This summer, while other kids have been out trading Pokemon cards and buying Britney Spears CDs, an industrious group of youngsters has been turning play-acting skills into serious drama. Over the next couple of weeks, the adolescent thespians will display the fruits of their artistic labors in two dramatic programs: Kids ages 10-17 from CHA’s Dearborn Homes make up the Goodman Theatre/CHA Youth Drama Workshop and Youth Drama, Too! At 6:30 p.m. Friday they bring the West African folktale “The Words of Griot” to life as “Sundiata,” at St. James School, 2914 S. Wabash Ave.; Thirty young adults from Pilsen ages 14-21 make up the Goodman/Yollocalli Youth Drama Workshop, whose production of Bernardo Solano’s “Los Faustinos” updates the timeless legend of Faust to modern-day East Los Angeles, at 6 p.m. Aug. 15 at the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum, 1852 W. 19th St. Both programs are free. 312-857-7603.
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