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FYI Performance Company
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FYI Performance Company
Cultural problems demand cultural solutions...
For Youth Inquiry (FYI) designs participatory theater experiences to activate the creative potential of school, family, and healthcare systems and improve the wellbeing of youth. Our youth education programming, which includes participatory plays, residencies, and peer education offerings, reach thousands of young people each year. In addition to touring our plays to schools and communities, we also produce performances for the public.
Now more than ever, ICAH knows that cultural problems demand cultural solutions. If you believe that our creative imaginations can help dismantle oppressive systems and behaviors, please support the development of this critical art by donating now.
+ Why FYI?
For Youth Inquiry (FYI) opens the door to safe and engaging conversations about sexual health and sexual violence with youth audiences. All FYI programs promote pleasurable enjoyment in sexuality education, cultivate inquiry, and provide students with opportunities to practice applying sexual health education content to their own lives.
+ What makes FYI special?
The four P's serve as the foundational values of our youth programming.
- Pleasure: Plays are artistically rigorous, performed by professional actors. They use movement, music, humor, and other theatrical devises to bring enjoyment to our audiences.
- Pretend: Theatre, as a form, offers low-risk ways for audiences to share their own experiences and ideas through the safety of a character’s perspective.
- Practice: Our participatory model helps audiences put their education and knowledge to work, preparing for future situations and conversations
- Power: Our plays contain structured opportunities for performers to share power with audiences, facilitating a meaningful, intentional and equal exchange of ideas.
in the news
Upcoming FYI Events
Boat
Boat
This boat called my body
Directed by Quenna Lené Barrett + Nik Zaleski
Written by Quenna Lené Barrett, Christabel Donkor, Danielle Littman, Jessamyn Fitzpatrick, Charlie Fuller + Nik Zaleski
Produced by Catherine Miller
Centering stories of young people in Illinois who have terminated pregnancies, This Boat Called My Body seats audiences in a metaphor of islands that youth must navigate to access abortion. Through spectacle, dance, opera, and interaction with water, This Boat Called My Body asks us to better understand what reproductive access looks like for all. The play was performed in partnership with the Chicago Park District.
#AbortionStories
Take a listen to some of the stories we collected from young people about their experiences ending their pregnancies.
We believe that these stories must be heard, especially in light of the national political climate and the 2013 enforcement of the Parental Notification for Abortion Act in Illinois.
Love Letters to Youth
In February, we invited you to write letters to youth who've had abortions. They formed part of an installation at our performances of This Boat Called My Body.
This Boat Called My Body is part of For Youth Inquiry Performance Company's 2nd Annual Public Season of original work. Learn more about FYI here.
Plays
Plays
#FYIPlays
Our plays Project Us, Can I Hit It?, and Start the Convo: Sex Ed Rescripted tour to schools throughout Chicago. You can find out more--and book these plays for your school our community--by visiting our youth education page. In addition to our touring work, FYI created the following plays as part of our inaugural public season in 2017!
Produced by Jessamyn Fitzpatrick
Directed by Quenna Lené Barrett
Written by Jessamyn Fitzpatrick, Deanalís Resto and Dionne Addai
FIRST asks complicated questions about the historical and everyday implications of virginity. How do narratives of virginity shape people's behaviors and ideas about the value of sex? What counts when it comes to virginity? It poses these and other questions through debate between a puritan and a unicorn, promising an engaging time for all.
Directed and Co-conceived by Alyssa Vera Ramos
Associate Directed and Co-conceived by Alejandro Tey
Produced by Catherine Miller
Part documentary theatre, part theatre of the oppressed, and part live action role play, EXPECTATION is an immersive experience designed to illuminate the true stories of pregnant and parenting youth in Chicago. The piece includes performance, installation, and participation to life up the lived experiences of pregnant and parenting youth in navigating systems that sometimes don't serve them.
Directed by Jacob Watson
Written by Sarah Bernstein and Elon Sloan
Produced by Vince Pagán
Many of us "get" consent: yes means yes, no means no. But what if the reality is more complicated than that? When our culture lacks a hared vocabulary for active consent, we are left lost in the space between definitions spelled out in black and white. GRAY AREA follows Vi and Tom as they navigate these murky waters, revisiting past lovers and experiences to figure out where our ideas about consent come from. Because when something goes wrong, how do we and our communities heal?