Ever since it was founded 21 years ago, Child’s Play Touring Theatre has performed the writings of American children. Now, through a cultural exchange program, the group has gathered silly and serious stories and poems and songs from children around the world and adapted them for a production called “Writing Our World! (WOW!).”
Two youngsters will be able to join a professional actor on stage where they will put on dragon heads and portray the monsters in a fairy tale written by a 13-year-old boy from Norway. A young girl from the audience will wear a blond wig and a cape so she can be the princess in the story, in which love wins out over greed.
The Child’s Play actors will don masks to tell the story called “Henry and His Mother,” written by a 13-year-old girl from the Dominican Republic. “It’s the heartbeat of the show,” says June Podagrosi, the co-founder of Child’s Play. “It’s message is that love is the greatest gift you can give or receive.”
Podagrosi says that another highlight is a poem that was written by a Chicago girl describing how the attack on Sept. 11 affected her life. Child’s Play put her words to music. “It’s about how your loved ones will always be with you even after they’re gone,” explains Podagrosi. “One of the actresses, who plays the role of a pupil, sings the song in this sweet, soft little voice and then the teacher chimes in and belts it out in a gospel rendition and it gives you goosebumps in a good way.”
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“Writing Our World! (WOW!)”
When: Saturdays and Sundays, May 4-19
Where: Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St.
Price: $6-$14; 312-443-3800
