CHAMPAIGN, III (WAND) - A safe space for children of color; The Champaign Park District has partnered up with The Equilusion Theater to bring the art of acting to their backyard.
Once a week, the Douglass Community Center gym turns into a space for kids to become actors. "It's geared toward BIPOC children. We're trying to give them a place, a space where they're very comfortable learning and exploring about the theatre." Misty Martin, one of the organizers of the theater, tells WAND News
Black, indigenous and people of color can safely create and express, a mission important to the Equilusion Theater. “I think a lot of children should have that, that option, and some of them don't. So I think having this space for them to be able to explore, to have new things, exposed to them I think that's a really, a really big thing.”
The kids go through workshops and community partnerships to engage and learn acting skills. University of Illinois Drama professionals visited the kids to speak about the world of acting and continue their arts education outside of school. Martin says this 6-week program can jump-start a passion within these kids.
“I think it's just kind of like a jumping off point that I feel like a lot of children of color may not have. So, opera, ballet, jazz plays all of the things and it shaped who I am as a person, it opened my mind to a lot of things. It can do the same for them." Martin tells WAND News.
The Equilusion Theater's main emphasis is on providing a safe space for students to explore the arts and build their lives around their passions. “The biggest thing for this is understanding and giving them a safe place where they can figure out what's okay and what's not okay."
Email katherine.hicks@champaignparks.org for more information on Equilusion Theater and how you can be a part of future programs.
