PlayMakers Laboratory Hands Megaphone to Kids
That’s Weird Grandma Summer Vacation is on stage until Aug 10. Photo by Evan Hanover
What the world needs now is kids, brilliant, creative kids. Despite the fact that our country is doing everything in its power to strip them of necessities like safe havens for their families, affordable health care and education, well-funded schools with free meals, etc, children are seeing the light through the very dark tunnel and PlayMakers Laboratory is shining that spot light this summer at Neo-Futurist Theater in Andersonville. PML partnered with various Chicago Public Schools and gave the kids the reins to write their own small plays and sketches. The teaching artists then adapted and are performing their students' work in the first summer of That’s Weird Grandma since 2019.
In a collection of 18 sketches and songs, That’s Weird Grandma Summer Vacation takes us from the streets of NYC to the pool to an airplane and beyond. In two languages we explore characters like babies, tigers, giant hands, and Gordan Ramsay. The mini-plays are mischievous and silly, political and heartwrenching, oozing with innocence and simple joy. It is a raucous hour of laughter and delight all thanks to young minds given the opportunity to realize that all ideas are good ideas.
With students as young as pre-k taking charge, it's odd to think that memory and nostalgia would play so prominently in their tales. Even more so are the moments where very adult issues like deportation take center stage and we realize that no matter the shields, false smiles, and earmuffs we assume protect the youngest from the brutalities of our current times, they are well aware of the danger, the fear, and the consequences of very adult choices and actions and injustices. And yet, they have the most amount of hope and belief to keep going, keep trying, keep the torch lit inside yourself even if its just a fireflies glimmer.
Despite the heft of that reality, That’s Weird Grandma will make you smile more than you ever thought possible. The ensemble cast, directed by PML Executive Artistic Director Brandon Cloyd, features Nick Crothers, Madison Grady, Indira Gutierrez Marerro, Barry Irving, Lucas Johnson, Samantha Nieves, Lee Peters, Allison Sokolowski, Jacqui Touchet, and Allison Zanolli. All of whom taught the children whose work they were performing. The narratives hold childhood whimsy, the players are talented adults, the combination creates a show that is right for all audiences to celebrate summertime stories.
That’s Weird Grandma Summer Vacation is on stage every Saturday and Sunday until their closing show Aug 10 at 2 pm. Your ticket purchase and uproarious applause allow PML to continue championing children’s ideas and sharing their voices and imaginations. For more information about PML or to purchase tickets, visit playmakerslab.org.
