{"id":24866,"date":"2016-01-20T17:24:08","date_gmt":"2016-01-20T23:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=24866"},"modified":"2016-01-20T17:24:08","modified_gmt":"2016-01-20T23:24:08","slug":"halcyon-theatre-brings-social-justice-to-the-stage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/halcyon-theatre-brings-social-justice-to-the-stage\/","title":{"rendered":"Halcyon Theatre brings social justice to the stage"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Katina Beniaris<\/strong><\/p>\n

Inside a local church in multicultural Albany Park, a small theater company\u00a0 gives the community free access on a first come first served basis to main stage productions such as \u201cThe Wild Duck\u201d and \u201cIn Love and Warcraft.\u201d<\/p>\n

Halcyon Theatre<\/a> recruits actors and crew from the community to produce live shows as diverse as the city of Chicago. The company\u2019s newest production \u201cEstrella Cruz [the junkyard queen]\u201d will be the first performance in their newly converted theater space on the third floor of Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church, 3255 W. Wilson Ave.<\/p>\n

For the theater company’s 10th season, \u201cEstrella Cruz [the junkyard queen]\u201d<\/a> follows the theater\u2019s theme of reworking old stories to portray contemporary relevance for the Albany Park community. This play serves as a modern twist on the classic Greek myth of \u201cPersephone,\u201d daughter of Demeter,\u00a0 the goddess of harvests and fertility.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Written by Chicago playwright Charise Castro Smith, \u201cEstrella Cruz\u201d is about a mother and daughter. Estrella experiences a coming of age –\u00a0 kidnapped by the lord of the underworld and having Bette Davis as her imaginary best friend.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time you come and see a Halcyon production\u2026 there is no typical casting,\u201d said Denise Hoeflich, president of the board and company member. \u201cAlbany Park, at one point, I think, was the most culturally diverse neighborhood in the country. It\u2019s the perfect neighborhood for Halcyon to be in because diversity is our mission.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The
Peter Espositio and ensemble in “The Visit” (Adam Dodds)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Halcyon Theatre took to the stage in 2006 when co-founders, Tony and Jenn Adams produced \u201cThe Visit\u201d<\/a> about a destitute desert town waiting for the hometown girl turned billionaire to bring things back to life. Tony and Jenn each had experience working at local theater companies, but it took a few years of searching (while raising their newborn daughter) to figure out how the theater was going to express new voices.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of it for the first couple years was figuring out how we can find the answer to the initial question \u2013 what was missing in our work? But, in hindsight, it was really obvious. Diversity was always at the core,\u201d said Tony Adams, who serves as artistic director.<\/p>\n

Halcyon has transformed since 2010 to find creative ways to connect and unify diverse people and cultures.\u00a0 The company started the Artist-in-Residence program in 2012 to find new and multi-talented artists who had a passion for social justice like their 2014 Artist-in-Residence and recent Illinois Wesleyan University graduate Allyce Torres.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spent a year with [Halcyon] and I was really impressed about the amount of social justice work that goes into the theater plays we choose and the plays that we put up. And how much consciousness and community involvement we have,\u201d said Torres, who is now a company member and the lead titled actress of \u201cEstrella Cruz [the junkyard queen].\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2013, Halcyon Theatre found the missing link to their company\u2019s overall mission by opening the Radical Hospitality program. The theater holds a significant number of seats for no-cost admission on a first come first served basis for each performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd given where we are in Albany Park and the fact that we do have a few lower income families, it immediately drives home with the fact that we want to offer theater to anybody who wants to see it,\u201d Torres added. \u201cIt shouldn\u2019t be a privilege, but a right to be able to see and enjoy art.\u201d<\/p>\n

In order to continue the Radical Hospitality program, the board hosts fundraising events during the year including their annual gala, Night of Flight<\/a>, which honors two to three community members with the Iris Award.<\/p>\n

