What's New
Stay tuned for upcoming Chicago Avenue Project performances!
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CHICAGO AVENUE PROJECT NEWS:
Elvis Has Left the Building features nine original, short plays written by professional playwrights, directed by professionals, and performed by some of the Twin Cities’ top theatre artists in partnership with South Minneapolis youth.
Pillsbury House Theatre’s Chicago Avenue Project presents OUT ON A LIMB, November 3 and 4, featuring ten original, short plays written by neighborhood youth in partnership with professional dramaturgs, and performed and directed by some of the Twin Cities’ best theatre artists.
Easy as Pie, features ten original, short plays written by professional playwrights, directed by professionals, and performed by some of the Twin Cities’ top theatre artists in partnership with South Minneapolis youth.
Pillsbury House Theatre’s award-winning Chicago Avenue Project presents Take the Cake.
Take the Cake features eight original, short plays written by neighborhood youth in partnership with professional dramaturgs, and performed and directed by some of the Twin Cities’ top theatre artists.
November 18 and 19, 2013
Pillsbury House Theatre’s award-winning Chicago Avenue Project presents “Once in a Blue Moon.” With a colorful cast of dragon slayers and dragon tamers, haunted volcanoes, intergalactic fashion police, and a hypocritical hypochondriac, “Once in a Blue Moon” features ten original, short plays written by professional playwrights, directed by professionals, and performed by some of the Twin Cities’ top theatre artists in partnership with South Minneapolis youth.
This fall local performing arts professionals team up with neighborhood kids for the 16th year of Pillsbury House Theatre’s award-winning Chicago Avenue Project. MARK MY WORDS features some of the Twin Cities’ top theatre artists, actors, and directors in ten original, short plays written by South Minneapolis youth.
The second production of 2012 Chicago Avenue Project is coming Monday, October 22 and Tuesday, October 23. Performances at 7 pm both nights and also at 4:30 pm on Tuesday. This is the one where the kids write the plays and a duo of local professional actors bring them to life. Last year’s production included Frankenstein and the Walking Dead going to the Mall of America to see Taylor Lautner sing and the immortal line that “even the dead have feelings.” It also included a story of Vampire Strawberries, pictured below. (Photos by Aaron Fenster.)
About
ABOUT THE CHICAGO AVENUE PROJECT:
Since 1996, the Chicago Avenue Project has brought local youth together with the Twin Cities’ best adult playwrights, actors, and directors to create and produce original plays.
The Chicago Avenue Project features two performances each year. For the spring performance, kids and their adult acting mentors star in 10-minute plays written just for them by adult playwrights. For the winter performance, kids and their adult playwriting mentors write 10-minute plays that are performed by adult actors. The result is original theatre that is heartwarming, hilarious, and infused with the brilliance of young minds.
The project is not about teaching youth to perform, though they do learn acting—nor is it about teaching them how to write plays, though they learn that, too. The Chicago Avenue Project gives every child—no matter their circumstances—the opportunity to discover that they have a lot of creativity and value to offer.
Photos
Video
Chicago Avenue Project: How did CAP start? from Pillsbury House Theatre on Vimeo.
2012 Chicago Avenue Project video by McGinley Motion
Behind the scenes with Chicago Avenue Project – Video by Usry Alleyne from Pillsbury House Theatre on Vimeo.
Past Seasons
PAST SEASONS OF CHICAGO AVENUE PROJECT:
2019
Fortune Favors the Bold
The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread
2018
A Hot Potato
The Ball is in Your Court
2017
We’re All in the Same Boat!
Speak Your Mind
2016
It’s not Rocket Science: The Best of the Chicago Avenue Project
The Devil is in the Details
2015
Elvis Has Left the Building
Drastic Times Call for Drastic Measures
2014
Easy as Pie
Out on a Limb
2013
Once In a Blue Moon
Take the Cake
2012
It’s Raining Cats and Dogs
Mark my Words!
2011
On the Other Hand
Table for Two
2010
Over the Top
Table for Two
2009
Forward/Reverse
Eyes on the Prize
2008
All or Nothing
Up Up and Away
2007
Grin and Bear It
Heard It through the Grapevine
Face the Music
2006
Sky’s the Limit – The Best of the Chicago Avenue Project
All Dressed Up & Nowhere to Go
Sumthin’ Fishy Going On!
2005
All Washed Up
Life of the Party
2004
You Snooze You Lose
Breakfast of Champions
2003
Buzzword
The Cat’s Out of the Bag
2002
Lights Out: Plays in the Dark
Keep the Ball Rolling
Opposites Attract