Sunday, 5/20: “If This Neighborhood Could Talk” @ Lifeline Theatre

Sunday, May 20th at 2:00pm at Lifeline Theatre - 6912 N Glenwood Avenue.

From Dorothy Milne:

Check it out!  New play about affordable housing issues in Rogers Park and nearby Evanston.  One performance only!  And you know someone in it!

Are you free this Sunday at 2pm?  Interested in the issues of our neighborhood?  do you like plays that are only 40 minutes long?  And hey, do you like knowing someone (Gregory Altman) who’s IN the play?  Here’s the scoop, this is Way Cool –

Lifeline Theatre is hosting one performance only of:

If This Neighborhood Could Talk

Initiated by Next Theatre of Evanston, it is part of their Next Communities project, which brings community people together with professional artists to create new plays, focused on community issues.   Playwright Ebony Joy was commissioned to create this piece about affordable housing issues in Evanston and Rogers Park based out of workshops with members from these communities.

Admission is free (donations accepted).  Reservations are suggested by calling 847-475-1875 x2.

About the play:

Last fall, Next Communities Director Julie Ganey headed into the community to discover what issues were top of mind for citizens of Evanston and Rogers Park. Over coffee with aldermen, city workers, community leaders and lots of people who just like living in these neighborhoods, the answer came back: “Housing. Gentrification. Affordability. Development.” Community members join forces with Evanston playwright (and Fleetwood Jourdain Artistic Director) Ebony Joy to take a close look at some tough questions about how these communities are growing. How can Evanston and Rogers Park prosper without leaving neighbors out in the cold? Who should bear the cost of affordable housing? And what makes a healthy community?

About the participants:

Next Communities contributors and performers include developers, real estate professionals, affordable housing advocates, landlords, tenants, homeowners, and long term residents of every economic stratum. “It is an ambitious thing to bring a group of strong minded citizens with divergent views into a room together to form an ensemble and create art,” noted Ganey. “At the very first workshop, we agreed as a group that we were not there to change each others’ minds as much as understand why others might feel the way they do.”