Posted on May 3, 2017

Emerald City Theatre (ECT), along with iHeart Media, hosted youth at a private performance of The Wiz on Thursday, April 13, 2017. This Spring Break outing gave children from the North Lawndale community a chance to receive a first-time theater experience and learn about careers.

“This is the first time some youth are seeing live theater,” says BBF Family Services President and CEO Rufus Williams. “We’re so happy to see them engaged and not isolated staring at phones or video games.” Transportation for the day was made possible by the Offices of Alderman Michael Scott Jr. and Cook County Commissioner, 2nd District Robert B. Steele.

Following the performance, on-air personality Kendra G, Co-Host, Chicago Morning Takeover, 107.5 WGCI, led a Question & Answer session with the cast of The Wiz. Youth from the show’s 200-person audience asked questions of the cast and the show’s director, Jamal Howard. Youth also learned about some of the various jobs in theater and in radio.

“Having performances like this one is an important part of Emerald City Theater’s mission to help Chicago’s children creatively face the world,” says Executive Director and Co-founder Karen Cardarelli. “These are children who would normally not have been able to travel this far outside of their neighborhoods to see a live musical. The Wiz also has a theme of believing in oneself, which was a perfect tie-in for the lesson on careers.”

After the performance and Question and Answer session, the entire audience got to meet Kendra G and the cast of The Wiz, taking pictures and learning a bit of the choreography from one of the musical numbers.

“iHeartMedia Chicago has enjoyed a long-standing partnership with Emerald City Theatre,” said iHeartMedia Chicago Senior Vice President of Communications Angela Ingram. “Through this partnership, we were able to offer a special private performance of The Wiz for more than 200 students from BBF Family Services, an iHeartMedia Chicago Community Partner.”

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