Local Theatre Company Makes A Big Move To The South Side
Local Theatre Company Makes A Big Move To The South Side
BY KATHERINE NEWMAN
Collaboraction Theatre Company recently announced that it will hosts several of its 2019-20 season performances in Englewood at Kennedy-King College. The theme of the upcoming performance season is We Are Each Others Business.
The 2019-20 season for Collaboraction will include The Light, a new summer youth festival, the fourth annual Peacebook Festival, Book of Peace at Cloudgate Plaza, a holiday play called All I Want for Chicago Is…, the Encounter Series, and the world premiere of Red Island by Anthony Moseley and Carla Stillwell.
The Peacebook Festival, Encounter Series, and Red Island will all take place in the 292-seat state-of-the-art theatre at Kennedy-King College, 740 W. 63rd St., in Englewood.
The move to Englewood is a critical part of Collaboraction’s One City plan that aims to use theater to encourage healing and transformation in Chicago, according to information provided by Collaboraction.
“At Collaboraction, we use first-person authentic-voice narratives that we cultivate through talking with people in Chicago. We go deep in these neighborhoods to hear stories about what it’s like to live with, live around, and live under the kind of pressure that people experience surrounding race, gender, identity, class, poverty, and all that kind of stuff. We then tell those stories in a way that gets to the humanity of it all and we connect those stories to people who ordinarily would be disconnected from the realities of what goes on in these neighborhoods,” said Dr. Marcus Robinson, managing director of Collaboraction.
Robinson is a resident of Englewood himself and is elated to have his professional work in performance art overlap with his passion for making an impact on the community that he has chosen to call home.
“This is my opportunity to deliver what I consider to be my life’s work in community development, community transformation, and personal transformation with the way I’m organized as a professional,” said Robinson. “I’m able to put my professional life in alignment with my personal life and in alignment with my own values.”
Each performance for this entire season will conclude with a Crucial Conversation, moderated by Robinson and Collaboraction’s Artistic Director, Anthony Moseley. The conversations will dive into the themes of the shows and allow audience members to reflect on what they have just seen and share their own ideas on how to heal the City of Chicago from its history of oppression, segregation, and systemic racism, according to information provided by Collaboraction.
“Our idea is that every story will lead to a conversation about what we can all do to make Chicago a better place to live in terms of race relations and a better place to live in terms of class and economic development,” said Robinson.
For more, visit collaboraction.org or call the Collaboraction box office, (312) 226-9633.
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