Purple Crayon Players
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About Purple Crayon Players
Purple Crayon Players is a nationally recognized, award-winning theatre company comprised of Northwestern University students committed to producing professionally written plays for young audiences. Established in 2005, Purple Crayon received the 2006 “Best New Student Group” award. In the summer of 2010, Purple Crayon Players won the Winnifred Ward Outstanding New Children's Theatre Company Award from the American Alliance for Theatre and Education at their national conference in San Fransisco.
In addition to our mainstage season, Purple Crayon Players showcases Northwestern undergraduates' work with a diverse array of special projects that address different perspectives on or elements of TYA, drama, and education. Past special projects have included student-created adaptations such as Calvin and Hobbes and Shelebration, an adaptation of Shel Silverstein poems; educational workshops such as "HONK! If You Love Drama" and a series of devising workshops with El Cuarto Año school in Humbolt Park; as well as various storytelling events on campus.
Purple Crayon also offers opportunities for new work development with PLAYground, our annual festival of new plays for young audiences, written by professional and emerging playwrights and directed by student directors.
Every year, Purple Crayon's Winter Mainstage goes on tour to Chicagoland schools in the Spring. We bring the show and its accompanying workshop to elementary, middle and high schools, receiving valuable feedback and responses from students and teachers alike. Past tours have included The Phantom Tollbooth, Pinballs and Salt and Pepper. This coming Spring, Purple Crayon will be touring Lisa Loomer's Bocón!, a contemporary fable about finding one's voice in a difficult world.
Purple Crayon Players seeks to create thought-provoking, smart and entertaining theatre for young audiences as well as to provide opportunities for young people to further engage with theatre and understand themselves through workshops and other events. We believe theatre for young audiences is theatre for all audiences, and invite you to join us for our season of classic plays and risk-taking new projects.
Mission Statement
Purple Crayon Players is a student-run theatre company on the Northwestern University campus committed to creating high quality productions, events, and educational materials regarding all aspects of theatre for young audiences. Purple Crayon Players believes that audiences of all ages can appreciate, be inspired by, and grow through exposure to this unique art form.
We produce a mainstage season of professionally written works for young audiences, while also sponsoring high quality outreach events, educational events, and special projects for audiences of all ages both on campus and in the outlying community. These events support the mainstage season, as well as explore other aspects of theatre, community service, and learning.
Purple Crayon Players feels that making theatre more accessible, in large part through our touring show as well as through events during our season, is a necessary aspect of producing theatre for young audiences. We strive to include diverse opinions, cultures, events, and voices in our season in order to adequately reflect the diverse world that our audiences and artists come from.
Furthermore, we understand the importance of training the future leaders of the TYA field, and strive to provide Northwestern University students with opportunities to direct, produce, design, perform, teach, and explore new ways of expanding the field both on campus and at large.
2012-2013 Season
Purple Crayon Players is ecstatic to share with you our 2012/2013 season, which includes two full productions, our annual festival of new works, and a brand new special project for the spring.
This is Not a Pipe Dream
by Barry Kornhauser
Produced by Sally Lindel
Directed by Meg Lowey
Shanley Pavilion, November 2012
Mother Hicks
by Suzan Zeder
Produced by Lucy Ahlborn
Directed by Jacobi Alvarez
McCormick Auditorium, Winter 2013
Touring Chicagoland Schools Spring 2013
Spring Projects
PLAYground: The 5th Annual Festival of Fresh Works
Early Spring 2013
A Devised, Highly Interactive and Multi-Sensory Theatre Experience for Children on the Autism Spectrum
In collaboration with Autism Speaks U.
Shanley Pavilion, Spring 2013
2011-2012 Season
Purple Crayon Players is proud to announce our 2011-2012 season, featuring three full productions and two special projects, all of which explore what it means to be a young person in the United States of America. Reflecting children's perspectives on or country's history, our identity, and our struggle with important national issues, this season seeks to amplify the voices of young people in the definition of what it means to be an American.
Bocón!
by Lisa Loomer
Produced by Nick Day
Directed by Sammy Zeisel
Shanley Pavilion, March 8th-10th, 2012
Touring Chicagoland Schools Spring 2012
To Kill A Mockingbird
by Harper Lee, Dramatized by Christopher Sergel
Produced by Alison Mahoney
Directed by Ellen Abram
McCormick Auditorium, June 1st-3rd, 2012
Special Projects
On Beyond the Places You'll Go
A Celebration of Seuss
by Sean Brennan
In collaboration with Spectrum Theatre Co.
Winter 2012
Working with youth to find confidence through community
Directed by Catherine Mounger & Claire Kennedy
Produced by Michelle Rodgers
Spring 2012
Who Are We?
2013-2014 Executive Board
- Executive Director: Juanita Anderson
- Artistic Director: Alison Mahoney
- Production Manager: Lucy Ahlborn
- Business Manager: Drew Guerra
- Outreach Coordinator: Katherine Scott
- Literary Manager: Lisa Wiznitzer
- Marketing Director: Emily Wills
- Education Directors: Khari Shelton, Izzy Garcia, Nikki Resengren
- Special Events: Nick Raef, Daphna Weinstock
- Tour Managers: Sally Lindel, Rachel Leshin
- Technical Director: Alex Goodman
- Freshmen Board Representatives: ???
Opportunities
PLAYground
Purple Crayon accepts submissions from professional playwrights for our annual new works festival, PLAYground, during the Winter. For more information on submitting your play, or to get involved, please contact us at purplecrayonplayers@gmail.com ATTN: PLAYground
Call for Teaching Artists
Purple Crayon provides creative drama workshops and/or other educational programming in conjunction with each of our main stage productions, as well as a monthly storytime at Evanston Public Library and numerous other short-term education projects. Fall 2010 saw the launch of our first ever high school internship program.
If you're interested in becoming a teaching artist with Purple Crayon, or being involved with our education projects, contact us at purplecrayonplayers@gmail.com ATTN: Education.
Contact Us
Wanna get involved? Have a couple questions? Want to bring our Spring Tour to your elementary or middle school? Please contact us at purplecrayonplayers@gmail.com any time! You can also call us at 847-859-9-TYA (847-859-9892) or reach us via snail mail at 1999 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL 60208.
