Northsideside Unschoolers of Chicago

DATES: WEDNESDAYS:    Oct 27,
Nov  3, 10, 17
Dec 1,5, 15
Jan 5,12, 19, 26 Final Performance  TBA in conjunction with the RHINOCEROS THEATER FEST!!

COST: $110

POETRY PERFORMANCE & DRAMA - AGES 8-12 (Time 11-12:15 pm)

Using lots of games and theater exercises, we will explore having fun with various poems and poets. If we get really inspired, we might even write some of our own! (reading and writing ability not a requirement) Inspired by the playfulness and whimsy of Shel Silverstein, we will stage a number of his poems and -voila!- a brilliant and zany piece of theater emerges. And yes, there will be games.. And fun. And did I mention fun games? And that poetry can be wicked fun as well?

ORIGINAL PERFORMANCE - AGES 12 and up ( Time 12:45-2)

Using games, writing exercises, movement exercises, peer and instructor feedback, as well as some other tools I’ve got hidden up my sleeve, participants will work in small groups or individually to discover and create a piece of theater that speaks to their own individual curiosities and obsessions. It is preferable that participants begin the workshop having NO IDEA of what they will create, thus allowing them to be open and trust in their own fabulousness and creativity. The workshop will culminate in performance. A dedicated notebook and a trusty writing implement will be necessary.
(For the record, this is the workshop that gave birth to the legendary performance piece  “The Pigeons of Stalingrad”  which, if you don’t know about it, you certainly will after taking this workshop)

If you have more than one kid you’d like to enroll, take $10/ per kid off as a sibling discount

If you would like to register your child, please contact Amy

If you don’t know me, here’s my rap sheet:

Amy Eaton has been working with young people and theater for the past 22 years. Before that she was a young person.

In 2005 she founded Mudlark Theater Company in Evanston where she was Artistic Director till 2009. Prior to that she was the Artistic Director for Evanston Children’s Theatre from 2000- 2004. She has taught theater, performance and creative writing with a number of organizations including Urban Gateways, Gallery 37, Magic City, and Logan Square Fine Arts for Kids. She was thrilled to be a mentor for 2 years with Tellin’ Tales Theatre “6 Stories Up:” In 1988-89 she was a member of “Sunshine Too” a performance group that traveled the US doing shows and workshops in both ASL and English for Deaf schools and community groups. .

Directing credits for the over 18 set include “Blurred Vision” with Tekki Lomnicki’s Tellin’ Tales Theater; “Dark Ride” for Thunder Road Ensemble; and an original adaptation of “Medea” with internationally acclaimed Deaf Poet Peter Cook, which was performed in ASL and English, but not at the same time.

Acting credits include “Macbeth” with NonSoFar Productions (in which she vainly tried to save a very young Sydney from certain death);  “Love Horse” and “Hit Me Like a Flower” both with Curious  Theater Branch;   a 13 foot tall singing woman in RedMoon’s 2000 Winter Pageant;  “Radio Hysteria” and “Drowning of Thirst” with Great Beast  Theater;  “In the Boom Boom Room”, “Standing on my Knees” and “Anne Sexton: Transformations” all with Thunder Road Ensemble. She co produced and performed her original piece “Photographs of my Mother” with Blue Rider Theater and Tellin’ Tales Theater.

She graduated from Ithaca College with a BFA in Acting and a Writing Minor.

As a young person, she was fortunate to work at Andy’s Summer Playhouse in Wilton NH under the fabulous Dan Hurlin where she learned never to underestimate anyone’s creative ability. She studied tap dance with an old Rockette and taught herself to play the guitar. But not at the same time.