“The Angels Will
Let You Fall”
Backyard Ensemble
Sat May 20, 2017
7:00pm
One summer night, Aniyah, a 14 year old girl, wakes up with her cousin crying at the foot of her bed. He tells her that he has had a dream that angels lifted him from his bed and brought him up towards heaven, almost close enough for him to touch. At the very last second, they dropped him back down. He cried because he thought the angels were telling him he had one more chance: a chance to get out of the violent lifestyle in which he was embedded, a chance to survive.
Unfortunately, many of the young men in Chicagos summers dont get a sign from the angels, and we lose them too soon, leaving younger cousins to grieve, and wonder why.
This story is the central image of “The Angels Will Let You Fall,” woven around the dream as a girl interacts with angels, stars, deities, and forms a constellation of memories around herself, a comfort against the real loss she has experienced.
This is a play about the impact of death on young people, inspired by the poetry and stories of my students in Chicago as they are faced with relentless loss and pain.
Backyard Ensemble is committed to partnering professional artists with student artists, and the company for this project is made up of a mixture of both students from the South and West sides and professional artists in the Chicago community. We are also committed to drawing our audiences into Chicago’s true stories, and will perform in four distinct neighborhood spaces through partnerships with diverse local organizations, progressively moving our performances from the North to South Side of Chicago.
We’ve also had the exciting opportunity to exhibit this play at the Midtown International Theatre Festival in NYC this summer! Our goal is to raise $5,000 so that we can support not only our Chicago production costs, but travel and production costs as we take this piece to the festival as well.
We are releasing story from Chicago’s backyard, and we ask for your support in bringing this story to light in two cities this summer. Let the counter-narrative take root.
Suggested Donation $12- Pay What You Can!
MAY 19th- 2950 W Chicago **AGAVE STUDIOS ((HUMBOLDT))
MAY 20th- 1932 S Halsted **CHICAGO ART DEPARTMENT ((PILSEN))
MAY 21st- 643 W 31st **FIRST LUTHERAN CHURCH OF THE TRINITY ((BRIDGEPORT))