Event

Cold Summer

Premature death. It's all too familiar in Chicago. Though directly in the line of fire, youth are excluded from conversations about solutions to the violence defining their reality. Activists and academics, politicians and police, media and educators, even Diane Sawyereveryone except teens themselvesseem to have a place at the table. In response, the Young Fugitives created Cold Summer, an honest and sometimes surreal production in which teenagers themselves speak out and speak back to the conditions that facilitate violence in Chicago.

Directed by artist and activist Ricardo Gamboa, Cold Summer was initially developed under the auspices of a youth employment program in Summer 2013. When teens' research led them to critique Mayor Rahm Emmanuel, funders censored-- then banned-- the production. In response, the ensemble of teens met and rehearsed independently with Gamboa under the banner of The Young Fugitives to share Cold Summer in a secret production. Over 200 people saw Cold Summer on August 16th. Since then, The Young Fugitives have been touring and reworking Cold Summer and are currently residence at Free Street Theater.

Founded in 1969, Free Street Theatre is committed to challenging ideas of where theatre belongs and who belongs in a theatre. Our IN/HOUSE program invites artists across a broad spectrum of experience to develop new work that critically engages social justice issues.