Albany Park Theater Project

Albany Park Theater Project was founded in 1997 with a mission to expand who creates theater, who thinks of themselves as artists, whose stories get told, who is in the audience, and how theater can play a meaningful role in community life. APTP makes its home in the Albany Park neighborhood on Chicago’s northwest side – a port of entry for immigrants from across the world and one of the most diverse communities in the United States. APTP’s Youth Performing Ensemble devises world-class original theater performances that illuminate the experiences of immigrant and first-generation Chicagoans. The ensemble’s performances have been experienced by more than 100,000 audience members and broadcast to another 50,000 viewers on WTTW.

APTP@School is the organization’s school-based program and brings the company’s philosophy and creative methods to more than 700 students at six Chicago partner schools every year. APTP@School establishes creative spaces within schools where young people affirm who they are and empower themselves to shape who they will become. Through ensemble theater-making, APTP@School students nurture the courage to take creative and emotional risks, the skills to lead and problem-solve in community, and the confidence to express their identities, stories, and perspectives. Ultimately, APTP’s Youth Performing Ensemble and APTP@School both cultivate new leaders who know they matter and who move through their education—and into their futures—with vision, voice, and purpose.