With a warm smile on her face, Aimee Stahlberg recalled her most memorable teaching experience where she worked with a shy teen at Storycatchers Theatre. She worked with him on writing and performance, and the following year he had a lead role in their play.
Stahlberg teaches various writing workshops and recruits students from local city high schools for the Chicago youth development arts organization.
“I just really love teaching and teen outreach opportunities. I fell in love with what Storycatchers does,” Stahlberg said.
[pullquote]Storycatcher’s Summer Musical, “My Last Dance” is scheduled to open Tuesday, July 16th, followed by a Chicago Park District Parks tour from July 22nd-August 7th.[/pullquote]The teachers at Storycatchers, like Aimee, dedicate their lives to helping the youth of Chicago learn, set goals, make positive choices and most importantly to give them a voice in a safe environment.
Founded in 1984, Storycatchers Theatre was known as Music Theatre Workshop where it made its way all across the Chicagoland area, touching and inspiring the lives of young people. Today, for participants, ages 12 through 20, there is a variety of programs such as writing, production, and performing. Students create their own work, primarily inspired by their own experiences, personal goals, or life stories.
“What Storycatchers does speaks to the college’s (Columbia College) mission statement,” Alexis Pride, Columbia College Fiction Writing Dept. Program Advisor, said. One of the most significant aspects of Storycatchers is setting personal goals.
“One of the things that is important about doing that, is a lot of the kids come from areas where they are told that maybe graduating high school is as far as they’ll get. So by creating these goals and understanding that you can set short-term goals and they’ll collect over time, that’s a huge thing for a lot of these kids,” Stahlberg said.
Throughout the summer, Storycatchers is a seven-week program where the participants work on a play, and during the first three weeks they rehearse it, memorize lines, and really become familiar with the play, Stahlberg said. In order to prepare for the summer session, Aimee develops a curriculum that will help the students write the play for the summer.
Storycatchers offers a few incentives for the students. The students can receive up to forty hours of service learning credit, and they can also get a letter of recommendation for college, Stahlberg said. In fact, one of the key components of the organization is to inspire and motivate the students to want to pursue higher education.
“This is what we should be doing with our teens. These are the kinds of programs that need to be having million dollar budgets. This is where kids should be going after school, this is what they should be doing,” Danielle Hamilton, a performance attendee said.
The program collaborates with other youth programs in Chicago such as Teens Together, Temporary Lockdown, and Fabulous Females. All of these programs share a common approach in helping young people make positive life choices.
“This organization is so committed to developing young people”, Andrea Breon, 34, a Storycatchers Board Member, enthusiastically said.
Not only is Stahlberg the head writing instructor and one of the program managers at Storycatchers, she is also on the pursuit of her MFA from Columbia College. At Storycatchers, Stahlberg can be seen doing a multitude of things.
“I do actual teaching with them, so I lead a writing workshop and I also prepare theatre-based themes which helps them develop their theatre skills and helps them get out of their shells,” Stahlberg said.
The entire staff, along with Stahlberg, at Storycathers, are dedicated to making a difference in a teen’s life.
“They have always wanted to develop more with the kids rather than just work on a project. They always wanted to connect with them on a certain level, more personal,” Talyssa Delgado 17, a first year Storycatchers participant, said.
Prior to working at Storycatchers, Stahlberg has had a lot of teacher training and was involved with other youth programs such as After School Matters and Teens Together.
In the spring production, on April 27th, Storycatchers Theatre in collaboration with Columbia College’s Fiction Writing Department hosted a Summer Musical Preview, entitled “The Thing About Prom”. The performance featured some of the student’s original songs, and was inspired by their personal stories.
“I haven’t seen a Storycatchers performance before. I was shocked, inspired, and really delighted by how mature these teens are. I feel like they were saying things that I needed to listen to,” Hamilton said.
The performance showcased the organization’s true mission, and this was reflected in the student’s work. As the performance was coming to a close the teens joined hands and sang, “Just Dance! Just Dance! Just Dance.” Once the performance concluded, the audience reacted proudly with a standing ovation. As the applause quieted Stahlberg, who was on the verge of tears, talked about the performance and her students in such an emotional and moving way.
“These kids are going to conquer the world one day,” Stahlberg said.
Storycatcher’s Summer Musical, “My Last Dance” is scheduled to open Tuesday, July 16th, followed by a Chicago Park District Parks tour from July 22nd-August 7th.
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