Albany Park Theater Project

In Chicago's Albany Park, one of the most ethnically diverse communities in America, the Albany Park Theater Project (APTP) provides a space for the neighborhood's young people to transform the raw material of their life experiences into profoundly complex and moving theater. The ensemble comprises 35 youth who write, choreograph, compose, and stage performance pieces based on the real-life stories of their immigrant, working-class neighborhood. Hailed for producing some of the most exciting and risk-taking theater in Chicago, APTP is a powerful example of the meaningful contribution the arts can make to individual and community development.

Open free-of-charge to any young person in Albany Park, APTP uses a combination of skills workshops, field trips, storytelling circles, play development sessions, rehearsals, and performances to engage and educate young people. With high artistic expectations and a tremendous sense of pride, the participants in the ensemble spend 20 hours a week creating and performing two full-length plays a year that are presented to more than 4,000 people. Focusing on youth development, APTP empowers young people by giving them ownership of all aspects of theater. They work as actors, dancers, singers, musicians, directors, choreographers, composers, and workshop facilitators. Some also assist with the organization's fundraising and public relations activities. In addition, three members of the ensemble serve as voting members on APTP's Board of Directors.

In 2000, APTP recognized a responsibility to assist participants in planning for their future and developed a comprehensive college guidance program. Counselors offer personalized help in identifying colleges, completing applications, and securing financial aid. The success of this program is nothing short of miraculous-more than 90 percent of the youth who participate in APTP's ensemble pursue further education at four-year colleges. Most of them are the first in their families to advance beyond a high school education.

Through their affiliation with APTP, the young adults of Albany Park not only create dynamic theater, but also discover their hidden potential and chart their future. In the words of APTP ensemble member Elizabeth Cobacho, "Today, I am a proficient writer, an accomplished theater artist, a curious and critical thinker... I am about to be the first in my family to go to college."