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Schantelle Alonzo is one of 10 members of the APTP Class of 2021 who started college this fall. This amazing class are now bringing their gifts to DePaul, Georgetown, Harold Washington, Pomona, School of Visual Arts-NYC, Stanford, UIC and Wright College. Here’s a reflection from Schantelle on her first months as an art student in the Big Apple.
Albany Park Theater Project is delighted to announce an expansion of our leadership team. Beginning in September, 2021, Miguel Rodriguez will join APTP as Co-Executive Director, a new role that Miguel will hold together with co-founder David Feiner. We’re also thrilled to announce Reena Bajowala as the new president of our Board of Directors and Jennifer Choi as a new member of the Board. Read on for a letter from David and remarks from Miguel and Reena.
This spring, APTP’s 32 youth ensemble members will premiere Ofrenda, a new play devised by APTP, written by Isaac Gomez and directed by Stephanie Paul and Maggie Popadiak. The 32 cast members, all of whom are co-creators of the devised work, range in age from 13 to 18 and have spent from one to five years as members of the APTP company. Get your tickets now!
We are thrilled to announce that our next original performance, Ofrenda, is being written by Chicago playwright Isaac Gomez and directed by longtime APTP artistic leaders Stephanie Paul and Maggie Popadiak. Ofrenda will be performed by APTP’s largest ever ensemble, 33 teens ranging in age from 13 to 18, all of whom are co-creators on the show. Ofrenda begins performances April 25 at our home theater in Albany Park.
Since early February, I have been co-teaching a theater and writing course at Stateville, a maximum-security prison located just outside Joliet, Illinois, through the Prison + Neighborhood Arts Project. In this course, the dozen or so students explore voice, body, and spirit through many of the same exercises done with the teenaged ensemble at Albany Park Theater Project. During one session, students discussed the inability to create a visual and sonic record of the performance art they were creating. As one student said, “I wish we could camcord this.” Recording devices are not allowed in the prison. That same student then made the suggestion that each week a student ought to write down the events of the previous class to document not only the activities, but the impact it had on them and their peers. More than a journal entry, this writing would be the film, the photograph, the audio file, and the documentary they wished they had. These students do work and want the world to know it. Learn more about their work below in the words of students Devon Terrell and Darrell Fair:
This winter, APTP Resident Director Stephanie Paul and Resident Artist Mikhail Fiksel extend their collaboration with two productions of The Royale, a play by Marco Ramirez inspired by the true story of Jack Johnson, the first African American world heavyweight champion. The play is about one man’s quest for victory against all odds and personal demons.
Mikhail and Stephanie both made their APTP debut with Feast in 2010 and have worked on every APTP show since. Mikhail is an award-winning composer, sound designer, musician and DJ whose work can be heard at theaters throughout the country. Stephanie is a multi-disciplinary artist who creates work that lives at the intersection of dance, theater and live ensemble-based percussion.
Here, Mikhail and Stephanie offer APTP fans a look into the work they do beyond APTP.
This year I had the esteemed pleasure of launching a new, year-long program in my 8th grade classroom at Volta Elementary School with APTP’s Associate Director, Maggie Popadiak, as my teaching partner.
Every year, just 10 of Chicago’s best and brightest artists working in the performing, teaching, and visual arts receive a prestigious 3Arts Award, which recognizes exceptional Chicago-based women artists, artists of color, and artists with disabilities.
Chicago Tribune//Morgan Greene: “Welcome to the future home of Ellen Gates Starr High School,” announces Albany Park Theater Project co-founder David Feiner, smiling, unable to stand still.
Chicago Reader//Aimee Levitt: In a lot of ways, Ellen Gates Starr High School in Logan Square isn’t much different from other CPS neighborhood schools. Enrollment and funding are down, and the school is on probation: the results of standardized tests from this year, currently in session, will determine whether it stays open.