The award this year recognizes Free Street Theater<\/a> Artistic Director Coya Paz and Victory Gardens Theater<\/a> Artistic Director Chay Yew at the gala Friday night. At $75 a ticket, the event has helped doubled the theater\u2019s annual budget for the past three years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the play doesn\u2019t show our mission values, it\u2019s not considered for touring. One of the things is that our entire theater [repertoire] is written by women. Two out of three are women of color. And most of the cast members are artists of color,\u201d said Adams, who is the director of this upcoming play. \u201cWhat we do is connect people. Making plays is how we do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Estrella
Allyce Torres as Estrella Cruz (Tony Adams)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cEstrella Cruz [the junkyard queen]\u201d previews<\/a> on Thursday. The production runs through Feb. 27 at Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The play\u2019s] written specifically about this Latina woman, which is not normally what people think about when they think of Greek myths,\u201d Torres explained. \u201cIt parallels Persephone\u2019s journey as a Cuban immigrant and talks about that experience, which is something that the people in our neighborhood could really relate to. And it\u2019s something I can relate to as a first generation Mexican-American.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo at top: Allyce Torres as Estrella Cruz and Kelly Opalko as Bette Davis (Photo by Tony Adams)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Katina Beniaris Inside a local church in multicultural Albany Park, a small theater company\u00a0 gives the community free access on a first come first served basis to main stage productions such as \u201cThe Wild Duck\u201d and \u201cIn Love and Warcraft.\u201d Halcyon Theatre recruits actors and crew from the community to produce live shows as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":254,"featured_media":24902,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194,585],"tags":[192],"class_list":["post-24866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-culture","category-winter-2016","tag-promo"],"yoast_head":"\nHalcyon Theatre brings social justice to the stage - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/halcyon-theatre-brings-social-justice-to-the-stage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Halcyon Theatre brings social justice to the stage - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Katina Beniaris Inside a local church in multicultural Albany Park, a small theater company\u00a0 gives the community free access on a first come first served basis to main stage productions such as \u201cThe Wild Duck\u201d and \u201cIn Love and Warcraft.\u201d Halcyon Theatre recruits actors and crew from the community to produce live shows as […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/halcyon-theatre-brings-social-justice-to-the-stage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-01-20T23:24:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/Estrella_Cruz_Featured.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"733\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"katinabeniaris\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"katinabeniaris\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/halcyon-theatre-brings-social-justice-to-the-stage\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/halcyon-theatre-brings-social-justice-to-the-stage\/\",\"name\":\"Halcyon Theatre brings social justice to the stage - Medill Reports Chicago\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/halcyon-theatre-brings-social-justice-to-the-stage\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/halcyon-theatre-brings-social-justice-to-the-stage\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/Estrella_Cruz_Featured.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-01-20T23:24:08+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/c6a47e0b952bfc863cb19e79ce22acb2\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/halcyon-theatre-brings-social-justice-to-the-stage\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/halcyon-theatre-brings-social-justice-to-the-stage\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/halcyon-theatre-brings-social-justice-to-the-stage\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/Estrella_Cruz_Featured.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/Estrella_Cruz_Featured.jpg\",\"width\":1100,\"height\":733,\"caption\":\"Allyce Torres as Estrella Cruz and Kelly Opalko as Bette Davis\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/halcyon-theatre-brings-social-justice-to-the-stage\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Halcyon Theatre brings social justice to the stage\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\",\"name\":\"Medill Reports Chicago\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/c6a47e0b952bfc863cb19e79ce22acb2\",\"name\":\"katinabeniaris\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/112c6abe261799e61e7d3738243a71c73d584f110053fd5060e095c317e58f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/112c6abe261799e61e7d3738243a71c73d584f110053fd5060e095c317e58f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"katinabeniaris\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/katinabeniaris\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Halcyon Theatre brings social justice to the stage - Medill Reports Chicago","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/halcyon-theatre-brings-social-justice-to-the-stage\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Halcyon Theatre brings social justice to the stage - Medill Reports Chicago","og_description":"By Katina Beniaris Inside a local church in multicultural Albany Park, a small theater company\u00a0 gives the community free access on a first come first served basis to main stage productions such as \u201cThe Wild Duck\u201d and \u201cIn Love and Warcraft.\u201d Halcyon Theatre recruits actors and crew from the community to produce live shows as […]","og_url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/halcyon-theatre-brings-social-justice-to-the-stage\/","og_site_name":"Medill Reports Chicago","article_published_time":"2016-01-20T23:24:08+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1100,"height":733,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/Estrella_Cruz_Featured.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"katinabeniaris","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"katinabeniaris","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/halcyon-theatre-brings-social-justice-to-the-stage\/","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/halcyon-theatre-brings-social-justice-to-the-stage\/","name":"Halcyon Theatre brings social justice to the stage - Medill Reports Chicago","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/halcyon-theatre-brings-social-justice-to-the-stage\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/halcyon-theatre-brings-social-justice-to-the-stage\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/Estrella_Cruz_Featured.jpg","datePublished":"2016-01-20T23:24:08+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/c6a47e0b952bfc863cb19e79ce22acb2"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/halcyon-theatre-brings-social-justice-to-the-stage\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/halcyon-theatre-brings-social-justice-to-the-stage\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/halcyon-theatre-brings-social-justice-to-the-stage\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/Estrella_Cruz_Featured.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/Estrella_Cruz_Featured.jpg","width":1100,"height":733,"caption":"Allyce Torres as Estrella Cruz and Kelly Opalko as Bette Davis"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/halcyon-theatre-brings-social-justice-to-the-stage\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Halcyon Theatre brings social justice to the stage"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/","name":"Medill Reports Chicago","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/c6a47e0b952bfc863cb19e79ce22acb2","name":"katinabeniaris","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/112c6abe261799e61e7d3738243a71c73d584f110053fd5060e095c317e58f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/112c6abe261799e61e7d3738243a71c73d584f110053fd5060e095c317e58f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"katinabeniaris"},"url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/katinabeniaris\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/254"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}