6th Grader Stars in Six Stories Up in Deep Blue Sea Nov. 8-17

By day, Tiernan Tajalli is a 6th grade student at Central School in Glencoe where he participates in cross-country. By night and weekends, he is transformed into Jonah, the main character in the latest Six Stories Up production by Chicago's Tellin' Tales Theatre. Six Stories Up in the Deep Blue Sea runs weekends November 8-17 at Filament Theatre, 4041 N. Milwaukee Avenue. Information and tickets are available at www.tellintales.org.

Written and performed by middle school students and their mentors, Tellin’ Tales Theatre’s Six Stories Up in The Deep Blue Sea plunges headfirst into topics faced by students today. In this lively musical, Jonah and other middle-schoolers on a cruise with their families get swept into the ocean by a horrible storm. Each meets a sea creature, monster or deity that teaches them something about fear, understanding and acceptance of those different from us.

The result is a hilarious and often moving musical peppered with personal stories told by students and adults with cerebral palsy, spina bifida, autism and dwarfism, as well as their non-disabled peers. Six Stories Up in The Deep Blue Sea is geared toward adults and children age nine and up. The show runs approximately 90 minutes with one intermission.

Tajalli has honed his writing and performing skills over the last three years at Tellin' Tales Theatre. This is the third producion he has appeared in including Six Stories Up in Haunted Chicago in 2017 and Six Stories Up in Climate Change in 2018. His mother, Daphne Tajalli, said it has changed his life. Tajalli looks forward to being in front of an audience once again.

About the Mentoring Program:

Six Stories Up is an annual mentoring program developed by Tellin' Tales Theatre where middle school children and their mentors write and star in a full-length play with the theme changing every year. In August, storytellers were paired with middle school students with and without disabilities. Each team took on a different aspect of the sea and was given the mission to bring it to life while weaving in personal stories and insights about overcoming differences in their lives. In mid-September, Artistic Director Tekki Lomnicki and Stephen Donart drafted a final script, linking the six vignettes together into a cohesive final script; music and lyrics were added as well. All participants will perform Six Stories up in The Deep Blue Sea under the direction of Lomnicki, assisted by Sue Nunamaker and Jessie Bowers.

About the Cast and Crew:

The cast and production team of Six Stories in The Deep Blue Sea is an exciting mix of ethnicity and ability. Mentors include Stephen Donart, Jess Fiene, Matthew Kopp, Tekki Lomnicki, Rosemary Postula and Robert Teverbaugh. Ben Saylor will have a cameo role. Apprentices include Anja Herrman, CJ Kozlowski, Gianna and Lylah Qualtier, Samantha Rogan, Tiernan Tajalli and Dominika Tamley. Carl Ulaszek spearheads set design; Amber Marsh and Matthew Wycislak create masks and props and composer Mike Przygoda creates the original score.

About Tellin’ Tales Theatre:

The mission of Tellin' Tales Theatre is to shatter barriers between the disabled and non-disabled worlds through the transformative power of personal story. We bring together children and adults from both communities to share their stories in theatrically innovative productions and programs to promote awareness, understanding and acceptance. Artistic Director Tekki Lomnicki led storytelling programs for Gallery 37 and After School Matters for over a decade. The idea for the initial Six Stories Up came from her work with these programs, which included students with and without disabilities. Lomnicki, herself a person with a disability, took the process a step further to include adult mentors with disabilities.

Six Stories Up in the Deep Blue Sea is a result of this mix, and strives to remove all barriers between artists, including race, ethnicity, gender, age and ability.

Tellin’ Tales Theatre’s 2019 Season:

Come Hell or High Water—Adult solo performance

Lifeline Theatre’s Fillet of Solo, January 2019

Divercity—Solo works by adult performers with disabilities

Prop Thtr, June 2019

Adaptability—A reading by Tellin’ Tales Theatre’s young adult writers

Sulzer Library, July 2019

Six Stories Up in The Deep Blue Sea—Mentoring program and show

Filament Theatre, November 2019

# # #