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

Anja Herrman, an 8th grader at Roosevelt Middle School in River Forest, will perform weekends Nov. 8-17 at Filament Theatre in Chicago in Tellin' Tales Theatre's Six Stories Up in the Deep Blue Sea, which she helped write along with her mentor Robert Teverbaugh of Chicago, an accomplished actor and writer. Herrman has been active in a disability group called ADAPT and has worked on the school newspaper and participated in Scholastic Bowl.

Written and performed by middle school students and their mentors with and without disabilities, 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.

The Filament Theatre, 4041 N. Milwaukee Avenue in Chicago, is ADA accessible and sign language interpretation and audio description will be provided at the Sunday, November 10 show.

For information and tickets, visit www.tellintales.org.

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

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