a matinee performance of Fun Home, Fade, Breach, Doing It, or Mies Julie and up to three student admissions to the Emerald City Theatre education workshop. Tickets are available with code EMERALD at the Box Office, by calling 773.871.3000 or online at www.victorygardens.org.

Emerald City Theatre (ECT) celebrates all of Chicago's children through playful, professional, and culturally relevant artistic programs that motivate young people to creatively face the world.

A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, ECT is Chicago's largest theater for young audiences. ECT's programming reaches an average of 60,000 children ages 0 - 15, parents, and educators each season through its three pillars of work: artistic productions, educational programming, and outreach initiatives.

Founded in 1996, the company has created over 100 productions at the Apollo Theater in Lincoln Park, the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place, and Emerald City's Little Theatre in Lakeview. The Little Theatre is the nation's first facility dedicated to theater for the very young where ECT produces original works for ages 0 - 5.

ECT's educational programs focus on building self-confidence, collaboration, creative thinking, and having fun. Classes and camps are offered throughout the year at locations across Chicago's North Side. Additionally, a full slate of programming, including residencies, after-school programs, field trips, and workshops, is available to all schools throughout Chicago.

In support of increased literacy among Chicago's children, ECT's outreach programs focus heavily on theater activities as a method for reading improvement. The One Fund provides a free play and free companion book to low-income Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students. Since its inception, over 55,000 students have been served by Emerald City Theatre's One Fund. In 2017, ECT provided its first scholarships through its Scholarship Fund, allowing qualifying low-income children to attend Summer Camp 2017 tuition-free.

ECT's lead supporters include iHeartMedia Chicago, AMITA Health, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, KPMG, and Illinois Arts Council.

For more information, visit EmeraldCityTheatre.com.

Under the leadership of Artistic Director Chay Yew and Managing Director Erica Daniels, Victory Gardens is dedicated to artistic excellence while creating a vital, contemporary American Theater that is accessible and relevant to all people through productions of challenging new plays and musicals. Victory Gardens Theater is committed to the development, production and support of new plays that has been the mission of the theater since its founding, set forth by Dennis Za?ek, Marcelle McVay, and the original founders of Victory Gardens Theater.

Victory Gardens Theater is a leader in developing and producing new theater work and cultivating an inclusive Chicago theater community. Victory Gardens' core strengths are nurturing and producing dynamic and inspiring new plays, reflecting the diversity of our city's and nation's culture through engaging diverse communities, and in partnership with Chicago Public Schools, bringing art and culture to our city's active student population.

Since its founding in 1974, the company has produced more world premieres than any other Chicago theater, a commitment recognized nationally when Victory Gardens received the 2001 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. Located in the Lincoln Park neighborhood, Victory Gardens Biograph Theater includes the Za?ek-McVay Theater, a state-of-the-art 259-seat mainstage and the 109-seat studio theater on the second floor, named the Richard Christiansen Theater.

Victory Gardens Ensemble Playwrights include Luis Alfaro, Philip Dawkins, Marcus Gardley, Ike Holter, Samuel D. Hunter, Naomi Iizuka, Tanya Saracho and Laura Schellhardt. Each playwright has a seven-year residency at Victory Gardens Theater.

For more information about Victory Gardens, visit www.victorygardens.org. Follow us on Facebook at Facebook.com/victorygardens, Twitter @VictoryGardens and Instagram at instagram.com/victorygardenstheater.