Author Archives: Jennifer Merriman

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  • Learning Curve Behind the Scenes with
    Third Rail Projects’ Jennine Willett

    Jennifer Merriman

    I met David Feiner, artistic director of Albany Park Theater Project, in the fall of 2013 after he wrote to Third Rail Projects about his experience at our show Then She Fell and inquired about meeting to chat about sharing this format with the APTP youth ensemble. Working with teenagers is not exactly in my comfort zone, but faced with David’s enthusiasm and excitement, I found myself just saying “Well, how about we just come out to Chicago and teach a workshop with your company?”

  • Curtain Closed But Fight Against Foreclosure Continues

    Jennifer Merriman
    Curtain Closed But Fight Against Foreclosure Continues

    Two years ago we brought you I Will Kiss These Walls, a play based on the real-life stories of Chicagoans swept into the foreclosure crisis. This Friday February 20, join APTP as we perform scenes from “Walls” in the liberated home of Maria and Jorge, whose lives we depicted in “Walls” (7 PM at 7245 N. Ridge, Chicago).

  • Beyond the Stage: APTP’s Tutoring Program

    Jennifer Merriman

    It’s 7pm, and a swarm of company members surround APTP academic tutor, Brett Schneider. Questions bounce back and forth, covering everything from organic chemistry to U.S. History, and APTPians respond as though they are eager contestants on a game show.

  • APTP in School: Albany Park Multicultural Academy

    Jennifer Merriman

    Less than a mile from Albany Park Theater Project’s doors, Albany Park Multicultural Academy (APMA) is buzzing with students and anticipation. Barbara Dillon’s 7th and 8th grade students are about to present their theater piece, devised by the students under the guidance of APTP directors Maggie Popadiak and Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez, at the CPS middle school’s end-of-the-year assembly.

  • APTP and Third Rail Projects: Immersive Theater in 6 days or less

    Jennifer Merriman

    Already in less than 72 hours, APTP’s home theater and ensemble has transformed—school desks fill the building, furniture is dispersed across the theater, APTP teens interact with rooms and objects as though they are fellow actors, and the entire Eugene Field Park field house (which houses APTP) is evolving into a multi-floor, multi-room performance space. This week, APTP hosts New York’s Third Rail Projects to learn the art of immersive theater. By Saturday (less than 72 hours from now), APTP and Third Rail will reveal the original 40-minute performance experience they have co-created in just five days.

  • Here for a Reason: Stephanie Castrejon

    Jennifer Merriman
    Here for a Reason: Stephanie Castrejon

    Update: APTP alumna Stephanie Castrejon and her cast-mates from College of Wooster have been selected by the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF) to perform “Women of Ciudad Juarez” at the annual Region III competition this January.

  • Chicago Reporter: “You Haven’t Seen Community Theater Like This Before”

    Jennifer Merriman
    Chicago Reporter: “You Haven’t Seen Community Theater Like This Before”

    David Feiner met his future wife Laura Wiley at Yale School of Drama. They were drawn together by a shared desire to create meaningful art through community theater.

    “We wanted to transcend the boundaries you often find in theater and the arts in general; boundaries between life and art, audiences and artists, boundaries that too often keep us apart like race, ethnicity, religion, class and age,” says Feiner.

  • APTP’s God’s Work on Chicago Public Radio

    Jennifer Merriman
    APTP’s God’s Work on Chicago Public Radio

    Sixteen year-old Kyra Mae Robinson makes an astonishing transformation to play the mother of 18 children in God’s Work. Kyra and APTP’s artistic director, David Feiner, recently appeared on Chicago Public Radio’s “Afternoon Shift” to talk with host Niala Boodhoo about God’s Work, running at Goodman Theatre from April 4 – 19, 2014. Listen to the story, and enjoy this photos of Kyra off stage and on.

     

  • ‘God’s Work,’ Reinvented (Kerry Reid, Chicago Tribune)

    Jennifer Merriman

    Three teenage boys leap, roll off each other’s backs and clap hands in the air as they kill unseen bees, tallying up their respective body counts with shouts of glee.

    “Caleb! Three bees.”

    “Jeremiah! Two bees.”

    “Luke. Four bees!”

    Their joy is infectious, but with a dark undertone. These actors are rehearsing “God’s Work” — a devised piece originally created and performed by the youth-oriented, multiethnic Albany Park Theater Project in 2006, and now running in a re-imagined version at the Goodman’s Owen Theatre.